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As an entertainer, I try to do projects that reflect a woman having the ability to stand up for herself.

I'm totally into Taylor Swift. I think she has super-clever lyrics, and I love that she writes her own music. Some of the themes she writes about are stuff I wish was there for me when I was in high school, and I'm so happy she really cares about her female fans. She's not catering to a male audience and is writing music for other girls.

It was a pleasure to work with Destiny's Child in the beginning of their career. Working in the studio with Beyonce was a lot of fun. She's an extremely hard worker, perfectionist, and a talented writer.

I am involved with 'Write Girl,' which is such a great organization, because they go into inner city schools and work with underprivileged girls to pair them up with other writers. And it gets them learning to express themselves and become familiar with their own voice. They have a 100% success ratio getting those girls into college.

There are so many young women coming up through the ranks. Adele is an amazing singer. Beyonce has great stage presence. She's just a beautiful woman. I love how everyone has just taken charge of their lives and careers.

What I love about Beyonce is she's not a slave to a genre of music.

I think when you work with really wonderful directors who have a really strong vision, it lets you as an artist set the tone for your own career.

There's not really too many artists that young girls and young people can look up to and be inspired by. So I take it as my responsibility, sometimes, to be the person who has the voice to give people some truth about what we're doing.

I look at the careers of people I'm standing on the shoulders of. People like Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., and Sarah Vaughan. These are icons I wanted to emulate, and I feel like they've been holding me up for quite a long time.

When you spend your entire life as a child actress, being told where to go and where to stand, you're performing constantly for people. It definitely breeds the kind of person who's dependent on other people's approval.