VH1: How do you think growing up in England helped you to discover R&B and soul music?

Joss Stone: I think England has a love for arts -- it's very different there, musically. It's not just England, it's Europe. It's not as pigeon-holed as America. I go to different places in America --- New Orleans, Chicago, New York -- and it reminds me more of England. Well, maybe it's not England, maybe it's just where I live in Devon. Everybody is different: in the fashion, the way they speak, the way they carry themselves. It's not just one type; it's all different cultures and accents. And using different ways to express yourself through art is a very big thing where I come from, too. I really just found what I loved. I grew up in a house where every single room had a different piece of music coming out of it. I was lucky.

VH1 How would you describe the music you make?

JS: When I say I love soul music, I can't define what that means. Nobody can. My music will change, it's going to be different every couple years. But at the end of the day, the second I stop feeling is the second I stop doing it. [People] can choose to call it whatever [they] want. Whoever buys my album, go home and listen to it and you decide what you want to call it. I'm just going to call it "feel music" from now on. You know what really pisses me off, is the people who label it "black music." How can you say that music is defined by a color, or a race, or a culture: it's not. Nobody owns it. Only God owns it. I just feel lucky that I can share it with him. It's a piece of art that is able to be expressed by many different people, and I think that's what's so beautiful about it.

VH1: What did you listen to while growing up?

JS: I got in trouble a lot when I was younger because I'd steal a lot of records from my dad and mum. My dad and I had this ongoing war. He'd steal my Angie Stone and D'Angelo records and I'd steal his Van Morrison. I took his James Brown's greatest hits and the poor man never got it back. But it didn't matter, because I would play it loud enough for everyone to hear. We had a little feud, and it was funny.

VH1: You worked with Raphael Saadiq, which seems almost perfectly in keeping with somebody who is very much into a new R&B sound, but also very grounded in the R&B tradition.

JS: He just feels it. I told him when I started working with him: "Raphael, any musical rule that you ever had to live by? Throw every single one of them out the window. Because there are no rules with this record." If he felt it, and I felt it, it's on there. When you take this kind of record to a label, they get scared, because it's a change, and people are scared of change. Change excites me -- it drives me, and pushes me. A lot of people in this world are happy with how things work. That's not how Raphael Saadiq works. It's funny, he said, "Joss, you're like me 20 years ago".

VH1: Did that scare you at all?

JS: No, I love it! I love when he says that, because I look up to him and think he's a talent. Not just a talent, but a beautiful spirit. Everything he's been through, he's come out a great person. He's told me stories that would make me mad the rest of my life, but he's not mad. There's something spiritually calming about him.

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VH1: Were there records that he was involved in that were your touchstone records?

JS: I was in love with [sings] "Don't Mess With My Man." I didn't even know that was him until a couple months ago. I was like, "No way! I've been working with you for months and you didn't say anything!" And my favorite song Mary J. Blige has ever done, and probably will ever do, is "I Found My Everything." That's the best song she has ever done. And if she can top that, I can't wait to hear it. Also, "Lady" and "Untitled," by D'Angelo, just murdered me. Something about [Raphael]'s bass playing. I can say, hand on my heart, he's the best bass player I've ever heard. He has this certain swagger. I don't know what it is, I can't put my finger on it, and I'm not even going to even try.

VH1: How does this experience compare to your past recording experiences?

JS: As much as I dislike some of the songs and some of the vocal performances and I'm always going to be critical, I do know that Soul Sessions is a good record. The middle one [Mind, Body and Soul] I felt, was rushed, and it was meant to be my baby, but it wasn't. They didn't let me do what I wanted to do. This one, they had no choice: I made it, and I gave it in. Nobody heard it, not even my mother heard it. My mum, my dad, they were all mad at me. Nobody that was involved on anything else was involved on this one.

VH1: Did you have a musical confidante to play the record for while you were making it?

JS: I trust Raphael's ears as much as I trust my own. I feel like I need two pairs of ears, because I can't be in the room at the same time as the booth. But I only need two, no more than that. I would literally isolate myself when I went to the Bahamas to record and write it.

VH1: What was it like to record at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas?

JS: It was so dope, because we would get Bob Marley's energy. We got a lot of good energies on that record. I basically went there by myself, no management, no nothing. The only people allowed out there was my management, but only two days, then they disappeared. It was kind of depressing. I went through a proper depression. But it doesn't matter, because I got it out. I was just really lonely.

VH1 Was it loneliness, or was it the size of the project in front of you?

JS: No, I loved the project. I literally did not talk to anyone on the phone. I didn't because I'm so obsessed at getting this record to become something that I liked. I've been doing five years of two albums that I really don't like. I mean, they're ok, but I don't love them. I decided that what we live this life for, in the end, is to be happy, so if I'm not making myself happy, I need to do something to change that. So I sat there, and I figured out why I was so miserable. I literally gave my life to something that wasn't me. If this was a 9-to-5 job it wouldn't be drastic, but it isn't. I don't go home, ever. I went home for four weeks last year. And that's not a problem, but it is a problem if I'm doing something I don't like. I'm really making sure I love the music, because that's the love of my life right now. I had to make sure that I liked it, so the only other ears that I could trust were Raphael's. By the end of it it was like we had the same head.

VH1: So it's fair to say that you think of this record as a full-on collaboration with Raphael?

JS: Writing wise, I wrote loads before I met him. Production wise, yes, definitely. Also, after I produced with him, I started to write with him. So, he helped me get this out. I've been playing this record in my head for five years, but it hasn't been able to come out. I couldn't tell anyone because nobody was listening. Why were they going to listen to a 14 year-old girl? They have no reason to; they're putting lots of money into this. These are grown-ass business men, and I wouldn't expect them to. But now someone's got to listen [now], otherwise I'm not doing it. It's great I found Raphael, because I didn't make him listen, he just wanted to. He's the only person that actually wanted to hear me, because he trusts me, musically. I feel blessed, man. This took me a long time, but I found him.