Music is unique because you can get behind enemy lines a little bit, get into people's houses and into their heads, on their stereos, and win hearts and minds.
Music can kind of make you one-dimensional. People see what's on the surface and what you rap about, and they make their decision on who you are from there.
I make my guitar scream with pain or pleasure or sensuality. It makes people move their feet and shake their bodies. That's what music does.
That's what I care about is the people I work with and representing them and helping to make their music apparent for the rest of the world.
I'm definitely interested in making more music and uploading new covers; I like to take suggestions because it's more fun if people know the song.
To me, it's all about opening all the doors and getting people to be not only prolific, but creative and having control of their music.
The Internet is overrated. It's much smaller an innovation than people think it is. I don't think it's changed the way anybody makes music.
Music is a powerful tool in galvanizing people around an issue. There's no better way to get your point across than to put it in a beautiful song.
I always say that the problem with jazz accessibility is not the content of the music, it's people's ability to access it.
I have observed, too, that the people of the many countries that I have visited are showing an ever increasing interest in the classical and traditional music of their own cultures.
Music creates a certain mood and then people dress accordingly. I think it's all quite closely intertwined.
For a long time I was interested in being a social worker. In a lot of ways I feel that that's all my music is, trying to help people.
My general take on American music since 1969 is that it's just getting stiffer and people are getting more uptight - audience, performance, and palace guard.
I think music has the power to transform people, and in doing so, it has the power to transform situations - some large and some small.
I think that the jazzy approach that I have is based on the way that I hear music and in the way I play a supporting role to the other people in the band.
I won't lie - when you're first bringing out music and you want people to notice, you probably overdo it, especially as a girl.
When you look at anyone's iPod or iPhone and their music collection on there, it's not the same 10 songs. People like diversity.
Apparently, there's this whole set of disgruntled people but obviously it's not my intention to offend anyone by changing the style of music that I've done.
We live in a connected world now. Some find that frightening. If people are downloading our music, they're listening to it. The internet is like radio for us.
Not to speak disparagingly of Justin Bieber or Rihanna, but they're not so hands-on with their image or their sound. They don't write the music. They have people doing things for them.
It is so characteristic, that just when the mechanics of reproduction are so vastly improved, there are fewer and fewer people who know how the music should be played.
