'I nearly didn't get here because there wasn't a red carpet for me.'

'I don't mind being compared to Whitney [Houston], there are people miles worse to be compared to.'

'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.'

'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 i…