The first six years of my career, I got more comments on my weight than on my singing. So I think I became so self-conscious that I started working on it harder.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I felt the weight of the past at the beginning of my career of singer.
Singing is the love of my life, but I was ready to give it all up because I couldn't handle people talking about how fat I was.
When I was a model, everybody was scrutinising me and I felt I had to go to the gym because my figure had to be fantastic. Now that I'm a singer, I've got a different kind of body - it's more athletic.
When I first started, I was much weaker of a singer because I wasn't used to singing so much. Now I've learned, when I'm singing on stage, not to go over. You can go over and mess yourself up. I used to do it all the time, wouldn't know how to preserve it for the next show.
The most frustrating thing for me as a singer is that people have pinpointed me as an actress who suddenly woke up one day and decided that I wanted to sing.
I never really wanted to be a singer, because I was a super-shy kid. Singing made me feel awkward, and I was really insecure.
I didn't go through the routine of singing in small clubs and doing open mics and working so hard the way a lot of people do and did. It was just an overnight kind of thing.
When I was on the X-Factor, I found that I grew a lot as a performer. I knew I could sing but I didn't believe in myself enough... I needed to hear that I was good.
But my strength was in singing and songwriting, which was a new discovery for me when I was 18. And I decided if I pursued songwriting, which is what was closest to my heart, then there would be no competition. I would just live my life being myself and living my dream.
My energy to sing, I get it from my singing. Singing was not a reason to make a living. This is the only thing I wanted to do.