“You work on something for so long that you become numb to it. Like, you don’t even know how to listen to it because you listened to it so many times.”

In order for people to take what you say seriously, they have to know who you are as a person.

Before anything, I wanted to be a rapper. I used to make beats and I would start singing to layer my beats and that’s kind of how I realized I could sing.

I feel like any way you can get the message to resonate, I’m all for it.

I still got bars, I just use ’em differently. I’d say I’m a better singer than I am a rapper at this point because I’ve been sharpening my sword.

Music is my one opportunity to let out how I’m feeling when I’m not talking to a chick or my mom, you know what I mean? It’s just venting.

There’s the hype stuff that people love for five minutes and then there’s the stuff that changes cultures and shifts how you look at music. And then there’s that rare point where that hype stuff changes the game.

You gotta question the purpose you serve for those who invite themselves into your life. Learn who you are and always question the motive. No one knows you the way you do.

I don’t wake up thinking about the genre of R&B as a whole. I just make music.

Don’t stop until you get where you’re trying to go.

We’re products of this world we were born into. We all battle our own demons. Everyone is troubled in the dark, but, please just stop & think about the babies. They’re gonna be here long after we leave.

When you’re initially making music, you’re kind of just shooting at the air.

I got a toy keyboard when I was around like five or six.

With the Sonder music, I pull a lot from what’s around me.

I mean, I wasn’t the best student in school. It would be different if I were to pursue music while I was already in school and doing things for my parents to be proud of and music was a side thing. Being that I dropped everything to do music, they was not with it.

I want to own my masters. That’s the main thing–owning all my music.

Sonder is the realization that every individual passerby has their own life just as vivid and complex as yours.

Before I came here I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture I am still confused. But on a higher level.

Boomerang’ is all about coming back from the hate and not listening to the hate. It really tells a message.

I wanted to convey the message of how I do what I want and how I run my own business, and I’m a woman in charge. I want all of my fans to know that that’s possible and feel empowered when they listen to my music.

Most secrets should never be told, but especially those that are more menacing to the listener than to the teller.

I listen to different artists. I open my mind to different artists.

An appreciative listener is always stimulating.

I grew up listening to a lot of Ray Charles and ’60s rock, thanks to my father, and then my brothers got me in to KISS and whatnot, so I guess that’s where I got my first taste for music.

Women are attracted to silent men. They believe they are listening.