Good soul music should make you feel something in your heart, in your body, and in your spirit. That's what I try to do both in the studio and on stage.
Goapele
As I get older, my perspective changes, and I just see how relationships aren't always what they appear to be. It's one of those sad but true things. We can see sometimes when people are becoming distant in all the things that create breaking apart, as painful as it is, and at the same time, still appreciating that person.
Instagram is a personal subscription. It's like your own personal magazine. It's like doing a photo shoot for no money, which is cool.
I feel happy with myself when I go to the steam room and steam my face. But truth be told, my ultimate beauty indulgence is lip balm - I can't go an hour without lip balm.
When I'm singing, I can see so many people, and I can see their response and everything. And being somewhere like the Hollywood Bowl, I'm seeing those immediate people in front of me, but other than that, it's just dots, and I'm just imagining who's out there and imagining their responses.
I think police brutality has been going on since - I don't know - ever since I can remember and, you know, hearing about it in my childhood.
I have a lot of family in South Africa, but I grew up in California. I feel like my name keeps me connected to a long line of people that have been through a heck of a lot. It reminds me to stay grateful, and it reminds me to try and step my game up if I'm slacking.
I think it's possible to be a great mother and have a successful career. I like that more women are doing this.
How I started my musical career, officially, was really, like, my family and I deciding to put out, you know, the 'Closer' album that started really small, you know, with a vision that we'd make it pass there.
I think it's okay to be vulnerable and ask for support when you need it. It's something more women have to do because it's not easy.
I don't wear that much makeup. I'll do a little concealer here and there and apply some mascara. It just depends on how I'm feeling that day, but I try and go days without makeup just because I think it's healthier for skin to breathe.
There are some parents who always have their daughter's hair whipped. Mine wasn't always like that, but I appreciate that both my parents were into me having natural hair, so they did find Anota Scott, who I was going to for my cornrows and wrapping last year and a couple years before that.
I wanted it to be back to a state where it felt like it was thriving, so I think that my hair's happiest natural, and there's that hairstyle for everyone where you feel like, 'My hair is agreeing with this,' so I just cut it off recently again, and I'm going back natural.
I did a track with Khao, out of Atlanta, who's worked with T.I. Did a track with Maylay, who did a lot with John Legend's album. I got in the studio with Kanye West; we did a song. The dedication for the career takes a lot of work, but if you love it, it's worth it.
I think glass has so many different forms. Sometimes it comes off as something so breakable and fragile, but it's amazingly strong. It starts as sand, and it takes on different lives, but it is breakable.
I'd been doing shows, but I slowed down because I had a daughter and got to spend some time having more of a family life.
'Stay' is all about how to stay in a relationship past the newness and love stronger.
Kanye and I spoke of working together and started an idea that we didn't get to finish.
I tend to write a lot of love songs, but I always want there to be something real and authentic that people can connect to, and I want to not just do it in a stereotypical way.
I want people to feel inspired. I want people to feel good. I want people to feel something. I want people to strive for what they want in their life, and I want them to heal from anything that's hurting them.
Women, goals, empowerment, well-being, and women's health has always been important to me.
I understand it for marketing purposes, but I've always hated defining myself with a genre. Nothing feels broad enough.
When I feel better looking in the mirror, it makes me feel more uplifted. I feel like what that image has been has shifted in different ways, and that's probably why I'm always changing: because I start getting bored, and I don't like feeling locked into anything.
I say that I do soul, R&B music. I have so many influences, from Billie Holiday, Nina Simone to Stevie Wonder and Prince and even Al Green and Bjork. And a lot of hip hop music has influenced me a lot - you know - De La Soul and Digital Underground and A Tribe Called Quest.
It's always liberating to feel like I'm changing my hair and know that my fans are supporting that. I like to feel like I'm really expressing myself, and when people embrace it, it feels like an authentic connection.
I didn't want to be taken advantage of and burnt out in the industry. I worked with my family really closely, so I was able to get that respect in the industry. So now I feel that I can let my guard down. People know who I am; I can be myself. I can be more versatile, and I can wear what I want.
Sometimes it's isolating, but just being in the music industry that is just dominated by men, I think it means I have to be comfortable and confident in myself and not really care that people think I'm bossy and opinionated and also try and balance that energy.
There are a lot of classic Goapele tracks that are obviously me. And I'm also just trying to keep evolving and grow as an artist. I've always had a wish list of producers I wanted to work with. I just wait until the feeling is mutual and go into the studio to see what we can come up with.
'Break of Dawn,' musically, is still soulful and eclectic, but I think I opened up a little bit more vocally. It's a little more intimate. It's a little more sensual than before - and pensive.
Africa doesn't look like it's changed that much to me since I first went in '94. There is still a major economic divide, but the rights of Africans have changed and progressed.
I feel, in my live shows, I can be as dynamic as I want. It's my comfort zone. When I get in the studio, it's more of a solitary experience, which can be good creatively.
I want to create a different kind of legacy.
When I first was putting out music, I was like, 'I don't want to be overly sexy or do too much with the imaging or show too much skin, and I want to make sure my lyrics are balanced.'
Whenever I have short ,it's important for me to be inspired by people with short hair.
I believe, as artists, I do think we have a responsibility, and there's also a place for a lot of different artists. It is nice when music captures the honesty of the time but also what we're going through in that moment.
Mos is a true artist who has a story to tell and gives back through his music. He remixed my song 'Different' in 2005, and the song we're working on now will be one of my future projects.
I'm extremely proud I was born and raised in the Bay Area and loved representing Oakland. I started recording in the Bay Area and worked with a lot of different producers. But I always wanted to collaborate with different writers and get different perspectives.
I believe in reflecting honesty and reflecting reality in my music and making music that touches people emotionally - music that can bring us together.
Even if a song has shallow lyrics, there's something that you feel, regardless of what their lyrics are.
Get a good lawyer because sometimes it's hard to understand what you might or might not be agreeing to.
E-40 is another person I love working with because he is so entertaining.
In high school, I started training, singing with choirs, and getting voice lessons and doing a lot of creative writing and decided that that's really what I wanted to pursue as a career, and that's what I was going to study.
TV is something that I've been interested in for a while. It's a new experience, but I'm excited about it.
I'm thankful that my daughter's father has allowed me to do what I do because that really makes a difference. I do believe a woman can have it all.
There were a lot of anti-apartheid rallies and marches and concerts that we would go to as a family. And music was a big part of that. It was never just the politics.
I've experienced a lot of creative freedom because I'm on a family label. It was nice to put out what I wanted to say and do what I wanted to do.
I enjoy being able to do different kinds of music, not just to be eclectic but because those are all a part of me.
I care about a lot of social issues, and I care about fashion.
I did struggle with what I want to say socially, but it's important to reflect where I'm at mentally.
I'm looking to immerse myself more in the entertainment community and possibly get into doing some acting. Music is my first love, what I was most naturally drawn to and choose to study. Getting into the acting world is like a new exciting challenge.
