When I was growing up, I didn't know of anybody who was trans. There was always, like, this shame, anxiety thing around all of that, even if I wasn't actively expressing it.

I can remember back to being 5 and looking in the mirror, feeling like a girl and wanting that. But growing up in Rochester, there were limited resources. I'd never met a trans person before.

One of the things that I loved about working on that first album was working with Billy Mann, who produced the album, and all the people who worked to finish it. Just seeing how they did things and learning.

My goal is to make music and be a part of cool projects.

Yes, DVDs are gone, but there is this wonderful Internet platform out there called YouTube.

I'm always involved with the Aerospace Program and NASA and Goddard Space Flight Center. And if kids feel so inclined, they can log onto NASA and the Optimus Prime Spinoff Award, which we present every year to some of the brilliant young minds that are taking up into the academics of space, science, technology, math.

I oppose piracy and want to see intellectual property protected because that is what fosters and rewards innovation. But SOPA won't accomplish a meaningful reduction in piracy and causes massive collateral damage to the Internet ecosystem.

My father was a Pentecostal minister; that's how I was brought up. So I never thought of having a secular career.