CHRISETTE MICHELE

I think everything that happens in life we're prepared for in ways we really don't really know.

I'm an advocate of music in schools. It's important to me that music is in as many schools as possible across this country and across the world. I think that it's a lost art form because kids aren't as exposed to it as maybe they used to be, or should be. I was exposed heavily to jazz and that's why I love it.

I used to be so afraid to say what I really think.

I like trendy clothes just like everybody else does.

When I was in school I used to prank my teachers all the time. But I was really, really nice. I love to make people laugh. And even in those pranks, the teachers would laugh most of the time.

People are mean and hateful, angry - haters everywhere, stupid blogs.

It doesn't take a year to sing a song. Takes a year for people to figure out how to market it.

The truth is an artist like me who doesn't get the type of promotion that we see more commercial artists receive, and especially in this climate of the music business, you have to be creative about how you promote yourself.

I'm going to go out on tour when I feel like going on tour.

My shaven head is my way of saying 'I wont take no for an answer,' it is my way of saying 'I believe in my creativity and artistry.'

Truth is, I cut my hair for freedom, not for beauty.

A female piano player is always pretty cool to me.

Lately though I've been in love with myself and I've become my own best friend.

If you want to put out a song that you wrote yesterday, tomorrow go on Twitter, type in a new URL, and give it to the people!

I like Bloomingdales, and I like a store called Scoop.

My ears sort of turn off when someone tells me that what my heart is saying isn't a good idea.

I have epiphanies all the time, because I'm always thinking. I'm a thinker. I'm always writing poetry, I'm always coming to conclusions.

Meeting all the wonderful, new people and people appreciating my new music has been a really fun and blessed ride.

My hair and I had a really bad argument. She was being sprayed with alcohol and burnt with irons. She was being over processed and yanked and pulled by weave strings and suffocated by glue. She told me if I didn't straighten up and fly right that she was leaving.

Being scared is normal. My technique for erasing it is facing it. Be afraid and brave. Be nervous and courageous. The first few minutes of being scared is your test to see if you're really serious about reaching a goal. Push through anxiety and come out victorious. Fear is just a test. Honor the feeling. Know it's there. Know it's temporary. Face it to erase it.

I rarely do things based on what everybody else is doing; I never have.

Art is love and it covers. It sheilds.

At the end of the day, I think that music lovers are going to love me. I think the pop songs that are on my album will be loved by the pop listeners and the R&B songs will be loved by the R&B people. I think that each song has a broad enough sound that I won't be pigeon holed. At the same time I think it is appealing to many different audiences.

God is in control and knowing that at the end of the day what happens - whether I'm comfortable with it or not or afraid of it or not - that God is in control.

I'm a recording artist who's traveled around the world so I have different opportunities than other people and people may decide how I should use my opportunities because my opportunities are public whereas I can't decide how people should use their opportunities because their opportunities are private. That's what we're dealing with - people feeling like they should be able to control celebrities.