“There are times I can’t even figure myself out.”

I don’t want to abandon one work for the other, and I don’t think I need to sacrifice anything to put my all into either one of them.

Keep working hard and you can get anything that you want.

It’s fun to be creative and innovative and come up with something crazy. So I need people to work with who are not going to be afraid to take it to the left a bit.

It’s in how you carry yourself. I’ve always been a very mature person, and I’ve always known what I wanted. And I go after it no matter what.

People are gonna look up to me because I’m young, black, and female.

I began to work the stage and get the audience into it. I also learned how to have fun out there. It is something I will never forget.

I think it’s important to take a break, you know, from the public eye for a while, and give people a chance to miss you. I want longevity. I don’t want to get out there and run myself ragged and spread myself thin.

If you want to go to the mall, you have to take security. But it’s always cool. The kids are amazing.

I know that people think I’m sexy and I am looked at as that. It is cool with me. It’s wonderful to have sexy appeal. If you embrace it, it can be a very beautiful thing.

The Matrix is top secret. There isn’t much that can be said right now.

There is always a bit of pressure to do a good album – to do good work, period. I really put a lot of pressure on myself, more so than other people. But I try not to let that overwhelm me to the point where I can’t even do good work. I just put it aside and do the best that I know that I can.

When a fan comes up to you and says I love your music, there’s nothing better than that.

It’s Friday and I’m ready to swing. Pick up my girls and hit the party scene.

I go through the same problems all young people go through. Being in this business, I accept that there are positives and negatives but having a strong family base and a belief in God enables me to weather the storms.

I want people to remember me as a full on entertainer and a good person.

My parents just tell me, ‘If you know what you want, you should stay determined and go for it. You can do anything.’

No matter where you are or where you grow up, you always go through the same awkward moments of being a teenager and growing up and trying to figure out who you are.

If we figure out the supports and infrastructure to make all of that possible – and it is completely within reach.

To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat.

You are an incredible mystery that you will never figure out. To be this mystery consciously is the greatest joy.

Professors could silence me then; they had figures, diagrams, maps, books.

I worked at Prescriptives. My uncle [Leonard Lauder, chairman emeritus of the Estée Lauder Companies] smartly had wanted me to go into a small brand – to figure out what part of the company I loved.

I figure if I take my children’s work seriously, maybe they will too. And it reinforces the idea that art is not something alien and esoteric. Anyone can make art.

They figure out what you need and they give it to you – without you asking.