Solange Knowles

When you're younger, you get shoved a lot. You don't really have a say-so.

Dubai's a pretty powerful place.

I'd rather be on the cast of 'Love & Hip-Hop' than 'Project Runway.'

People from New Orleans are extremely prideful.

I'm a lot more interested in style than fashion - style is what makes us who we are.

My beauty ethos? Well, I'd love to tell you it's something like 'less is more,' but honestly, it all starts with happiness. If only someone could bottle that up - when I'm happy, I'm at my most radiant and glowing. It does me better than any product ever could. And I stand by how cheesy and cliched that sounds.

When you think back in history about producers and artists or writers who've had good synergy, a lot of times they date, or they're married, or there's a friendship and a kinship.

You get educated by traveling.

You just have to know that the more successful you get as an artist, the less of a normal life you have. It's a trade-off.

Why is it so important for you to give back? I honestly feel like it's our responsibility as citizens of the world to ground ourselves in selflessness and all do our part.

My blog is actually all self-photography unless it's a photo shoot.

When Destiny's Child released their first record, I don't think I even noticed. I was still at school, and I had my own life in Houston.

I'd rather live in the U.S. than Europe.

I have a mother who never took no for an answer when it came to her creative pursuits. She started a hair salon in her spare bedroom and four years later had 30 employees.

There are a lot of times when people are diplomatic about things, and I'm not that type. I'm not afraid to say exactly what I mean.

Dubais a pretty powerful place.

I'm not very good at writing songs when I have a lot of clutter in my mind.

Colors and prints are part of my style.

When you take care of yourself youre a better person for others. When you feel good about yourself you treat others better.

It is always an honor to work with those that share your passion for music and just enjoy making great music.

I grew up seeing my sister in the studio. I would go to recording sessions and take notes.

I try to transition my energy into just having fun.

My earliest love, which was sort of an obsession, actually, was Nas. I was in seventh grade, I believe, when 'Nastradamus' was out, and I took it pretty far.

Every mom believes her kid's school doodles are amazing, and I'm no different.

I think it's really important for every mother to find their own way.

Any decision I make is based on myself, and the only person I have to give an explanation to is God.

I feel like I was 30 when I was 17, and I decided to get married and have a baby.

I have more to offer than music that is automatically dance.

My name, Solange, means 'Angel of the sun,' and I'm completely enamored of my African history. The culture is so expressive.

Every teenage artist out there is mostly talking about boys, and I think there's so much more to being a teenager than just boys.

Motherhood is such an evolving journey.

I can't take any credit for people dressing like me, you know?

My son spends as much time with his dad as he does with me.

My sister and I were not allowed expensive clothes. We so badly wanted these Fila sneakers as kids, but my mother took us down to the flea market and got imitation ones. Look at the early Destiny's Child videos. You'll see.

From a very early age, I decided that I wanted to be able to do my music but still be able to live a normal life.

I'm such a Southern girl.

I think all artists have a different story to tell, and no story is the same.

For me, I always have looked at 'indie' as a term of 'independence.' Never associated a sonic gesture with that in the same way that pop music has always meant 'popular' to me; you know, it didn't define a sound.

We are getting an education of a lifetime. We're actually out there in the real world.

My sound is Solange. It's definitely not Destiny's Child.

I have a lot of guy-like quintessential relationship qualities that I have had to work on.

I'm really good at telling people 'no.'

Beyonce has set the tone as an aunt. I've set the tone as a mom.

I'm surrounded by such beautiful, creative people, and I just love sort of sharing their stories and their journeys.

Everyone talks about how, in your 30s, all of these growing pains transition into wisdom and you feel more self-assured and confident, but I think I had a bit of a jump-start on that at 27.

Through style, you can communicate to the world who you are and what you stand for.

Self-love is really a foundation for everything, and however you practice or express that is so, so important.

I still stand behind the stuff I did early on, but I was on a record label, and I didn't have a lot of creative control. Another side of that is just being young and having bad taste. There was plenty of that, too.

Once I had my son, I stopped shopping in stores because it's not an easy process to try on clothes - and I'm not an impulsive buyer. I need to do the dance in front of the mirror, the whole nine yards.

My ultimate beauty icon is Diana Ross.

I wear short shorts. After 10 years of strenuous ballet, it's the least my legs can do for me.

I really enjoy my privacy and being able to walk my son to school every morning and pick him up every afternoon.

I think that some people get wrapped up in their own egos. They need to see certain album sales and certain monuments.

