Basically, if you go looking for trouble, it'll come find you.

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and feel like going straight back to bed. But I still have to get up and work, and I still have to take advantage of the chances I've been given in life.

Garage music came up when people weren't paying attention.

No one goes straight to happiness after a breakup.

You can't please everybody. I give up. I'm not trying to. I don't care. Leave me alone with that.

Americans have their issues with skin colour, even within the black community, with light and dark skin; it's crazy - but no one's oblivious to it.

I would say my greatest musical influences have been Ella Fitzgerald and Mary J. Blige.

I got into hip hop from my uncle; he was always playing us Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane. He was a bad boy, and my mum was not really happy that I was hanging out with him.

Adele ain't soul.

The people who have the strongest opinion about everything have never left their city, their town, haven't left their 'hood, haven't left their area, their corner of the world. They don't read. They've never left their house.

The Grammy snuck up on me. I was on tour. It just hit me. I skipped down the street in Vienna. I kept saying, 'I won. I won.'

I never do a show where the people just sit there and look at me. They always sing along. It's going to be a fun time.

I've fully embraced who I am. I stopped fighting with people and just come to realize, 'This is me. This is all of me.'

John Legend is a cool guy. He likes to chill, is easy to talk to and hang out with. He's also inspiring on a musical level.

Walking round the Champs-Elysees late at night is the greatest time.

I have my family; I'm never alone.

Me being a black girl in London, whose mom is first-generation African and whose dad is West Indian, gives me a different view. I'm coming at soul from my own place.

I can't stand quitters. My mother is a very strong, determined woman. I was peeling onions when I was seven, but I walked off when my eyes began to sting. She said to me, 'You start something and you finish it', and that stuck with me. I'm persistent.

I am a black British female artist, so I must be like Ms Dynamite, I must be like Shystie, I must be like Jamelia, but we're all different.

In order for me to write, I have to experience life. I write the songs based on real life, and I perform them from a very real place.

Nobody's going to tell me to rap in an American accent.

American food is not what I'm used to - everything is like three portions.

I wear and have worn scarves my entire life while traveling, working out, and now sometimes while performing, and not just on my head - I wear them around my neck and on my bag.

You know, sometimes you fall in love and you get treated badly, sometimes you get treated well.

For four years, my mum allowed only church music in the house.

If I don't agree with something, I let people know, and it occasionally leads to tension. But I usually iron things out.

'Something Good' is a feel-good song. A reminder that you're dope and have something wonderful to offer life and yourself and the world.

I learned that working out gives me a space to get clear. It's not just about the body. It gives me space to process things and get clear in my mind about decisions and things I want to do.

Some days I might be wearing a little dress, and some days I might be wearing something with wings on it and be confusing.

I'd really started hating music. I'd started hating all the songs, hating being in the industry, hating doing the shows. So I had to learn to love music again if I wanted to continue doing this.

I will test a guy to within an inch of his sanity because I've been through too much drama. He has to be 100%.

The reality show 'America's Next Top Model' is my girlie pleasure.

I like to write about the things I care about. It's no fun to sing about things you don't like.

I started writing an album on flights to Africa and Brazil, but it was crazy because I left the notebook on the plane. It had seven or eight songs in it. After that, I'm not writing any more songs on notebooks - and I keep my Blackberry close!

A lot of scarves are made to stand out and therefore not appropriate on your head, say, at work.

You have to have courage to look back and be honest about your own drama.

I'm not slimming down for anyone and losing my figure.

I believe in illusion - I don't believe in magic.

I'm never scared to ask a question or state the obvious, y'know.

I will never say I am committed to somebody unless I'm serious about that person.

You can be sexy, but respect yourself and make sure you get that respect.

Labrinth is a super talented singer, producer, songwriter from London.

My mind is always going.

Most of my thinking is done at night.

I always thought that if record companies didn't understand me, fine - I'd go and do it by myself.

The man for me has to have his own life or be as busy as me.

With my music, I don't have to stay in one lane. One day I'm in Motown, and the next day I'm in reggae.

I always say, 'There's a difference between cooked food and McDonald's.' Your mom's homemade dinner - you enjoy this more than you enjoy the fast food that comes along and goes, and I strive to make homemade dinner every time I put out an album.

I can get a call at 2 A.M., and the person on the other end is like: 'Sorry, did I wake you?' and I'm like: 'No, I'm wide awake.'

I love singing, so I want to see how far I can take it. I love the challenge, and I won't be happy until I have a wall full of gold discs and seven huge world tours under my belt.