Why not be a person who is loving towards humankind as a whole and people as individuals?
When someone is themselves through their music, it's soul music. James Taylor is soul music to me 'cause it's just him talking about him. It doesn't have anything to do with black or growing up in the church; it's where it comes from. It's just soul music.
I'm really judgmental, especially about things that I feel make my life harder.
There's just something creatively fulfilling about watching a movie and writing a song for it because it helps you put on another pair of shoes.
I've spent my entire life trying to figure out why I was different than everybody else. Why is my voice so deep? Why am I so muscular?
Nina Simone sacrificed so much to be as bold as she was about being black and about being female in an era where that could have cost her life.
I loved her music and the fact that she was a classically trained pianist and that her voice was so unique, but what made Nina Simone my hero is that I had never seen anyone in the public eye who looked anything like me at all, ever.
I want my music to be a contribution, and I want the people who love me on Earth and in Heaven to be proud of who I am, and I want to be proud of myself, and I don't want to look back and say, 'Oh God, why did I say that?'
Everybody has a spiritual body. Everybody has a physical body, and so your spiritual body is the stuff that holds all of your emotions like your body holds your organs, your food, your muscles, your water. Your spiritual body holds your emotional state and your mental state.
I always felt like - I mean, I was told, really - I couldn't go too far with the productions because it didn't appeal to black radio. It wasn't until I decided I was going to do what I wanted to do or I was going to quit that I empowered myself. I took my power back.
I do believe in prophecy.
Some people say, 'If she's so real, why does she call herself with a made-up name?' Well, India is my real name. Or they say, 'If she's so real, why does she wear makeup?' I didn't know there was anything wrong with makeup.
Sound is energy, and that energy resonates with your energy. And it gives you a certain feeling.
I'm not just making rhymes and making melodies. I'm expressing my true life force, energy.
When it comes down to the song writing, I'm just very slow - very slow. Because the songs are about my life, so I'm doing emotional work on myself.
What I love about Stevie Wonder is the way he makes people feel. He's one of the best examples of how music can heal.
Could a person really make a social contribution through music consciously? I mean, beyond making a person happy to hear the song and more making a social contribution consciously through your music? For me, Stevie Wonder is the paragon of that. And I didn't want to be Stevie Wonder, but I did want to do what he does.
I always have something by Stevie Wonder in my CD player.
I was scared of failing, and I was scared of succeeding. I just wanted to be in a safe space and not grow too big or be too little.
Music lives in my mother - she's played in bands in Detroit and toured and did the whole thing. So I have somebody who's done it all to just talk to. And we write songs together.
