I sing the songs that people need to hear.
Every day somebody comes up to me and says, 'That song really helped me through a difficult time,' or 'That's me and my wife's song' or 'This song means something to me because of... ' It's humbling to hear that. You're something special in someone's life, even if it is for three minutes.
As a songwriter, if you can touch people and make them feel a little less alone in the world, then you've done your job.
Nat King Cole's lyrics were speaking to me, almost like fatherly advice, when I was listening to him alongside the console stereo player. So that music and that influence comes out of me.
I was obsessed with 'The Velvet Rope' for a year straight, letting Janet Jackson's confessional lyrics lull me to sleep and comfort me when I felt lost. I felt that the album was the vehicle onto which Janet finally expressed her full self.
We have fans that come up all the time and say, 'This song helped me through this tough time in my life' or whatever. The music helps us through it, too.
When I write a song, it is to fill a niche in people's lives. To have a song for every experience if one hadn't been written yet.
'Wanna Be That Song' has everything I want to say about love and about what I'm trying to be. I wanna be that part of your life, that song that means so much to you, the one that takes you back to that special place... the song that makes you laugh, the song that makes you cry when you need to cry, that makes you dance when you need to dance.
That's why I fell in love with country music: it made me feel something.
Many of my fans often tell me that they listen to my songs to get through things. And therefore, obviously, I hope that they can picture being in a place where things are better... I hope my songs can bring people to a calm place.
If you're going through a difficult time, and there's a piece of music that speaks to you - be it musically or lyrically or both - you are almost always able to access that music. You're always able to sit down with it.
SAD!' is definitely one of my go-to songs when I want to vibe.
When we're in trouble, it's usually a line from a song that saves us. I wish it was sermons, but, I'm sorry, it's not. When you're in crisis, what comes to mind is 'O love that would not let me go.' You know?
The thing about music is that it gives voice and names to anguish and also addresses how to comfort it.
Thank God for beautiful songs about feeling despair when you yourself are in despair. They really get us through.
I used to assume no one would care, but I do think now I've written songs that are useful to people having dark hours.
I've always wanted to release a song that could actually touch someone and help them through a tough time.
