Some people want the attention, some people want the spotlight, and that just wasn't it for me.

I was like, 'Wow, Tommy Hilfiger wants to work with little old me.' All the dots connected, we had a meeting, and everything started to come together.

I'm all about comfort.

I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing.

Music is just in me and I didn't even realize it early on that I was going to do music.

I'm so emotional when it comes to even the smallest thing.

I've been singing love songs since I was a toddler, I was singing Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and even Alicia Keys song, that helped my writing so much.

I will say about my fans, from day one they've been listening and are still listening to my projects on repeat.

I'm half-Filipino and Filipinos love karaoke.

After I graduated from high school, I was like, let's see what happens. I took the time to develop my artistry and my songs, and tried to figure out who I am and what my message is.

I was playing music since I was 6 or 7. I felt that music was a given to me.

I think most women, we have intuition. We always know what we always want to find out. We always want to be wrong, and we hate when we're right at the end of the day. People say we love to be right. That's not true. We don't like to be right, because usually we know when it's the truth.

It's one thing to be able to sing well, but another to be an artist and find your own voice within music. And that's what the goal was for me in my teenage years. I had to find myself.

I went to a Buddy Guy concert when I was, like, seven years old.

I just want to give back to the community that raised me now that I've gotten to a point where I can do that.

Black culture, to me, is so important and I identify with young black women.

I represent young black women, and I'm proud of that.

I'm huge on the dynamic of my show and the experience, not just performing songs. It's important to me to make sure that people experience every song, and feel like I'm singing directly to them. Your eyes never want to leave the stage because there's always something happening.

It took me a while to want to do interviews.

People always make me uncomfortable when they ask me: 'Who's this song about?' I feel like I let you read my diary and now we have to have a conversation about it! I already let you read it, let's just leave it at that.

I remember being really, really young and watching Prince and Michael Jackson concert DVDs. One of my favorites is Prince's 'Rave Un2 The Year 2000.'

My dad and I used to play Prince, Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder, The Parliaments, and a lot of older funk bands while cooking breakfast in the morning.

One of the first CDs I ever bought was Alicia Keys's 'MTV Unplugged' album. That album is the one I would take home and listen to on my Walkman, in my room, before I had an iPod. I learned most of the songs on piano.

I love Toronto.

I write about other people's experiences from time to time.

I have to keep doing me. I have to not look at what everybody else is doing, or what everybody else thinks should be happening right now.

We use social media as a platform to speak on issues that we feel passionate about and I see people debating on Twitter all the time about social injustices.

I really wish I could have collaborated with Prince before he passed.

I definitely study the greats.

It's scary and uncomfortable releasing music that is close to you.

Life is short, and every moment is precious.

Medical ethics is a fascinating discipline, as it deals with issues replete with complex philosophical, moral, and ethical considerations that are rarely black or white.

Our African ancestors were the first to engage in breathing. By that logic, I think by breathing today, we are engaging in cultural appropriation of the first Homo sapiens. And so the only way I will ask you to stop being racist is to suffocate - to stop breathing.

The seven deadly sins should be updated. We should add an eighth sin: Cowardice.

The Ferrari is exactly the same in the human context as the peacock's tail is on the peacock.

Empires implode from within due to their own excesses.

In the public realm, secularism should not concede a single inch to religious intrusions. To argue otherwise is to violate the meaning of secularism.

Marketing is fundamental to what makes us human. Marketing is not solely about selling chewing gum, cars, cellphones, and tourist packages. Everything in life involves the process of marketing something to someone.

The great majority of men are attracted to feminine women who do not possess the body type of Michael Phelps. Beyonce is desired not because of her 'diabolical femininity,' but simply because of her femininity.

Freedom of religion does not entitle your religion to have a privileged position within the public sphere.

Memorable people do memorable things. Followers are seldom remembered. The herd mentality is the killer of innovation. When appropriate, be bold in your undertakings.

Great leaders are not proverbial fence sitters. They judge. They opine. They challenge. They fight for their vision.

Animals use a broad range of strategies to advertise themselves in the mating market. In some instances, visual cues highlight a morphological feature - for example, the peacock's tail.

One of the ways by which astrology tricks human brains is via the Barnum effect, which is the process by which individuals take general and vague statements that could apply to anyone and anywhere, and find personal meaning in them.

University students should rightly be exposed to a plurality of viewpoints as part of their intellectual growth, rather attending the 'flock of sheep association of like-minded individuals.'

A successful marriage requires commitment to teamwork.

In the public realm, secularism should not concede a single inch to religious intrusions.

Secularism and pluralism are two of the defining ethos of Western societies. The former decouples religion from governmental institutions whilst the latter seeks to protect the rights of all citizens to freely practice their creed.

For humans, gift giving is a universal ritual laden with evolutionary implications.

Nearly everything that defines much of our daily experiences is consummatory in nature. Yes, we consume products and services. But we also consume life experiences, religious narratives, art, literature, and ideas.