It's weird because when you initially write a song, you write it with no understanding that the world is maybe going to hear it one day. So when you go into the studio, you don't see the hundreds of people at a gig or the viewers on TV, you just write a song without any inhibitions or boundaries.
My idols are singers like Billie Holiday and Erykah Badu because there's no gloss on what they do.
I don't really have a gimmick or a 'thing.' I'm one of the few artists who gets to be himself every day.
Melody is pure intuition. I don't use any thinking brain when I do that. That's totally in the zone.
I write songs as honestly as I can without worrying about genres or labels. Sometimes I sing, and sometimes I rap, and sometimes I do something in between. I jump around on stage and don't care too much about how I look. I try to be myself even though I'm still figuring myself out.
All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.
I didn't know what kind of sound I wanted to make. I didn't have no influences. I just heard my voice in the microphone and was like, damn, I like that.
No one wants the picture-perfect song anymore. I'm trying to keep the beautiful qualities of pop - nostalgia, melodies, and the feeling that a beautiful pop song can give you - but make it real. It's not polished.
My thing is, you have to let young artists be young artists.
I do music because I can just pick up my guitar and sing, and completely satisfy, instant gratification. I don't need a script, I don't people, I don't need anything, cameras, I just have myself and my guitar, or keyboard.
I went back and listened to the first three albums I made and tried to figure out what was special about them, why people keep going back to them. I think it was because I didn't know what I was doing. I had no idea if they were going to play it on the radio or anything. All I did was write songs, so that's what I got back to.
One of the ideas behind doing this acoustic record is that I didn't want to have to produce it by committee.
I play purely from the heart, y'know, and so if it doesn't work the first couple of hours, forget it.
I'm kinda a first take dude. The first time, cut that mic on, and the spirit is there, and what comes on the mic - I mean, even if I'm mumbling, I like to keep a lot of that initial thing that comes out. Cause that's the spirit.
When I get into the studio, it's not about trying to get a good song, it's about whatever comes naturally.
When it comes down to the music, it's just you and the microphone. It's not you and the record execs.
I'm a great believer in not over-thinking lyrics. You might become technically better as a songwriter, but you lose what originally made your songs great.
There's nothing quite as raw and honest as one person and one instrument.
I'm not the kind of singer that's always super, super careful.
When it comes to sitting down and composing, there is no hesitation, no concern, no critics breathing fire down my neck. For me, writing a song is the purest part of all. No one can mess with that.
Seeing a young band, seeing that hunger and the raw spontaneity, is good for me. It keeps me young, so to speak.
I think the line is where you're in the studio, you're creating. That belongs to you as an artist. Nothing should taint that. I shouldn't be thinking about what the fans want, I shouldn't be thinking about what the radio wants, what the label wants, what your manager wants, a song for the chicks, a song for the street.
I never judge my song titles; I just spit them out.
A lot of the stuff I am now seeing is edgy, raw kinda material.
Folk music is very honest, it's very humble, it's very organic, and the voice is exactly that. And so I'm very excited to put the two together.
