I like to rate myself as a performer upfront, both in films as well as in television.
I was both loved and hated for being upfront. But I was just being myself.
Right after 'Idol,' I was like, 'I've got to become a totally different person. I gotta upgrade myself.' I can't just stand there and be all shy and sing.
I would uphold the law if for no other reason but to protect myself.
When I was in college, I lived in a mostly black, poor neighborhood. That's where I grew up, but I attended a mostly white upper-class school in conservative Mississippi. I was often very aware of how I presented myself.
If I could give my younger self some advice at that time, I'd tell her to enjoy the ride and don't be afraid to ask questions. I was quite responsible, uptight, and worried - I'd tell myself to chill out.
I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in Brooklyn. It's what gave me my drive to succeed, the upward mobility I've been after my whole life.
I love distracting myself, just like anyone else. But I also feel a more urgent need in myself to make an effort, to be present, and to try to be something that is in favor of life. Of human life.
I think depression creates in me an urgent need to write, but I also believe that daily stress, and even the positive 'stress' of intense happiness, can compel me to express myself through the written word.
I went to USC where there's a huge Greek system. The school is in a pretty seedy area, so the only social life is at these fraternities. I never joined one myself, but I had a lot of friends who were in frats and I would go to those parties. I had a healthy dose of being around frat life while I was in school.
I never hated my father. I would have named my child Usher regardless. I never hated myself because I carried his name, because I made it mean what I wanted it to mean.
Nothing I do is ever void of melody. I know it might seem like I'm doing a lot of rapping, but I'm always utilizing tone and trying to find a key signature. So, I don't look at myself as a rapper.
I think of life itself now as a wonderful play that I've written for myself, and so my purpose is to have the utmost fun playing my part.
My father instilled in me - of utmost importance and innate in me is the yearning to determine for myself - to define God, to define holiness for myself.
I myself have the utmost respect for Coach Coughlin.
Actually, between books is precisely when I do give myself vacations.
As a writer myself, my job has very often been to also write on the job. So you get the script and a vague idea of how the scene might work, and you then add funny words or change the script. I'm not the world's best writer or the world's best actor, but I can do that thing where I can fix - or ruin - fix-slash-ruin, add quirk, add value.
I'm vaguely embarrassed by myself sometimes.
Facebook became ubiquitous when I was 16, so I vaguely formed a sense of myself a little bit. I had kind of learned to think a little bit before the stuff was everywhere.
I wish I didn't have to validate myself by reading reviews.
