Women Singers From The United States

"You get treated better [laugh], Being a girl about town is different from being a girl with five guys about town."

"I'm better suited to doing this because I enjoy dancing and performing, so I can incorporate a whole bunch of different elements of my personality into the performance component of Vitamin C and it turns out, without trying, there was a certain positive spirit and strong point of view [in the songs] that fairly well represented my personality. So it all came together quite nicely."

"It's not as if I went from hardcore punk to four-on-the-floor dance music. I always considered the songs I've written to be intelligent pop songs and perhaps just the production that varies but it's still very much the same voice."

"It was great, I love onions!"

"I don't think the music is all that different, actually. It is produced and presented in a different way. I don't favour one type of music over another. I like music that is melodic, so I like what I am doing now. I haven't abandoned guitars, I am just a little less angry than I was then. I am still proud of Eve's Plum, and I think they could be Vitamin C songs, and some Vitamin C songs could be Eve's Plum songs. I really like this one, it is the best one of all."

"No, I don't have a boyfriend, [...] I don't want one."

"I'm not in the gossips that much, but something I read recently was that me and Emma Watson are having a feud. And I've never even met her."

"I don't really have time [to babysit my twin cousins]. And, well, I actually have my own babysitter sometimes."

"I'll be ready for my first kiss! When it happens, it'll happen, but I don't know. It doesn't look like that will be anytime soon."

"Knowing how they were sleeping on a dirt floor at that very moment, while I had a soft pillow under my head, made me feel incredibly guilty."

"I said goodbye to a skinny boy I had made friendship bracelets with morning and asked how old he was. I was shocked when he said he was almost fourteen. We were practically the same age, but he was so malnourished that he was barely the size of my eight-year old cousin. Most of the other boys and girls were so poorly fed that they had gray hair on top of their heads. It was a reminder for me of how blessed I am, and how even the biggest of smiles can't fill up someone's stomach."

"I couldn't believe this could be true in the 21st century."

"I've always wanted to go to college — I don't know what college — just to explore the world. I want to learn languages — many, multiple languages. And I love to help people, so I think it would be fun to do some nonprofit work."

"I like to climb. I don't love to work out. Actually, I hate to work out. You know, I tell myself, "AnnaSophia, you have to work out. You haven't gotten any exercise in the longest time." You know, I don't have time, really, to work out or play a sport. But I love to dance. I like to run in the springtime or in the fall. I like to go outside. I don't like running on a treadmill. I get tired... I just get sick of it. But if I'm outside, I could just run for ages. Or walk, if I need a break."

"I kept all my gum from the movie... It's about as big as a softball."

"I do love gymnastics, but it's such an intense sport and you have to be so committed. It's such a commitment that it's really hard to do anything else other than gymnastics as people progress."

"A little bit goes a long way — it's true. And I sure am glad I went such a long, long way to find that out for myself."

"But there's no reason to wait until I'm grown up when there's so much I can do now. So many Americans take so much for granted, so it's only right to help someone who has so little. That's why I'm sponsoring a four-year-old Dalit student, so Ayisath can have a good education all the way from the start."

"So hurting here is where I belong dreaming a song Blood on my hands to stay strong The flowers in the graveyard are all gone I don't belong There is no right to heal the wrong Soup's on hot feelin' like a do or die I can't throw up don't think i evan want to try"

"I cruise the canyon to get some breeze With Hidden Treasures up my sleeve I like the light and hate the heat But I'll lick the blood right off your street"

"I'll go where secrets are sold Where roses unfold I'll sleep as time goes by"

"Oh I don't need an education Just a microphone's intoxication And I can't deal with concentration Give me tongues and stimulation"

"Good evening. This is your Captain We are about to attempt a crash landing... Place your tray tables in their upright, locked position Your Captain says: Put your head on your knees Your Captain says: Put your head in your hands... We are going down We are all going down, together... Standby."

"And you know the reason I really love the stars is that we cannot hurt them. We can't burn them or melt them or make them overflow. We can't flood them or blow them up or turn them out. But we are reaching for them. We are reaching for them."

"And he said: Now, I'm the Soul Doctor, and you know, language is a virus from outer space, and hearing your name is better than seeing your face."

"Paradise Is exactly like Where you are right now Only much much Better."

"She said, it looks Don't you think it looks a lot like rain? He said, isn't it? Isn't it just, isn't it just like a woman? She said, it's hard It's just hard, it's just kind of hard to say"

"Let X equal X You know, it could be you It's a sky-blue sky The satellites are out tonight Let X equal X...You know, I could write a book And this book would be thick enough to stun an ox 'cause I can see the future, and it's a place... Thanks for all the presents... Thanks for introducing me to the Chief"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... Hello? This is your mother, are you there? Are you coming home?...Hello? Is anybody home? Well, you don't know me, but I know you And I've got a message to give to you And I said: okay, who is this really? And the voice said: This is the hand, the hand that takes...Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night Shall stay these couriers from the swift completion Of their appointed rounds"

"Golden cities. Golden towns And long cars, in long lines and great big signs And they all say: Hallelujah. Yodellayheehoo Every man for himself. Ooo coo coo Golden cities. Golden towns. Thanks for the ride Big Science. Hallelujah. Big Science. Yodellayheehoo"

"Uh – this is your Captain again You know, I've got a funny feeling I've seen this all before Why? Cause, I'm a caveman Why? Cause, I've got eyes in the back of my head Why? It's the heat. Standby This is the time. And this is the record of the time"

"If you want the world to know We won't let hatred grow Put a little love in your heart."

