Dawn Richard

I always treat shows as though they could belong on either platform. I always design it for the bigger stage, but I love it on the smaller stage. ”

Just as much as you need the people who love you, you need the people who doubt you - to prove them wrong. ”

When you see what you really are, good or bad, there is a fearlessness to understanding your purpose. ”

I think, my entire life, I was a bit different. And I didn't think I was different; I just kinda always stuck out. ”

I've grown so much in the music industry. From 'GoldenHeart,' it was just about me and the music and me in this dream. With 'BlackHeart,' its more about me and who I am and what role I play in my own life and in the business. ”

I had no idea that what I thought was my low wasn't really my low. That's what a lot of people think - then life reminds them, 'No, there's lower.' ”

My dad was a teacher. He has a Masters in music. He taught elementary school, and he played gigs his whole life, and we lived good. ”

There's definitely that tribal Africana thing going on in my sound. It's that marching band, second-line music, that Creole-influence in the kick, and the snare that drives everything for me. I think it's really what's separated my sound from a lot of the R&B and pop music out there. ”

A lot of 'Blackheart' was me, literally in a dark room, confessing my sins; Poe was the influence for that album. But that melancholy has a hopefulness - in every Poe story, there is always a moral at the end. ”

Dreams rise like the sun and set like the sun: One minute, it is high and bright; the next minute, you might lose it. ”