La'Porsha Renae

I love 'Battles,' and I love what it's doing for people.

I would describe my sound as classic Motown.

A lot of my fans wanted a kind of 'in your face' song. They wanted a song that exemplifies me overcoming the situation I was in and just that triumphant kind of song. So, I felt like I wanted to go ahead and get that out of both of our systems with 'Good Woman'.

I haven't always been confident. I actually suffered with low self-esteem growing up. Eventually, I got to a point where I was just like, 'OK, this is taking too much energy.' After that, I started accepting myself for who I was, and I was like, whoever is not going to accept it, they weren't really meant to be in my life in that way.

The kind of artist I would like to be is definitely versatile. I don't like being boxed in or put into a genre, so to speak.

What made 'American Idol' different from 'The Voice' and all these other singing competitions... 'American Idol' just gave regular old normal people like me and like Trent a chance.

Kelly Clarkson definitely reminds me of Motown. She's pop, but she's also very, very soulful.

Some people believe they chose homosexuality, and some believe they didn't. Who's to say one is wrong? It's not fair to generalize anyone's sexuality or walk of life.

Anyone is welcome to hang out with me and have fun or sit down with me and talk. I don't discriminate against anyone. And I don't condone hating someone or treating them badly because they live differently than I do.

I embraced everything that I thought would hold me back from pursuing my dreams and used my insecurities to give me the courage to inspire and advocate for others who possessed many of the same insecurities I had.

I'm proud of my curves, my daughter, as well as the harsh past that helped shape me into the strong woman I am today.

I come from really humble people. We never had a lot.

I stay true to myself, my daughter. I just remember where I came from - I remember what I'm coming from - and then I remember why I do what I do.

This is how I feel about the LGBT community: they are people just like us.

When people use their hurt and make a triumph in their song, that helps other people.

I'm an old spirit, and my voice tends to be kind of heavy and loud. I've been referenced as 'a young Aretha.'

There was a girl who messaged me and said she was on the verge of taking her life, then 'Battles' came on just in the nick of time.

Although all of us may not agree with that particular lifestyle for religious reasons, whatever the reason is, you still treat each other with respect.

I am one of the people who don't really agree with that lifestyle. I wasn't brought up that way; it wasn't how I was raised, but I do have a lot of friends and a lot of people that I love dearly who are gay and homosexual, and they're such sweet, nice people.

Sometimes when you do interviews, it gets twisted up.

I knew being a musician was my calling when I was 12 or 13. I started singing when I was six but didn't actually see myself being a singer when I was 12 or 13.

When I saw how people would react and be touched by my voice, this was the moment I thought maybe there's something more to this than just singing around the house.

When I first start writing a song, I usually write the title first, then the song, and I'll sing the song in my head and think of a visual of the song. If I can't think of a visual behind the song, I'll throw the song away.

I would like for people to hear my music and hear/realize that people and experiences are deeper than what's at face value. Hopefully, with the span of my career, I can try to convey that in more ways than one.

I want to bring that old soul back, the meaningful lyrics and all of that. And I can't think of a better way to do that than through Motown.

Today, not to take away from any of the present artists, but music has gotten a little shallow, in my opinion. Everybody's talking about the same thing: sex, money, clothes, cheating... I want to open up not necessarily better conversations, but, in my opinion, more important ones, and touch on things that are actually going on.

Now I'm going to show a side of me I haven't shown before. I'm going to be fierce.

My parents got to see all my hard work pay off.

My mom hates being on camera. My dad loves it - he eats it up!

A lot of people behind the scenes were telling me that I was going to have to do something with my hair, my weight, all of that stuff.

My ex-husband didn't like my singing. He didn't like my hair. He hated my eyes. Everything. Everything he complimented me on when we first met, he just hated.

I don't want to come off as one of those artists that's not down to earth and real.

I can't wait to meet Jennifer Hudson, Tamyra Gray, George Huff, Ruben Studdard, and I love me some Clay Aiken.

I've also gotten messages from men and women who are not the most attractive, in their minds, or are self-conscious about their weight. They're thanking me for doing songs like 'Proud Mary' and shaking a tailfeather, because they say I seem real comfortable in my skin and it made them want to be comfortable in theirs.

A lot of people I guess, well, some people change when they get in spotlights and everything, but you can take the girl out of Mississippi, but you can't take Mississippi out the girl!

I do what I do to inspire people. They can't be inspired by an ego, a big-headed person. It doesn't work. It doesn't match. And I really want to be that role model for people, for children. I want to be real. To my fans, I want them to view me as a real person. Don't put me on a pedestal. I'm human. I make mistakes, I cry, I hurt - just like you.

I have a lot of written material, and all of it's different. Some records that I have are country, some pop, some alternative rock. I just write what I feel, so I can't specifically say. I just want to be an artist of truth and an artist that stays true to herself.

I decided to be heterosexual because I felt like that's the life God intended me to live.

I found a belief system that worked for me, and I said, you know what, 'I actually do want to give being with men another chance.'

We don't have to have the same truths or personal belief systems to love one another and get along.

I had a high school sweetheart that was my first. We were together all through high school. I had just broken up with him because I didn't think I was good enough. He wanted to be an anesthesiologist. I wanted to be an entertainer. His life was more planned out, and mine wasn't.

When people ask me a personal question, I answer it in a personal way. I can only speak from the footsteps and the shoes that I've walked in.

I have never spoken for anyone but myself.

Everybody is a human being. We should be able to coexist with one another.

Labels, boxes, and politically correct terminology all seem small and irrelevant when being compared to the violent and brutal attacks on the lives of people who are different than what society says we should be.

People say a lot of hurtful things, but in a way, the abuse that I endured from my husband prepared me for that. The things I had been told and drilled into my head from him were worse than what anybody could say to me.

A lot of the former Idols were voting for me, and that makes me feel really good.

I learned that sometimes our struggles are a little bit bigger than us and talking about them and coming through and having the courage to get out of them. I learned how many I touched and inspired through the journey of 'Idol' because I was just singing on the show. I wasn't really being an advocate for anything.

First time I sang, I was singing Alicia Keys in the bathroom of my mom's beauty shop. I was six.

The reaction that I got from 'Diamonds' I would have expected to get from 'House of the Rising Sun' or one of the other songs.