In my opinion, you just have to make the music. Make the music and work as hard as you can to get it out there.

Joe Sample was one of my heroes. I met him at the Curacao Jazz festival, and I fanned out like he was the Beatles!

Sound is energy, and that energy resonates with your energy. And it gives you a certain feeling.

I've been trying to arrive at a person who is self-defined and able to make my own mistakes rather than having other people make them for me.

I am really excited to be partnering with Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula. Aside from being a longtime fan of their products, they're a family business with a strong ethical foundation, and that makes us a great match.

I didn't even listen to Bob Marley until I was 17.

I think anyone who is ever on TV is a role model for somebody.

I like being a role model - people have told me that I am a role model for empowered women, but I don't see myself that way.

When it comes down to the song writing, I'm just very slow - very slow. Because the songs are about my life, so I'm doing emotional work on myself.

I'm not just making rhymes and making melodies. I'm expressing my true life force, energy.

Everybody has their own path. I got mine.

The thing that makes me feel most alive is knowing that there's something that I have to do that I'm afraid of.

I feel like I'm always gonna sing and write songs because it's me.

I wouldn't be back in my 20s for anything.

I don't really consider myself a teacher. I think - like, I have opinions like everyone else, and I just share my opinions.

One of the things that helped me to be confident is to be the kind of musician that I respect. I always liked musicians who wrote their own songs, and so I started writing my own songs.

I write about my experiences, so a lot of times, I do write about people.

At 16, I started really loving country music, and Collin Raye just had the most amazing ballads!

Even when it doesn't look good, it's always good. Even the worst thing, there's always something good that comes out of it. I've learned that.

If I were not a black artist but I was still singing, playing guitar, and singing ballads that are spiritual and cerebral, I'd be easier to market because people accept that from white female singer-songwriters faster.

I always felt like - I mean, I was told, really - I couldn't go too far with the productions because it didn't appeal to black radio. It wasn't until I decided I was going to do what I wanted to do or I was going to quit that I empowered myself. I took my power back.

I do believe in prophecy.

Songs like 'Peaceful World' and songs that are responsible with their lyrics and talk about love and harmony can take the forefront and do something for real.

I've always wanted my music to serve a certain purpose.

Our food choices show up on our body.

I had been on what seemed to be a hiatus to the outside world, but I was actually working very hard on my health, my emotional health, and my business.

Could a person really make a social contribution through music consciously? I mean, beyond making a person happy to hear the song and more making a social contribution consciously through your music? For me, Stevie Wonder is the paragon of that. And I didn't want to be Stevie Wonder, but I did want to do what he does.

I'm in show business, and I'm an entertainer, but I also see myself as an artist doing social and spiritual work.

It took me almost wanting to retire to realize that you need to ask for what you need. Everybody needs something different, but whatever it is you need, you need to ask for it and figure out how to get it.

Now that I have better producer chops, a country album is something I want to do one day. I don't know who's going to put it out. But when I do, I don't think people will call it 'country music.' They'll probably call it 'neo-soul.'

The thought crossed my mind about not wanting to alienate my fan base, but I don't know what would alienate them or bring them in, so I decided not to think about it.

I made a conscious decision when I was recording 'Acoustic Soul' to - and this is one of my mantras - follow the music and let the chips fall where they may.

I don't want the world to get any worse. I want to make it better.

I know the things I say go out of my own mouth and into my own ears.

I've spent my entire life trying to figure out why I was different than everybody else. Why is my voice so deep? Why am I so muscular?

Nobody looked like me when I was growing up. None of the kids were as big as me, or as serious as me, or listened to the same music.

When I was growing up, I only saw really brown people on 'The Cosby Show,' and they were rich, and their parents were doctors. It wasn't like my home.

I hope that the things that I sing about will be an inspiration for people to be original.

It's OK to wear white in the wintertime. Do what you want.

I love my brownness.

Some people say, 'If she's so real, why does she call herself with a made-up name?' Well, India is my real name. Or they say, 'If she's so real, why does she wear makeup?' I didn't know there was anything wrong with makeup.

There are a lot of men who like women with a brain.

I always have something by Stevie Wonder in my CD player.

Basically, I listen to voices. If they write good songs and they can sing, I'll probably like it.

I'm actually not a fan of the word 'woke.' I think the connotation of that means being socially aware, which is a beautiful thing to be. But it does not take into account being self-aware.

I was scared of failing, and I was scared of succeeding. I just wanted to be in a safe space and not grow too big or be too little.

This celebrity culture that hypnotizes people into thinking a person is literally not real because you see them on television is a spell the watcher him- or herself must break.

Obviously, I've been heartbroken. We all know what that feels like.

It's cool to hear my songs on the radio. But for me, that's just a way to get more people to have the option of choosing my music.

I want my music to be a contribution, and I want the people who love me on Earth and in Heaven to be proud of who I am, and I want to be proud of myself, and I don't want to look back and say, 'Oh God, why did I say that?'