I believe in reflecting honesty and reflecting reality in my music and making music that touches people emotionally - music that can bring us together.
— Goapele
'Stay' is all about how to stay in a relationship past the newness and love stronger.
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 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.
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.
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 care about a lot of social issues, and I care about fashion.
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 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.
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.
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 think it's possible to be a great mother and have a successful career. I like that more women are doing this.
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.
'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.
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.
Kanye and I spoke of working together and started an idea that we didn't get to finish.
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.
Sometimes I'm just like, 'I cannot hold onto this anymore,' and it's time to say something. And at the end of the day, I've just got to let it go and be true to myself. Whatever comes out comes out.
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.
My hair story has been unique because my mom's a German Jew, so her hair is way different than my hair. She was always learning on my hair growing up, but I would sit there for hours, and she did learn how to braid hair. Early on, it was a lot of tears while my mom was braiding my hair.
I wash and moisturize my face in the morning and at night. If I have a show, I may even wash before and after the show. I never go to sleep with makeup on my face. At the minimum, I'm at least going to use makeup wipes to take my makeup off.
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.
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.
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'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.
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 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.
Women, goals, empowerment, well-being, and women's health has always been important to me.
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.
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.
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.
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.
E-40 is another person I love working with because he is so entertaining.
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.
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.
Overall, I just wanted to release music that would take people through life's different emotions.
Whenever I have short ,it's important for me to be inspired by people with short hair.
I did struggle with what I want to say socially, but it's important to reflect where I'm at mentally.
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 want to create a different kind of legacy.
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 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'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.
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.
TV is something that I've been interested in for a while. It's a new experience, but I'm excited about it.
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.
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.'
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.
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.
