“Now all that’s left of me, is what I pretend to be. So together, but so broken up inside.”

Life’s too short to be a pushover.

Really, what I try to instill in my fans is to be healthy and happy. I have no desire to be super-skinny.

If I can wake up everyday before I die and know that I don’t have to serve anyone food or drinks, I will be happy!

My mom and I are like sisters. We kind of grew up together. She always treated me as an adult. I never had curfew. She’s a workaholic, like I am. We’re not super family-oriented people, you know?

I live on a ranch in Texas and do my own thing. And I don’t care what anyone has to say about it. My joke is that the only people I’m trying to please are myself and my fans, because they’re the ones buying my records. And I have the best, most loyal fan base ever.

I’m cute – and God I hate that. Because that’s not cool. I’m like your niece, and nobody wants to date their niece. It’s the chubby cheeks. The whole reason people voted for me on American Idol is because I’m an everyday, normal girl.

And more so now, since having a family – I don’t seek out any other acceptance.

People are really concerned about my relationship status. When I tell people I’m happy being single, they don’t believe me. They say: ‘You have to be miserable being alone’.

I was a poor kid, and my mom was a single mother of three.

This is my life; these are my fingerprints; I’m unique; this is what I want to do. You worry about your own front porch and what’s happening in your own world.

I’ve loved my 20s, but I would never repeat them.

I’m waiting for the floor to drop out from under me.

Everyone says I’m like the girl next door. Y’all must have really weird neighbors!

I don’t obsess about my weight, which is probably one of the reasons why other people have such a problem with it.

I would not be a good mother. I mean, I love being an aunt to my niece and nephew. And I used to want to, like, adopt 10 kids – because I had friends who were adopted, and I thought that was the coolest thing, to be chosen. But again, my job is too selfish.

I have the world’s worst pregnancies.

You taught me to believe in love and then showed me exactly why I shouldn’t.

Hold a heart in love and watch the spell of pain be broken.

Your heart breaks making space for the light. See those tiny cracks, I’m going to embrace you here, hold you tight and never let go.

Everything I know of love is told in the bruises we left on each other.

I know you will take the last of me and I will love you anyway.

I don’t know how else to say it. I will love you for the rest of my life.

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.

There’s a weight to it, this missing you.