I hate drama. But at the same time, nothing bothers me more than when life's perfect. And that's the sick part. I just love a challenge, whether it's a relationship, my career, clothing.

My musical taste and image is going to change naturally. It's not forced; I do what comes natural to me. Sometimes, I like to be dark... other times, I like to be really light and ladylike.

Everybody has their thing they like or don't like to see. It's all in your head. That's why people take their own pictures, because it's difficult for someone else to capture what you seek.

I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world.

It started off really…claustrophobic. I feel like I was really really protected. Really guarded with myself. I feel like they [Def Jam] were giving me the blueprint and I couldn’t get with that

More than anything, I like a jacket. You can do anything with a great jacket, the bigger the better. You can have any silhouette underneath. It gives you an attitude. It makes a gown look cool.

I can't make a song for a particular person or demographic. If I love it, I'm gonna do it. I have to perform it for the rest of my life. A song is like a tattoo - you can never get away from it.

I don't like cream puff, corny guys. Usually, they are the nice guys, the ones that won't hurt you. They'll pull out the chair for you and the whole nine yards. Everything is perfect and boring.

There's not any religion or any culture or any race or any generation that cannot get AIDS or HIV. We all have to take responsibility for ourselves and get tested to know our status, and spread the word.

Women feel empowered when they can do the things that are supposed to be only for men, you know? It breaks boundaries, it's liberating, and it's empowering when you feel like, 'Well, I can do that, too.'

When I won the first Grammy, there was no other feeling like that feeling. It just made me feel like I came so far, like that was just a dream a few years before that, and then it was happening right then.

My new one (tattoo) says 'Never a failure, always a lesson' and is kind of my mantra to life, just a reminder. My life is just a crazy rollercoaster every day and whenever I read that it just reassures me.

Music and fashion go hand in hand. I think music inspires all types of arts; it inspires life, emotion, mood, and all of those things are reflected in my fashion and my style. One doesn’t go without the other.

I try my best to avoid the sharks of life, but I have had my share of experiences with them, and in those cases I just have to handle them accordingly. But I do not swim with sharks ... sharks swim with sharks.

That's all I could ever hope for, to have a positive effect on women. 'Cos women are powerful, powerful beings. But they're also the most doubtful beings. They'll never know - we'll never know - how powerful we are.

Fashion for me is another way I get to express myself creatively. It is one of the fun things I get to do: to play dress-up, and create outfits and looks that aren't typical. I am an artist, so I like creating things.

Streaming is a really big market for me. We've been doing great in the streaming market, so it's not something I want to alienate at all. Streaming counts now. They're treating artists the way we deserve to be treated.

It is one thing to record an album but it's a huge difference when people play it and listen to it and embrace it the way that I do. It has always been my dream to get my music out to the world and have people hear it.

Young people, we have this thing about us, this invincibility, because we're young and we're growing up and we want to have fun, and we want to be crazy, and nothing's wrong with that unless you're not being responsible.

The stylish kids on the street, they're the ones that set the trends. The designers see what they're doing and go and design their line and sell it back to the same kids, and it's like, why not go directly to the source?

I don't think I could walk down the street wearing bubbles or a dress made of ham. What Lady GaGa has done has been kind of amazing. I am the opposite. I wear clothes I would wear on the street. I'm all about a real look.

The thrill in fashion for me is taking a risk and daring myself to make it work. Even when I go shopping, I always buy something twisted and I know I'm going to have to figure out somehow to pull it off and make it my own.

I know that a large part of my fan base is gay. They've shown me love from the start. I mean in this industry, everyone from my glam people to my dancers are gay. You can't be homophobic in this line of work - I'm a pop star!

I would say my relationship with my father has had a bigger impact on me than I knew. Even with the things that I love, the things that I am attracted to. A lot of it stems from the things that I've seen in my life as a child.

I think women want freedom. They want to be empowered. They want hope. They want love; they want all the things that I want, and I'm not afraid to say those things and act on them, and I think that's why they identify with me.

I think I'm like most people - we fear the unknown and the things that have yet to come to pass, which are the very things that don't deserve to be feared. When you give God complete control, it's very hard not to be fearless.

So much has happened in the past five years, I can't speak for the next five. What I want is to continue to grow. Because I am never satisfied; I always want more. I always want to get better. I always want to climb another step.

Whatever I'm feeling, whatever I'm going through, whatever mood I'm in... If I'm feeling like dancing or clubbing, then it will be reflected in the music. If I'm feeling dark and vulnerable, then it will reflect in the music, too.

