“Acting isn't necessarily pretending. It's storytelling. It's giving someone your perspective on something.”

“Acting was my first love before music.”

“Everything is pre-taped these days, but I'm a believer in, 'If you can't do it live, don't do it.'”

“For me, marriage is about love, not paperwork. I've never been the kid who dreamed of the big white dress, the long veil, the fancy diamond ring.”

“Growing up, my parents did everything they knew how to do to support me. My dad was always kinda my roadie; he drove me from gig to gig. But I got my own gigs. I was this 12-year-old kid, shuffling business cards, calling people, telling them I wanted to play.”

“I did pretty well busking. I would play two to eight hours a day, and I could make two or three hundred an hour.”

“I don't think anyone's sexuality needs to be a public issue other than to give others the confidence to love themselves wholeheartedly and to be their true, authentic self without any shame.”

“I enjoy having my privacy and not seeing my face on the cover of everything, y'know?”

“I had what you could call a chaotic childhood. My parents divorced when I was 2; I went back and forth between my mom's and dad's houses for years.”

“I had what you could call a chaotic childhood. My parents divorced when I was 2; I went back and forth between my mom's and dad's houses for years. But, you know, my parents tried to do the right thing. As crazy as everything was, and as much fighting and everything, there was always a feeling of support from them.”

“I have a lot of love and respect for Melissa Etheridge. I love Joe Cocker, Ray LaMontagne, Feist.”

“I hope that country music embraces me because I grew up on it and have a love for the music.”

“I knew from the time I was 6 or 7 that music was something I had to do.”

“I knew from the time I was 6 or 7 that music was something I had to do. Growing up, my parents did everything they knew how to do to support me. My dad was always kinda my roadie; he drove me from gig to gig. But I got my own gigs. I was this 12-year-old kid, shuffling business cards, calling people, telling them I wanted to play.”

“I know that, as a bisexual, sometimes people who are gay or lesbian look down upon the bisexual community as well and assume that people who are bisexual just don't know what they want or are just playing both sides of the fence, and that's not the case, either.”

“I went into the 'Idol' audition with no expectations; that's just the kind of person I am. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't hurt so badly, you know? But once I made it past the first round, and the second, and third - I started to realize, 'Maybe my goals and dreams really are attainable.'”

“I went to a public school in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and it's a very rural community. I was an artist kid, and I just didn't fit in very well.”

“I'm not sure why there's this anger in the youth, but we need to talk about it. Kids need to get help if they need help, and bullies need to be helped as well.”

“It's not my concern to make a commercial pop record. I want to make a record of music that I would listen to, that is lyrically rich and has songs that people can relate to - more along the Jakob Dylan route: people who create for the art of it and not necessarily the monetary rewards of it.”

“I've been bisexual for as long as I can remember. I remember being made fun of in junior high for that. It was something that was shameful, and it really shouldn't be.”

“I've known who I am as an artist for a long time; 'Idol' has shown me what I'm capable of. I know it's all possible for me now. I can go in any direction I want. I'm forever grateful to them.”

“My music is pretty versatile; I have a lot of genres and styles. I don't think I should be pigeonholed into one thing. So we'll see where my career goes.”

“When I found out I was pregnant, I was 22. It was really scary because I was working the music thing, and with a kid coming, you just can't live that life with a child.”

“When you're a kid, you might be picked on for your differences. When you're an adult, employers, colleges, friends - people look for differences when you're adult, and that's what makes you shine and stand out.”

“Writing for me is definitely a form of ventilation - a way for me to cope and deal with emotions. I think it is for any writer.”

“You have to learn to draw the same emotion you had when you wrote a song every time you perform it. Acting is the same way: You have to find those emotions and bring them to the surface, and then put them back when you're done.”