All you needed back then was a blow dryer and a dream.
And I'm also looking for a comeback record and it has to touch a lot of people.
But once you strip that down, you realize it's all about a voice, like a Norah Jones - that's inspiring to me.
By the second record I started understanding diet, and cut back on the drinking.
By the second tour I had rice cakes and hummus with me, and I was jumping rope in my room.
Did people think I sounded black? Totally, but that was a marketing tool as well, but also this is how I grew up and these are my influences.
Fortunately, through the years I've trained with a couple of wonderful teachers.
I came out the box and for seven years I had a huge career. And then it's done, it's dumped. But I ain't gone, and I refuse to be gone.
I do a lot of work with Kabala - I have for two years.
I do boot camp now. I go to Barry's. I really enjoy it because it's for one hour and it's just balls out. You're dying by the end of the hour.
I grew up in New York and my friends and I were hanging out on 2nd Avenue and 8th Street. I wore a lot of clothing by Nasty Habits.
I have to be very careful about diet and exercise.
I just try to get out of my own way because if anyone is their own worst enemy, it's usually you.
I never even did blow; I had no desire.
I smoked some pot as a kid, but I just never did drugs.
I started working out with a trainer and I immediately saw results.
I touched a lot of people internationally, and Rodney's a very smart business man, he knows you have to go for a broader and bigger audience.
I was on that dance punk. vibe; punk with curves, because I always had the curves.
I would sing in the shower, or along with the radio - a little transistor by the pool.
I'm naturally pretty muscular so when I exercise I can either build up or it can turn into one big weight gain on my scale.
I'm not looking to go out there and make a rhythmic Timbaland track.
I've had enough boyfriends and enough issues. I'd seen enough train wrecks.
If anything changes shape or takes off without me, I'll come after you and kill you. I'm too type A.
If we were truly in the studio making a record, it would have been more time consuming, and certainly I would have been more involved in the writing process.
Last thing I need is to take LSD or mushrooms.
My current mantra is that sometimes we need teachers in our lives. I never had that in my life, parents and stuff like that; I tried to stay on the outside of them or anybody that had that kind of influence.
My first tour I was on the road for 18 months. You're just out there promoting.
My tastes and inspirational artists were always rather eclectic and diverse.
Plus, I am paranoid by nature. I need to be in control.
So when I'm working out I do things extreme.
That's really my goal now. I'm trying to be a positive role model to my kids and to just enjoy this ride, because it's hard. It's hard to enjoy it when you're in it.
Then when I evolved from my first record to my second record, I sleeked down.
This is one hell of a business I picked to be in.
To me, it was about finding new opportunities. I know my voice touches people. It has for years. I can't give that up.
Well, honey, I had the million dollar houses, I had the car, I had the horse, I had the barn; I had everything. Was I set free? I didn't even know what that meant.
When I first broke I didn't work out at all. I was a child, what the hell did I know?
When I first came out, like a lot of the artists at that time, I had a very polished, very overproduced sound.
You're not going to put me on a J Lo or Destiny's Child track and think it's gonna work, and that's what Rodney's famous for.
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