India

India.Arie makes me happy. She's sort of like Lauryn Hill without the rap thing and without the nine-years-since-her-last-studio-album thing. The former is unfortunate, but the latter is good. I like her voice and the Stevie Wonder-influenced, acoustic guitar-accompanied soul flavor of her music, but most of all I like her lyrics. Which is why now, for your skimming pleasure, I'm going to throw copyright laws out the window and share a few of my favorite pieces of her latest album with you:

from "Private Party"

All my life (all my life)
I've been looking for (I've been looking for)
Somebody else (else)
To make me whole (ooo)
But I had to learn the hard way (ooo)
True love began with me (ooo)
This is not ego or vanity (ooo)
I'm just celebrating me

I'm having a private party
Ain't no body here but me, my angels, and my guitar singin' baby look how far we've come here
I'm havin' a private party
Learning how to love me
Celebrating the woman I've become, yeah


from "There's Hope"

There's hope
It doesn't cost a thing to smile
You don't have to pay to laugh
You better thank God for that


from "I Am Not My Hair"

I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am not your expectations, no
I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am the soul that lives within


from "I Choose"

I done been through some painful things
I thought that I would never make it through
Filled up with shame from the top of my head to the soles of my shoes
I put myself in so many chaotic circumstances,
but by the grace of God I've been given so many second chances
But today I decided to let it all go
I'm dropping these bags, I'm making room for my joy.

(And I choose) to be the best that I can be
(I choose) to be authentic in everything I do
My past don't dictate who I am
I choose.

Seeing these words without the music to accompany them makes me realize just how cheesy and rose-tinted they are. That's probably why I like them. If you haven't noticed yet that I have a tendency to be rose-tinted and cheesy myself, then you haven't been paying attention.

And that, my friends, is why I don't suck and you don't suck and nobody sucks. Let's all hug.