Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I used to butcher my Barbies. I would draw hearts on their cheeks. I would give them haircuts and I would keep going because it would be uneven and they would be left bald
I'll never totally get away from being who I am, which first, to many, is the daughter of Nat King Cole, which became even more intensified with the 'Unforgettable' album.
I wasn't naturally drawn to fashion when I was younger but with my work I'm so exposed to what's out there that I'm hoping my style has become a little more sophisticated.
I'm 27. I feel like I get it. I'm OK with being sexy if I feel like it. Some days I'm brainy, some days I'm funny, some days I'm sexy, and sometimes, I just want to dance.
A song like 'Loyal To Me,' for example, I originally wrote that for a girl band in mind, that's why it has so many harmonies and it's got that sort of '90s/R&B feel to it.
There's nothing wrong with wearing a hat and cowboy boots if you want to be a country singer. But when you open your mouth, have something new to say. Have your own style.
There was such a lack of modern, recognizable role models for a young girl in the 1950s. I mean, 'Leave It to Beaver' didn't speak to me. That's why I latched on to music.
When I was a kid, I loved Sherlock Holmes. I'm not interested in crimes. I'm interested in the mind of the detective and his process, which to me is a lot like the artist.
[Steven Sebring] presence was also nice for my children, who, having just lost their father, quite naturally craved warm male attention. They gravitated to him right away.
Ornette Coleman is a real musician. He takes all of the things he's thinking about in the world - which is a whole universe upon universe - and translates this into music.
The older I get, the more I see that there really aren't huge zeniths of happiness or a huge abyss of darkness as much as there used to be. I tend to walk a middle ground.
There's something about having people around you giving you support that is - it's motivating, and once I got that support from people then I believed I could do anything.
People speculate on your personal life all the time anyway. So I just think it's important to keep my private life private and my public persona more into music, you know?
When I was around 18, I looked in the mirror and said, 'You're either going to love yourself or hate yourself.' And I decided to love myself. That changed a lot of things.
My whole goal in life was to reach that certain success where people will say, 'Hey, that guy can do anything. He's the Evel Knievel of music. He's jumping over 15 buses!'
I was always very determined and ambitious, and I knew I would do something that would let me travel and stuff, but I didn't know really know what I would do to get there.
I got to go back and perform 'God Made Girls' on 'The Voice,' which was awesome. I also got invited to sing on the 'Grand Ole Opry,' which was another unbelievable moment.
There's this culture where we celebrate people snapping back into shape a week after the birth, but I don't want to be one of those people - I just want to enjoy Arabella.
If somebody wanted to go and find songs of mine to fill an iPod, that aren't on any records. They could probably find dozens of songs besides the ones that are on records.
I will always remember the first show I did clean and sober... It was in New Mexico, in Albuquerque. I literally felt elevated, as everything was coming with such clarity.
Eventually, if you had a printer that is IPP compliant, that printer will have a Web address and anyone around the world who can get on the Internet can print to that URL.
People from the past always seem to have much more time to create beautiful, intricate, delicate things that often reach the future in a kind of curled-up, capsized state.
My own grandmother went to great lengths to make sure I knew simple things like how and when to open the door for a lady. And the best thing my mama taught me was to pray.
I feel like my songs are like diary entries for me. So I usually write about things that have happened to me specifically or sometimes it can be someone who's close to me.
I'm never gonna be somebody who's gonna fall down from the sky on a trapeze. That's not me. I really want to make sure that my focus stays on connecting with the audience.
By giving every child a fair start, we are improving our collective future, including the private sector's ability to find talent in a very competitive global marketplace.
Google+ will never have a user base to rival Facebook's. It just won't. Not even if you include the 'users' who create accounts so that they can use other Google services.
I have a mother who never took no for an answer when it came to her creative pursuits. She started a hair salon in her spare bedroom and four years later had 30 employees.
Why is it so important for you to give back? I honestly feel like it's our responsibility as citizens of the world to ground ourselves in selflessness and all do our part.
I wait till the last minute to do lyrics. I seem to work best that way - bummed out and under pressure. I often don't do my homework. But I'll always walk that extra mile.
I mean, as long as it doesn't have a bra attached, guys can take a risk and wear stylish things that went out of style 30 years ago. As things go around, they come around.
My parents are really conservative. My dad is Muslim, and my mom is the most conservative woman you've ever met. They're very aristocratic in the most quaint suburban way.
I don't listen to my own music, so to me it's awesome that people really like it. I was afraid that it wouldn't connect with everyone. I'm more appreciative than anything.
The little I am exposed to hurts my feelings. The only things I can really control are my songs and my behavior. The rest? If I focused on it, that would lead to insanity.
But I miss screamin' and fightin' And kissin' in the rain And it's two a.m. and I'm cursin' your name You're so in love that you act insane And that's the way I loved you.
It was the night things changed, can you see it now? These walls that they put up to hold us back fell down It's a revolution, throw your hands up, 'cause we never gave in
The craziest part of being on tour is being overseas and having crazed fans so far away from home. They don't speak English, but they still know the lyrics. That's a trip.
Look em in the eye. Make a gesture of inclusion, which he did all the time. And above all, have a chorus. So I learned from Pete Seeger to have something for them to sing.
There's a richness to the old works if you look before the 1950s. The chord progressions and the language was more complicated, especially in the jazz and classical world.
If you think a child is going to be your accessory... it's not like a micro pig. It's not about putting them in front of the television. You need to read to them at night.
I find it really cool when people have this artist persona they can put on. They can go out and act like this other person; I can't pull that off... I can't censor myself.
Sometimes when you're in a more fast-paced place, with more to see and do, you miss out on things like nature and beautiful, God-made things. They call it "God's country"!
If my parents hadn't been made to do that from living in the Bible Belt, maybe it wouldn't be something that matters to me - maybe I wouldn't even know how to talk to God.
When you listen to my music, you hear that there are all these voices going on in different parts of the song. That's because I was always around so many voices in church.
When you hear the music ringin' in your soul And you feel it in your heart and it grows and grows And it comes from the backstreet rock & roll and the healing has begun...
The women who don't feel that people think they're sexy are the ones who seem to titillate in that way, because they don't feel like they're getting that kind of approval.
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple, by the Relief Office, I saw my people - As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if God blessed America for me.
Heartbreak can definitely give you a deeper sensibility for writing songs. I drew on a lot of heartbreak when I was writing my first album, I didn't mean to but I just did.
Everyone's just extracting meaning and feeling and emotion from almost every aspect of music, and I think that for me, it's a huge antidote to that to have a concept album.
I've been doing a lot of different cross-training and kickboxing and Capoeira and kite surfing, and I've just really been back to what I consider my original athletic self.