" What I write is all from my imagination. Fact is, I haven't had time to experience all that, but that doesn't mean to say that I don't write from the heart, because I do. I put myself in other women's shoes, I can feel their pain and joy when I think about it. It's all the same, we're all women. "
" Full and unconditional trust of another. The desire to be with them all the time, but the knowledge that you shouldn't be with them all the time, and the ability to separate yourself. And to come back to them. "
" I don't mind being compared to Whitney, there are people miles worse to be compared to, but if you really listen there's a difference. "
" When you start believing the hype, that's when you go downhill. I definitely feel the same person I was two years ago when no one wanted to listen to my tape. That's what keeps me grounded. Maybe because I'm doing the same thing, music - that's what gives me the most pleasure. The rush of being new and hot can fade, it will fade, but the music will always be there. "
" I prayed very hard for this to happen and it happened. I don't even think about what I've achieved, I haven't focused on it and I wish I had, because I really want to enjoy it, and I don't know if I am enjoying it, because I am going through my life like a bulldozer. I still haven't marvelled at it. "
" I've been disillusioned a lot, especially in the past year. I think I am being constantly let down. I'm sure I'm a giving person and a loyal person. I've tried to hold onto friends from High School, but suddenly it's like Oh I know her I'm like a topic of conversation. Since I was a kid I've always always thought of myself as a hard-ass, street-wise, not vulnerable - but I am. "
" Maybe someone will hear one of my singles and go, Oh please, that's such a tired lyric. And I acknowledge, yeah, I just had to get that finished - it fit but wasn't the most moving line I ever wrote. But then you look at album tracks like The Wind which is about a friend of mine who died because of a drunk driving accident. "
" Any women operating within the genre are competing for radio play and chart space, but that's as far as it goes. Janet Jackson has a record out the same week as me? Good. There's room for everyone. "
" I'll just say that my family has problems, and some are more intense than others. "
" If you see me as just the princess then you misunderstand who I am and what I have been through. "
" I've grown up doing this. But a lot of weird jealousy crap comes into play, from people I thought were true friends, people I brought all over the country with me and did all I could or, who turned out to be vicious and back-stabbing. "
" If critics have problems with my personal life, it's their problem. Anybody with half a brain would realize that it's the charts that count. "
" I'm grateful for my success, even though things happened very quickly for me. I knew I never would have given up, no matter how long it would have taken me to get here. "
" When I wear something on stage I have to be super careful of the details. I can't wear anything that's extremely tight fitting in the middle section, because I need so much abdominal control to hit the high notes. I can't risk anything. "
" I think there are some artists out there who have gone over board with the fashion thing. I think it really hurt their careers. I don't need to be done up like a Barbie doll. I don't want the fashion to outshine the music. I'm not one of those people who feels I need to change my look every five minutes, because I'm overcompensating for, uh, other areas. "
" It's hard to be someone that people talk about and write about, you know?  They don't know me. "
" I'm really fortunate. I'm really happy, and I'm really really lucky to be where I am. "
" A lot of people are singing about how screwed up the world is, and I don't think that everybody wants to hear about that all the time. "
" If you see me as just the princess then you misunderstand who I am and what I've been through. "
" There's never been anything else in my life that inspired me at all. It's crazy, but I've always loved music and I've always known this was what I wanted to do.  I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a singer. "
" I always felt like the rug could be pulled out from under me at anytime.  And coming from a racially mixed background, I always felt like I didn't really fit in anywhere. "
" The truth is that you can't make people go into a store and buy an album, the music has to do that... The  success I am having is because of the people relating to my music. "
" People all of a sudden just see me and hear me having hit records and it seems to have come out of the blue.  But really I have been working towards this my whole life, and this is what I say when people say I haven't paid my dues. " mybutterfly@heartthrob.com Disclaimer:All pictures and information on this site collected from various sources.  Images, sounds, and video clips are solely owned by (c)Sony Music Entertainment Inc./"Columbia" is the exclusive trademark of Sony Music Entertainment Inc./Distribution Sony Music. No infringement of rights is meant or implied.  This site is purely non-commercial and no violation of copyright was intentional. This site is run non-profit for fan purposes only.