Home, to me, is where I am and where I feel most comfortable. Obviously, Malaysia is home. In L.A., my home is my apartment because that's my Malaysia.

I think you can soften people's hearts, even if they have a lot of hate. Music can do that if it's beautiful and honest. If I can do that - soften just one person's heart - I consider myself successful already.

It's something that I do every year - every Ramadan to be exact - taking an 18-hour flight back home to Malaysia from Los Angeles. I'm born and raised in Malaysia, and Ramadan and Eid has always been my favorite time of the year.

When I was younger I would go to the airport with my friends and drive out 2 A.M., 3 A.M. in the morning and just hang out until sunrise watching planes fly in and fly out. Just sit there and dream about how, one day, that's going to be us in those flights. We're gonna be one of those people with places to go.

Embrace the color of your skin and your own beauty.

A lot of people tend to go into the music industry and be really - what do you call it? - oblivious to everything that comes with it.

I really like the idea of modesty. By the time I got into music, I was already wearing the scarf all the time, and it's really personal to me, my Muslim beliefs, so I decided to keep it and find a way to work around it. I don't see it as a restriction or limitation - I can still be me and get into music and be an entertainer.

Just look at 'K-pop' - who would've expected American fans to embrace it? It's really cool to be one of those artists who can break through the American market. I'm not trying to conquer America; I just want to make music and see if people like it.

There's a lot of buying power from the Middle East. Girls from Dubai want to be able to wear Asos, and you have people travelling all the way to the States just to go shopping.

I love Gwen Stefani. I'd watch what she'd wear over and over again and think, 'How do I nail this style?' And then, I like that classic beauty, too. Audrey Hepburn, she's so elegant.

I've always been singing all my life, but I started playing guitar when I was 19, and that was my final year in university, in law school. I think that happened when I started making a lot of friends who were in the independent music scene.

I'm a Muslim. I don't try to hide it. I'm also a girl who loves music.

My label understands that I am really attached to Malaysia, that I come home a lot.

Just look at 'K-pop' - who would've expected American fans to embrace it? It's really cool to be one of those artists who can break through the American market. I'm not trying to conquer America; I just want to make music and see if people like it.

I think I draw my inspiration from a lot of conversations that I had with people or my friends and combine them together with my own personal experience.

Being a musician, it's my job to be real and be true to whoever I am. Hopefully that will inspire other people. I hope it inspires people to be themselves and be comfortable in your own skin.

I want girls to know that equality exists in this world. You can do anything you want.

I didn't expect to have music as my main thing. I always thought I was going to be a lawyer. When I graduated, I was doing really well with my music in Malaysia. I had stable income, and I had really good momentum in the music industry, so I had to make a decision whether to stop that and continue being a lawyer.

I think being bi-continental is something I want to continue. Kuala Lumpur is my home, but L.A. is where I've been able to make the music that I want.

I really believed that my songs were good enough for the whole world to listen to. I had fans from America or the U.K. who would be like, 'Oh my God, I love your music'.

I feel like fashion and music relate to each other in a lot of ways. I always had to be creative: I'm a very creative person. I always liked making stuff. Apart from music, I always liked making clothes. You're able to express yourself.

I started singing very early. I was six or seven years old, and I was singing along to TV commercials and figuring out, 'Oh, hey, I can sing in tune. This is really cool.' But the songwriting thing came much much later, when I was 19 years old.

I'm based here in L.A., but I think in the future I might consider settling down in Malaysia when I start a family.