Something is wrong with Eminem. He has so much in his mind that I almost feel lucky that he has music. I feel like he has so much in his head that music is such a great release for him. He is one of my favorite artists. Absolutely.

I don't ever want to have to depend on a relationship. I think it's a really special thing to find love. It's beautiful. Nothing can match it. But I want to make sure that I find other things in life that I love besides . . . love.

When you realize who you live for, and who's important to please, a lot of people will actually start living. I am never going to get caught up in that. I'm gonna look back on my life and say that I enjoyed it - and I lived it for me.

When it comes to everybody else's thing and their lane and their timing, I'm never doing anything intentional to, like, come after somebody. That will always be my biggest mistake or anybody's biggest mistake if that's their intention.

When I was fourteen and first started going out, I always wanted to be the opposite of everyone else. So I would go to the club in a polo T-shirt and pants and sneakers and a hat on backward, just so I would not be dressed like other girls.

I have a lot of other stuff to accomplish before I get to kids. Whenever the time is right, I'll just know. If I had a girl, she'd probably be really rebellious. She would be like a bundle of karma. I would love to bring them up in Barbados.

When I am putting looks together, I dare myself to make something work. I always look for the most interesting silhouette or something that's a little off, but I have to figure it out. I have to make it me. I think that's the thrill in fashion.

I have always loved kids. They are little adults with so much personality, and it is fun to work with that. Whether that means donating school supplies or medication, or [using my celebrity] to get them a bone marrow transplant, I want to help.

When I was in love, I fell so hard. I was really, really, really in love. The way it made me feel was priceless. And in a blink of an eye, my whole life changed. Everything that I knew was different. I never thought I'd feel that pain in my life.

Fashion for me is another way I get to express myself creatively. It is one of the fun things I get to do: to play dress-up, and create outfits and looks that aren't typical. I am an artist, so I like creating things. Shoes are my favorite thing.

I have always loved kids. They are little adults with so much personality, and it is fun to work with that. Whether that means donating school supplies or medication, or using my celebrity status to get them a bone marrow transplant, I want to help.

I think honesty is the ultimate liberation in life. People want to shy away from the truth and keep sweeping it under the rug. But after a while, you pick up the rug and there's just way too much dirt, so you might as well just be up front about it.

I feel like I'm being watched. Always. Like, I want to tan topless somewhere, and I know I probably could never do that. Even if I'm upstairs in my bedroom, and the curtains are pulled, I feel like a paparazzo's outside on a boat somewhere, or somebody's peeping.

You just want something else that someone else has, but that doesn't mean what you have isn't beautiful, because people always want what you have, and you always want what they have - no one is ever 100 per cent like, 'Yes, I'm the bomb dot com - from head to toe!'

I used to feel unsafe right in the moment of an accomplishment - I felt the ground fall from under my feet because this could be the end. And even now, while everyone is celebrating, I'm on to the next thing. I don't want to get lost in this big cushion of success.

Even now I will go to, like, an industry event, and all the ladies will be over here and all the guys over here, and I will go to the guys' table and sit because I just feel I can have a much better conversation over there. And that's automatic; it's not prejudice.

The music is an important and crucial part to an animated film. You don't think about it, but you can watch Tom and Jerry with no words, for hours, and the music dictates the emotion and where the story is going and how you're supposed to feel. Everything is in the music.

I don't have time to be lonely. And I get fearful of relationships because I feel guilty about wanting someone to be completely faithful and loyal, when I can't even give them 10 percent of the attention that they need. It's just the reality of my time, my life, my schedule.

If I ever go to West Africa, it would probably be for a free concert. I would want to do something for the people there. Maybe we can make a whole event, the way Bob Marley would have done it. Just for the people. And if they climb over the gate, let them climb over the gate.

There's a long way to fall when you pretend that you're so far away from the earth, far away from reality, floating in a bubble that's protected by fame or success. It's scary, and it's the thing I fear the most: to be swallowed up by that bubble. It can be poison to you, fame.

I'm turned on by guys who are cultured. That'll keep me intrigued. They don't have to have a single degree, but they should speak other languages or know things about other parts of the world or history or certain artists or musicians. I like to be taught. I like to sit on that side of the table.

Anything that feels familiar and comfortable [is home]. It's wherever I feel safe and safest. Most of the time, that's just Barbados. It's warm, it's beautiful, it's the beach, it's my family, it's the food, it's the music. Everything feels familiar, feels right and feels safe. So, Barbados is home for me.

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