You know what? I have to say I advocate people getting their education through high school, even college, but I don't think it's necessarily a must because everyone has their own path to follow. You have to follow your own path. I can't tell everyone that getting a degree is the way because that's just what happened to me. It depends on what you want to do. You might need that degree or spending that time could actually take away from time for something else. It's such a hard question. It's just like saying "You should marry someone or not." Should you marry this person? It depends, you know? I think college prepared me in ways as far as learning about myself. What I can remember is the responsibilities that I had in college, things that I had to do on my own, that no one was responsible for but myself like having a deadline, having to meet it, knowing that I'm accountable for certain things. A lot of time we'll get confused with "That's not my fault; I'm not responsible." It's like you're not responsible for something but just because you're not responsible doesn't mean you're not accountable for that. That's something that I really learned more from my parents, though. But in college, that really comes into play. It really just helped me grow as a person, as a human being. That's what prepared me for this. I honestly feel like it gave me great real life, normal life experience. So when I got into the industry, I had sense enough to know what's real and what's not real. That's probably the biggest thing.
As a child, you studied dance. But at what point did your interests shift to singing?
You know, I always sang, even at the age when I was doing dance classes and everything. It was something recreational for me to do after school. My parents thought it would be nice if I engaged in extracurricular activities, so I did a lot of talent shows and stuff like that. But it wasn't until my senior year when I thought, "I'm going to try to do this professionally." I still went to college just because I had always been on an academic path and I truly believe in finishing whatever I start. All I knew at the time is that I wanted to go to a great university where there was a lot of culture and just try to get a record deal while I was studying. And that's what I ended up doing.
Article comments
1 - Chacob
I've been waiting for Amerie to get this kind of recognition! Well Done!
2 - Jun
Sanaa Lathan, Alicia Keys, Amerie and me in a tub of jelly and I'm GOOD..