With my childhood and growing up in a very free place where my parents were artists and always encouraging me to explore, you wouldn't think I was locked up in my own mind, but I was.

So much of myself is consumed with earning my way, doing it myself, and never feeling like things are being handed to you. Growing up that way was humbling.

I always think it's a little bit of a challenge when people sort of associate female artists as their own genre.

It's funny: when I was a kid, my mom would reorganize the record collection all the time. She'd have classical, she'd have Celtic, she'd have rock and roll, and then she'd have female singers. And I don't like it that female singers are their own genre.

Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world.

I think having the cancer allowed me to be able to freely talk about my faith.

I have so much empathy for these young actors that are 19 and all of a sudden they're beautiful and famous and rich. I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'd be dead.'

One of the core ideas of the Bible is that meaning can be found in history. The sheer act of telling and retelling stories helps us to understand God's role in the world as well as our own position in a long line of ancestors who have wrestled with similar issues to the ones we wrestle with every day.