Soul music is true to its name. It's music that connects to your soul, your spirit. When music resonates with people's spirit like that, when people can emotionally connect with something or it helps to heal them, transform them, that never goes out of style. People will always need something to relate to.
Andra Day
I think gratitude is a big thing. It puts you in a place where you're humble.
I'm inherently a chameleon... to not evolve is to not live.
I was heavily influenced by big voices when I was younger. People like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti Labelle really spoke to me. When I got older, I was into Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, and Lauryn Hill, but it wasn't until I started working with a voice coach that I really dove into jazz music.
My style icons are Lucille Ball for her bouffant hair and all the updos, James Dean for his rockabilly style - the denim and rolled-up T-shirt thing. And I am also inspired by Dita Von Teese and Gwen Stefani. Their style is retro, but it's still very feminine at the same time.
I was living with my mom in a tiny apartment in Chula Vista, near Third and H Street behind the 7-Eleven. It was crazy to be on the phone with Stevie Wonder. I felt like a meteor hit our apartment!
That's why I loved Dinah Washington. She sung jazz, but they called her the Queen of the Blues. She had the control and sophistication of jazz in her note selection and how to attack a song or certain lines, but then attacked it with a painful force of blues behind it. That's why I admired her so much, because of that versatility.
I've been blessed with so many opportunities and so many amazing things throughout this process. But all the while, I remember that the reason that I'm here and the reason that I do music and tell these stories is that people come to know the love, the God that I know.
Tony Bennett is an iconic jazz legend.
I give credit to my team. I have dedicated people from my label, my fans, and people at these companies that believe in me.
Whichever chord progressions move me, whether it's rock, jazz, doo-wop or soul, I'm going to put it together and not be worried about whether people can put it in a lane or not.
The elementary school I went to, Valencia Park, was focused on the arts.
I always loved music and was drawn to it and affected by it. But it wasn't until I got to San Diego that I started exploring music more.
I gleaned different style ideas over the years. In Southern California, there is a big rockabilly sub-culture. So when I would go to car shows, I would see women dressed like this. I had a teacher in high school that always had her Bette Paige bangs.
I danced for a while, and I knew I could sing, so I just began singing in a praise band at church and doing musical theater and jazz vocal performance in school. One didn't really lead to another; I was just always interested in the performance arts.
I'm a hip-hop fan, and I'm a Southern Cali girl.
I want people to know my truth. Unconditional love of God and each other.
My idols are singers like Billie Holiday and Erykah Badu because there's no gloss on what they do.
The reach of Coke and McDonald's is undeniable, and I'm thrilled these iconic brands are joining forces to inspire local communities through messages of peace and motivation in unique ways. It's an added bonus that they are using the lyrics to 'Rise Up' as a part of those messages.
I love the Black Keys because I love that guy's voice.
I play with doing a forehead bun a lot, just a bantu knot right in front of the forehead and keep it in with a clip. And I like doing real pinup styles but based on my natural hair.
When I heard Billie Holiday's voice, Nina Simone's and Ella Fitzgerald's - there was something about their voices to me that was such a different texture than what I was used to listening to at the time. Hearing those jazz voices were so different, and I think I just gravitated toward it.
I went to a performing arts school, and we studied musical theater, jazz vocal performance, and they kind of start you out on those things because they feel like it is a good foundation, and it was.
I love hip-hop, and everybody knows that.
I loved Lauryn Hill; I loved the Fugees.
Once you see how powerful music is and how it can affect people, then you want to use it to impact the world.
At my shows, I like everyone to have a good time... but, I like for us to be real because there's freedom in that.
No matter how dark or precarious it may seem, continue to pursue your truth.
I really like jazz and soul, but I also love so many other types of music, and I didn't want to be afraid to blend and experiment.
I decided to see how my voice sounds on different type of records. So I did Eminem and the Biggie, Florence and the Machine, and Muse covers. A couple of them just came from some jam sessions between me and my sister in her bedroom at my father's house in San Diego.
I'm grateful for the fans who've been there from the beginning and am excited about how we've grown and how we've evolved now.
Musically, I try not to box things in. I try to just play around this spectrum of influences: soul, jazz, and hip-hop.
I'm excited for the audiences to hear the title track, 'Cheers to the Fall,' plus 'Red Flags' and 'Rearview.'
I knew that I could sing when I was young. I would listen to a lot of jazz; I'm a big jazz fan. When I first got to high school and studied musical theater, I could sing. But I added certain things to my voice, and I realized after graduating high school that this is the kind of voice I had. It's not very nimble, but it's heavy.
I didn't want to box it in or say this show caters to this type of person... I think the tide of music is changing. We don't have to worry about rules. We should just do what feels good.
When I'm not working, I still love bright colors and patterns, but I choose pieces that are much more casual - I call it my lazy pinup look.
When you walk in the front of the White House, the pictures on the walls, they change out pretty frequently. They're all very cool and historical, with pictures from the current term and past terms.
Throughout my life, I've had consistent DNA.
I tell people all the time - I'm a very spiritual person, so I pray over everything that I do including creating music, a new song.
Listening to the stories told in jazz music and how those artists expressed their truths about the times and what they were dealing with is what struck me the most.
The album 'Cheers to the Fall' is really kind of me breaking out and being like, 'Listen, I don't care about criticism, and I don't care about possibility of failure. I'm going to do it. And if I do fail, well then, here's to it.'
As my face got cleaner, my relationships got cleaner.
I search for items that have history, like vintage finds - I love fur kitten-heel house slippers from the 1950s - and pieces from fashion houses that have been around for a long time, like Chanel and Dior.
Performing at the TMCF Awards Gala is so exciting.
It would have been so awesome to be born in the Thirties and be in your prime in the Fifties. Except for the whole being black thing, obviously!
I always felt more comfortable with a full face of makeup.
I style my hair so frequently that I need a really good conditioner to keep it moisturized.
I established early what I was and wasn't willing to accept. People tried to say what I had to do, whether it be pop or R&B, to be successful. Even when I was in the girl group, they would try to make our voices sound very radio-friendly and fit that mold. But even before I got signed, I knew who I was and who I wanted to be.
My family wasn't in the music business, but they loved music.
Actors and singers share common ground in that they both express something.
