I started dancing when I was about four, and my mother put me into dancing school, and I did every type of dance there is.
— Mya
I've always wanted to be a live singer and have dance be the complement.
I realized that I really couldn't worry about what people think of me.
The people that I associate with, the circle that I keep, is real simple, and sometimes we think or we're trained to believe that you always have to have more, more, more to make ourselves feel happy or beautiful, but it's the other way around for me. Simplicity is sexy.
People will always have an opinion. Even if you're over here saving the world, there is a group of people that will love you and a group of people that will always hate you no matter what you do.
I'm very bold and say what I feel. That doesn't mean I ruffle feathers. It means I'm being honest.
No matter the genre, music is a universal language and vibration that people can feel all over.
Life is too short to hold on to the past and grudges.
To take a whole load for a whole album on yourself is very challenging and kind of hard to execute when you don't have a reputation as a producer. If you do it for fun, you get a good outcome.
I can't always get to the gym, but I make a gym wherever I am: on the floor or on a yoga mat with bodyweight-bearing exercises like sit-ups and crunches, push-ups, lunges, squats.
People have linked me to a lot of people. But people also project what they want to see for you.
I'm not Britney Spears, so I still have a life. I can go certain places without getting hounded by little 5-year-olds. So I'm very sane as a person.
We had a bond creatively that came out of 'Lady Marmalade.' It was our link. And people don't know this, but P!nk and I actually met when we were both 16 years old in Philadelphia. I was recording my first album, and we were working with the same producers, so I originally knew her as Alecia.
I was raised on pork... steak, chicken, everything... And everyone in my family pretty much of the older generation has diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer.
I'm always connecting with what society would label the outcasts and the weirdos and the lost souls.
I don't see females in the industry collaborating as much as guys d,o so I really would love to entertain more of that.
I didn't know what I was getting into when I went vegan, but so many things changed. I shed 30 pounds. I felt better. I was doing better mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I was healing myself from the inside out.
Life is too short to talk about the small, unimportant things when you catch the bigger picture.
I think the 'R&B singer' title came from me entering the business at a time when R&B chick singers were the trend. I was fine with that, but I have a lot more to offer.
I'm always performing. I'm always hustling.
Get your mind right, get your spirit right, and get your body right. And keep it there. That requires working out; that requires fasting, eating well, prayer, and getting to know who you are. And not bending.
You have to take a leap of faith before exposing yourself completely in terms of feelings and desires - especially if you're a woman.
I don't strive for perfection, because it doesn't exist.
What always draws me back to the Caribbean vibes are the upbeat vibrations of welcoming melodies and positive energy exchange through the rhythms that make you feel like dancing with someone.
When I moved back home, I took the initiative to involve my entire family in my career because I didn't find that anyone else was as passionate and thorough.
I went vegan because it was a willpower challenge. I've been vegetarian, I've been pescetarian, and vegan was the next thing.
I was captain of the pom-pom team, which was still dance, but we were athletes. We trained on the track and did workouts every single day after school.
I've had two boyfriends in the industry. Like, relationships. But I never say names because I respect my relationships and what we've gone through.
As teenagers, we go through social, emotional and physical changes... and sometimes, to feel comfortable, we end up doing things that are not true to who we are just to fit in and feel loved.
There was a time in my life when I wasn't popular and accepted by kids in school. I was made fun of with braces and kinky hair and being from a multicultural family, et cetera.
The fact that music is my first love and that after almost two decades, the love has grown every year... I'm truly thankful for that and want to always show my appreciation to those who keep me motivated and inspired.
If everyone breaks down their walls and stops putting themselves on holier-than-thou pedestals, we can all learn from each other.
I think I'm very proud of the 'Lady Marmalade' collaboration that I did with Christina, Lil Kim, Pink, and Missy. That was the first time and probably one of the only times that I've worked with so many females at once, and we were able to accomplish so many great things.
I do quite well for myself, but I live a simple life.
Tomorrow's not promised. You may love someone; you may have a grudge because of something that they did to you, and it was unfair, but life's not fair. Life is very short, so clean up your grudges. Let's not hold them.
I didn't really get sidetracked into being a singer. It was just something I started to do for fun in school, like singing the national anthem.
I'm always performing at Gay Pride events.
Music dictates culture, and culture dictates music; they go hand in hand.
I'm really into space. When I was four years old, I used to pray to the stars and look at the moon.
I'm a real model because I'm imperfect.
High expectations are really intimidating.
It was really nice working with Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah, Renee Zellweger.
I've been able to become an entrepreneur and an independent artist.
I'm the oldest in my family, and I grew up with brothers, so we would be on the front lawn every day playing football, whether it's tackle or tag.
I've gone through relationships, gone through the normal things that a normal person would go through.
I'm not wearing leather shoes, and I have not worn furs since a long time ago. I have to be very conscious when I'm making decisions and saying I'm vegan because I have to be about it all the way.
My mother is a two-time cancer survivor.
Having my own label has been nothing short of amazing!
I wouldn't be a great candidate for dramatic fighting TV; I'm not a cat-fighting kinda person.
When it comes to the '90s, there's nothing I want to repeat.
