It’s been a long road of discovery for K. Michelle and, according to her, she’s finally getting back to the core of who she really is.

In a recent interview with REVOLT TV, the singer talked about the journey of remaining true to herself while battling struggles of the music industry.

Real Talk | K. Michelle details how she got “back to me” for new album ‘Kimberly’

“I’m just getting back to me,” she said. “Honestly, like, Kimberly. My album’s called Kimberly: The People That I Used to Know. Kimberly is me, and they told me that me wasn’t good enough.”

When it came to appeasing others in the past however, the singer admits to submitting to requests for change. “I compromised who I really was because I was told to,” she said. “I didn’t know any better. I knew I had one failed record deal and I knew it was a lot of eyes on me. But I did compromise me because I thought me being opinionated or me telling the truth was a bad thing.”

Returning to “Kimberly” and reclaiming her old self is what K. Michelle says she’s finally doing now. “I’m back to me because it’s no book,” she said. “It’s no book for being a star. There’s no book for being an artist, it’s only about the music. And we’re in a generation full of millennials and people who don’t care about the music. They just want to be cool. But you know what always comes back around? Music.”

And the music’s message is what’s most important, whether her fans understand it or not. K. Michelle explained, “Whether people get my music now or if they get it years later like [when] I found and discovered Nina Simone and it was fresh and new to me, it’s gonna be some little girls, some men, some people [who are] going to be like, ‘That girl was gifted. More than anything, her mouth was big, but so was her voice.’”

‘Kimberly: The People That I Used to Know’ arrives December 8.