Quotes from India Arie

Sound is energy, and that energy resonates with your energy. And it gives you a certain feeling.

It took me almost wanting to retire to realize that you need to ask for what you need. Everybody needs something different, but whatever it is you need, you need to ask for it and figure out how to get it.

I like being a role model - people have told me that I am a role model for empowered women, but I don't see myself that way.

I think anyone who is ever on TV is a role model for somebody.

There's just something creatively fulfilling about watching a movie and writing a song for it because it helps you put on another pair of shoes.

I like Brandy a lot. She's a vocal prodigy.

I've spent my entire life trying to figure out why I was different than everybody else. Why is my voice so deep? Why am I so muscular?

Basically, I listen to voices. If they write good songs and they can sing, I'll probably like it.

I'm in show business, and I'm an entertainer, but I also see myself as an artist doing social and spiritual work.

I hope that the things that I sing about will be an inspiration for people to be original.

When I perform, I'm just very much just being myself.

Songs like 'Peaceful World' and songs that are responsible with their lyrics and talk about love and harmony can take the forefront and do something for real.

I didn't even listen to Bob Marley until I was 17.

Nina Simone sacrificed so much to be as bold as she was about being black and about being female in an era where that could have cost her life.

When I was growing up, I only saw really brown people on 'The Cosby Show,' and they were rich, and their parents were doctors. It wasn't like my home.

I was scared of failing, and I was scared of succeeding. I just wanted to be in a safe space and not grow too big or be too little.

You wash your hands when you shake a bunch of hands. You have to wash your energy when you're around people. It's hard for me to say self-care is washing, although I think it is. So I made music for self-care. That's what it's for.

With 'Acoustic Soul,' I saw my music as sparse. But I didn't do that because I was making a commitment to be commercial. That's what made 'Acoustic Soul' so difficult to produce. It took 2 1/2 years because I couldn't figure out what I wanted and still be commercial.

It's OK to wear white in the wintertime. Do what you want.

You need to take care of you and fortify yourself and then move out to take care of others.

It was challenging getting myself into the mindset to lose the weight. Once I got there, the weight dropped off quickly.

I know that I pray a lot, and I take time for myself.

Denying any person their humanity is a game we should all stop playing.

If I don't have the right clothes, I feel weird walking out; I don't feel comfortable in what I have on. I have different colors that I want to wear on different days because it makes me feel different.