I've gotten scripts over the years, but I believe it was the stories of 'Moonlight' and 'Hidden Figures' that really touched my heart and aligned with the messages that I felt were extremely important to me.
Black history is part of American history, and it should be treated as such.
I listen to Prince on my iPad. And I use a Chords & Scales app to warm up before performing.
I've cried over string arrangements.
I feel myself becoming the fearless person I have dreamt of being. Have I arrived? No. But I'm constantly evolving and challenging myself to be unafraid to make mistakes.
I've been very blessed to have worked with two incredible directors - Barry Jenkins on 'Moonlight' and Ted Melfi on 'Hidden Figures' - and it was a collaborative effort in shaping my characters, Teresa and Mary.
You are only as beautiful as the many beautiful things you do for others without expectation.
One of my core values is to help redefine what it means to be a strong and beautiful woman in the music and fashion worlds and to empower the wonderful things that make us unique.
People in my family and camp who grew up listening to rap music love 'We Are Young.' I've heard it play at weddings. I've heard it in graduation parties. It's a big idea and big song.
I always think about the next generation and creating a different blueprint for them. That's my goal: to let them know there's another way.
I take goldenseal, Echinacea and cod liver oil when flying to boost my immune system.
Becoming a CoverGirl is truly an honor and a gift. It opens up a new platform for me to inspire women to feel stronger, braver and more beautiful inside and out.
I don't do a lot of collaborations that I don't believe in. Actually, I don't do any collaborations that I don't believe in.
We don't all have to take the same coordinates to get to the same destination. Being a young African American female artist, I want to open doors for young black girls.
Music is an art form that I love dearly, and it's allowed me to bring so many people together and meet so many people.
Some songs you get. Some songs you may not. And I think that's the beauty of art: to question and to ask, to understand the deeper meaning after two or three or four listenings.
It's unfortunate that a lot of people think African-American female artists are monolithically R&B this-or-that, don't have to do anything by default.
It's a big universe. To stay in one tiny place is doing a disservice to yourself.
I have not lost any of my crazy, fearless, raw, soulful, eclectic side and I plan on continuing to tell universal stories in an unforgettable way.
I'm about women's empowerment. I'm about agency. I'm about being in control of your narrative and your body.
