Kehlani

“Me being so open just helps other people. People feel like they know me so much that they can talk to me all of the time about really personal things. Sometimes it's really nice and comforting. It depends on the person, whether they're creepy or not.”

“You start singing by singing what you hear. So everyone, when they first start singing, they naturally are singing like whatever they're hearing, because that's the only way you learned how to sing. So when I was growing up on Lauryn Hill, when I started singing her songs, I literally trained my voice to be able to do runs.”

“I was in art school, and we had all these random classes. We'd listen to a lot of Bollywood. I'd listen to Spanish music - and I don't even speak Spanish, but Hector Lavoe is amazing - we listened to French music like Edith Piaf. She's tight. I like cool vocal inflections; I like cool sounds. I pretty much listen to anything I think is good.”

“I want babies before I'm 25. I want to bring my babies on the road and bring them to concerts and raise them in the studio.”

“I just remember falling in love with the old Chris Brown music, where it was, like, that real R&B, and I love the radio smashes he's put out since then, but I go back to his older music for that R&B.”

“My pops passed when I was little. I didn't have a dad around to tell me certain things. I didn't have my biological mother.”

“I think my main two songs are 'FWU' and 'Get Away.' 'FWU' made a cool point because it came out right after Chris Brown's 'Loyal' came out. I combated it with 'FWU,' a song that basically says, 'These women are loyal.'”

“I went from broke and homeless sleeping on couches. Couldn't even figure out what I was doing in Los Angeles. Now, I'm paying my own bills. I'm about to move my mama in with me at 19. I'm on tour now, and this is all off of one mixtape.”

“There's girls that grew up like me and even worse, and they need to know that there is someone out there that can give them hope with my music. It's about inspiring people and helping people.”

“I write most of my songs to beats. I play around on guitar, but not enough to where I can compose my own stuff or play solos. I can accompany myself 'cause most songs are, like, four chords.”

“Stardom is a crazy thought. If that's what my path is, then that's where I'm excited to be headed towards.”