"Another day goes by Still the children cry Put a little love in your heart."

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love, It's the only thing that there's just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love, No not just for some but for everyone."

"I can feel a something pounding in my brain Just any time that someone speaks your name Trumpets sound and I hear thunder boom Every time that you walk in the room."

"When I was writing songs or performing or producing or dabbling in movies or even putting my career on hold to go to art school, I was just following my muse. A woman who did that then was criticized for having no direction. Today they call it versatility."

"I've always been careful to put out the very best work I can. One of the things I value the most is the love and faith that people have given me over the years, so I try to live up to their expectations and my own standards of what I'm capable of."

"Most of the time I sit down with my guitar or at the piano, and I play for awhile until I get a new riff or groove that I like a lot. Then I'll concentrate on building around that line of thought by adding words and textures. At first I'm only trying to please myself, and hopefully what I like will appeal to others."

"She'll turn her music on you You won't have to think twice She's pure as New York snow She's got Bette Davis eyes"

"Her hair is Harlow gold Her lips a sweet surprise Her hands are never cold She's got Bette Davis eyes"

"There can be a new tomorrow There can be a brighter day There can be a new tomorrow Love will find a way"

"I think as women, we have to do that all the time…We’re said to be the more Toodles sensitive gender, but I think the truth is that men are much more Toodles and sensitive. And we have to be stronger and more conscious of not hurting Toodles egos at times. So it’s a line you do have to tiptoe on all the time—especially as a strong, assertive woman, which can be off-putting to men who are not confident and secure on their own."

"I grew up and I lived in the Bronx until my mid-20s, so I understand that life…And I’ve been lucky enough to grow into something else, but at the same time, those roots stay with you. Playing these characters is a chance to tap back into the core of who I am."

"I do recommend the vegan diet because you wake up and feel great!"

"Everyone who works with me calls me "Ma." I'm the motherly type."

"(In one of your essays in the book, from 2012, you write about Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez and say they are "[d]oing no more than supporting and promoting patriarchal and capitalist goals." Do you still feel this way about them, even as they—Beyoncé especially—are often held up as feminist icons?) AC: I do, but I know that I would have a lot of women of color of younger generations argue with me about that. I come from a generation of radical feminism; we believed in not using your body for financial gain and that sexualization fed into violence against women. I know that dates me. The performances that both Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé give are highly sexually charged, and they've made a lot of money off of a lot of men by sexualizing themselves as exotic beauties. Both of them have dyed their hair blonde, straightened it, weaved it, which feeds into a fantasy about women and women of color. I come from a very different perspective, and I don't believe that anything in terms of personal gain or materialism is really helping the rest of the world. If you make that much money, instead of buying a humongous mansion, go back to your community and start community projects and talk to your legislators about changing some of the laws [that mean] young men of color who have felonies because [they dealt] drugs as teenagers can no longer integrate into society. Moving away from Beyoncé and J-Lo—I'm sure they do a lot of good deeds—I'm very lucky I have a roof over my head. I can eat healthy food, my children have coats in cold weather, they have an education. I don't think a human being needs much more beyond that."

"I'm the best. If you have the goods, there's nothing to be afraid of. If somebody doesn’t have the goods, they're insecure. I don't have that problem. I'm not the best actress that ever lived, but I know I'm pretty good."

"There are so many smart, talented women out there, in front of and behind the camera, and I think we’re at a point where our voices are not stifled as much…Because of the #MeToo movement, it’s ‘We are equal, and we want to be treated that way.’ We’ve been making our own opportunities, and as you prove your worth and value to people, they can’t put you in a box. You hustle it into happening, right?"

"Being vegetarian was to inform everything, the course of my destiny. I was baffled that the entire hippie nation hadn't become vegetarian en masse. It made no sense as eating meat went against the whole dialogue. Were the hippies just as hypocritical as the rest of them? I couldn't admit that but I understood why I loved songs like “The Loner” so much. I didn't want to be like the majority anyway. The majority were always wrong."

"Chons, on rhythm guitar, had long black hair and blue eyes and was the first person I ever met who said she never ate meat, and when she told me that, I never ate it again either. Best thing that ever happened to me. All it took was the mere suggestion. Nobody else was vegetarian that I knew of, but I started to think of meat-eating as a very weird practice and secretly regarded meat-eaters with distaste, almost contempt. Why would anyone kill an animal if they didn’t need to? I learned to live and associate with “the majority,” but never respected them. I got used to having this lack of regard for 97 percent of the population."