Tinashe

“For most artists, you take what you have and who you are, and then you expand on it to make it more entertaining. Everyone knows actors aren't the same people that they play in movies, but people somehow expect musicians to be a certain way all the time!”

“I was in a competing company and have been dancing since I was four - ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop - so it's a huge part of my life and my music.”

“It's never one solitary event that has changed my life. It's a bunch of little pieces that built and built up to where I am now.”

“There was never really a Plan B for me - I always wanted to be a music artist.”

“My tunnel vision work ethic is very hard to come by, I believe. I have had an unwavering faith in myself and my career for as long as I can remember.”

“I love fashion. For me, it's always interesting because I like to be able to mix up different styles and different brands, kind of like how my music taste or personality is. There's lots of influences.”

“It's important for me to put out things that I think are good - I want to be a fan of my own stuff. I also want my live shows to be really awesome, and dance is such an important element for me and my performances.”

“I take my craft seriously, of course, but I don't feel the need to always play a certain character or a certain part or persona. I'm not going to cut something out of my life because it's not 'my image.' I want to be open enough that if I love something, I can do it, and it will add to myself as an entertainer.”

“Because everybody always encouraged me to sing, I assumed that I wasn't bad at it. It felt like it was obvious what I was going to pursue. I thought I was good for as long as I can remember.”

“Fashion is an extension of expressing who you are. I love to entertain and put on a show. And that's definitely a part of that.”

“The craziest part of being on tour is being overseas and having crazed fans so far away from home. They don't speak English, but they still know the lyrics. That's a trip.”

“I think my ultimate fashion icon would have to be Gwen Stefani. I love her persona; I love what she embodies and represents. I love the fact that she was a girl fronting a band of boys in No Doubt.”

“I was in my first movie when I was five. I just loved to entertain and put on a show.”

“I'm always about having integrity with my fans and staying true to what I say.”

“I feel like, at the end of the day, I always would try to make music that I wanted to listen to: stuff that I liked and wanted to hear.”

“I'm the type of person that doesn't like to wait for people to do things for me, and I never want to feel stuck. Why sit around and be like, 'I wish my label would book me some studio time,' if I can just buy my own studio equipment and figure out how to run Pro Tools and record it myself?”

“My music is a direct reflection of the eclectic person I am. I don't like to be stuck in an R&B box.”

“My dad's from Zimbabwe, and my mom is Danish, Irish, and Norwegian, so I have influences from a lot of different places.”

“We are so caught up in our media, in our jobs, in our gossip, and in our consuming that we genuinely feel like we don't have the time or energy to bother ourselves with the tribulations of nations near and far.”

“I want people to know that I'm a force to be reckoned with.”