My mother taught me to treat a lady respectfully.

I didn't understand that I could sing until I was like 11 or 12. My mom heard me singing around the house and she said, What are you doing? You really can sing! So then I started going to school and singing to the girls.

I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist.

With fame, you can't trust everybody. You can't depend on them being there for you as a person. They will only be there because of what you've got you as a person. They will only be there because of what you've got and what you can bring to their life. It's not a relationship-it's a leech.

I'm 18 in this album. I'm not losing fans, and I'm not disrepecting women, but you reach the maturity of taking it to the next level with a girl. It was only necessary for me to have at least one song like that.

With the song 'This Christmas' I wanted to do something that was kind of different. I mean, Donny Hathaway is an amazing artist. So I wanted to bring my flavor to the song so when people over the age of 45 or 50 hear it they'll be like 'OK, he did his thing with that record.' It's like I can appeal to everybody and not just a younger demographic.

When I was 12, all I wanted for Christmas was a trampoline or a four-wheeler. I ended up getting both presents for Christmas.