A Dramatic Thing, The First Time You

Today, People Are More Into The Glitz And The Glamour Of Everything. We Don't Even Read The Inside Of Records Anymore.

I Was An Actor When I Was A Teenager And It Could Have Been The Direction That I Headed In. But Music And My Relationship With Music Is Quite Deep, And It Really Is The Nucleus Of My Creativity. So I Gave Up Acting So I Could Pursue Music Fully, And I Never Thought About Really Going Back. And Then [director] Lee Daniels Met Me And Wanted To Work With Me, And That's How It Started.

I Feel Like I'm Only In The Beginning Of My Career. I've Only Made Five Albums. It's Not A Lot.

I Wasn't The Kind Of Person That Liked Waiting For Autographs Or Following Them, I Just Liked To Go To The Shows, Study Their Records, Driving Many, Many Hours To Different States To Go To Concerts.

To Let Go Of The Illusion That I'm In Control Is An Important Lesson, Because I Tend To Be A Person Who Likes To Be In Control, Not Only Of My Art But Of My Life And Things Around Me, And It Can Be Healthy Up To A Certain Point, But At The End Of The Day, We Have To Go On Faith And Learn To Let Go And Ride The Wave.