Solange Knowles

Every teenage artist out there is mostly talking about boys, and I think there's so much more to being a teenager than just boys.

My mom's best friend growing up was diagnosed with AIDS, and he basically raised me when my mom was launching her business. Although I didn't understand at the time what HIV or AIDS was, I knew that's what he passed away from.

At 15, saying I wanted to do a reggae album after growing up in a snazzy house in Houston - it was kind of random.

I never borrowed clothes from Beyonce when we were growing up. But now my style is a little more tame and hers is a little more adventurous.

Everyone talks about how, in your 30s, all of these growing pains transition into wisdom and you feel more self-assured and confident, but I think I had a bit of a jump-start on that at 27.

I think many people, especially from other cultures, just don't understand the role hair plays in black women's lives.

In any relationship, there's gonna be conflict.

Dubai's a pretty powerful place.

I'm making the music I want to make, in my own space, and it's just incredible to be able to continue to do that.

Opening Ceremony is my number one favorite place to shop here. It's the only place I'll shop in New York with my son. All of the sales people are so cool; the music is great; it's just like a big fun house, so he stays entertained.

Traveling is definitely something that your average 17-year-old doesn't get to do. One week we're in Japan, one week we're in Australia, one week we're back home going to football games.

For me, I always have looked at 'indie' as a term of 'independence.' Never associated a sonic gesture with that in the same way that pop music has always meant 'popular' to me; you know, it didn't define a sound.