When you take care of yourself, you're a better person for others. When you feel good about yourself, you treat others better.

The Fela Kuti Queens - the band members and wives of the late African musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti - are my fashion icons.

Traveling is definitely something that your average 17-year-old doesn't get to do. One week we're in Japan, one week we're in Australia, one week we're back home going to football games.

Luckily, I dated all of the losers ages ago. My love life has been stable for a while.

It's really special to have a niece because I have a son, so I get to have a little girl, too.

A lot of people don't know me as an artist.

What's important is that my family and I are all good.

If I had to define 'sexy' now, as Disney as it sounds, I would have to say it's about complete and utter confidence.

I have always had tremendous respect for my sister as an artist, as a woman, and now as a mother.

I have a father who was the first black student at his junior high and high school and had to do a lot to get to that point.

I don't feel like I owe anybody other than my child and my family anything.

I've always loved Dusty Springfield and Martha Reeves.

My parents constantly tried to talk me out of being an artist. They had gone through the whole journey with my sister and just wanted me to have a normal teenage life.

I'm trying to cut down my cursing.

The Hadley Street Dream is a tribute to making a vision come to life. My father built a compound on a dessert city block, he saw something in that space we couldn't see. It was years later the album was born right there on Hadley St. He built the studio I started recording the album at.

I stand for people who are firm in their journey.

I'm happy that I have a beautiful, wonderful, amazing child who's made me a better person.

I really fell in love with dance. By the time I was seven, I had dance class six times a week. I was obsessed.

It's always been my dream to look like Mariah Carey in my photos with a microphone. I don't know how she does it. When she sings, she looks perfect.

I think many people, especially from other cultures, just don't understand the role hair plays in black women's lives.

Both my parents are first-generation success stories.

I was diagnosed with ADHD twice. I didn't believe the first doctor who told me, and I had a whole theory that ADHD was just something they invented to make you pay for medicine, but then the second doctor told me I had it.

Mainstream media tends to showcase a very specific kind of Mardi Gras, but my experience of Mardi Gras is very different; it's very cultural.

I'd rather be the protector than the protected. I'm naturally the protector - being a mother and having a famous family. You have to navigate when it's right to protect.

My mom's best friend growing up was diagnosed with AIDS, and he basically raised me when my mom was launching her business. Although I didn't understand at the time what HIV or AIDS was, I knew that's what he passed away from.

At 15, saying I wanted to do a reggae album after growing up in a snazzy house in Houston - it was kind of random.

If I have on a bright red lip, you'll rarely ever catch me with eyeshadow on. It's one or the other for me - pick one feature for the day and really focus on that.

My sister and I truly are best friends.

I really wanted people just to get to know Solange on my first album, just to establish Solange's sound, just to establish Solange's personality.

I really feel like because I had my son so young, I didn't want everyone's help. I think people felt entitled to give advice, so I'm always very sensitive to moms and letting them feel their way out.

I love hip-hop. I have gone through many difference phases in my love affair with hip-hop.

Major labels act as banks in terms of how they produce and release your album. No major label is really good or bad; they just 100 per cent operate as a business, which makes sense... no hard feelings.

You have Vampire Weekend who have more African references musically than most African-American artists.

I can tell you what I really love: when I run into people on the street that tell me they have connected with my music.

I actually love my natural hair when it's in a twist out and it's been slept on for five days and revived by the steam of the shower.

Opening Ceremony is my number one favorite place to shop here. It's the only place I'll shop in New York with my son. All of the sales people are so cool; the music is great; it's just like a big fun house, so he stays entertained.

In my experience, as a young black artist, you have to fulfill an archetype, or be a token - and I was unwilling to do that.

Fashion is a strange world sometimes. Amazing, but strange.

I'm super-sensitive when it comes to my sister. I've been known to snap off a little bit behind her.

If a piece makes you look good and makes it easier to get dressed, it wins.

I'd rather be the cool aunt than the authoritative aunt.

I'm not sure if it's cause I'm getting old, but my heels have to be 3.5 inch or less, or a chunky heel.

I never borrowed clothes from Beyonce when we were growing up. But now my style is a little more tame and hers is a little more adventurous.

Beyonce adores my little boy. She takes him everywhere.

I have been writing songs since I was 9 years old, so writing has and always will be my first love and passion.

You're just so excited that you have this record deal or this movie opportunity that you don't stand up for yourself and say, This is what I want to do.

Anytime fashion and music go hand-in-hand and it really is an organic fit, it's amazing.