The outspoken singer-songwriter offers her thoughts on a few hot-button topics.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: "There is a way to repair the pain that you go through. If you have a couple that really wants to change, there's therapy. We need to have the courage ... to get out of that. Possessive and violent relationships are very addictive. And when you do break away and you don't love that person anymore, there's a feeling of success, of achievement."

WOMEN AS BANDA MUSICIANS: "You can survive through the criticism, through the sexism. I went through a lot. And Graciela Beltran did, too. I mention her because she's also one of the successful female artists in the genre. Only we know what we go through, that it's hard to get airplay because it's so macho and male-dominated. "

STRONG WOMEN: "I believe as women we're supposed to not just sit there and wait for things to fall out of the sky or for a genie to come and switch your life around. We're supposed to struggle. Get up early in the morning, think, pray, do whatever you gotta do. Make a plan, not just for today, but for what you think the future may or may not bring to you. We are supposed to find our own."

BORDER CROSSING: "In general ... Mexican immigrants [are] hard-working people that just want to find a better life. They really don't want to come over here and take advantage of the government and go on welfare and be criminals."

Mario Tarradell