You got to head north. It's always about going north, you know?

The older I get, the more I realize that you don't have to be around people you don't want to be around, and you don't have to be in a situation you don't want to be in. You have the power to rise up and leave.

I can always be reminded how small I am when I try to surf a wave that's a little bit out of my league, and I just get pummeled. And, when your life flashes before your eyes kind of stuff, deep down under the water where you don't know what's up or down, and that kind of thing, or just Mother Nature reminding you how small you are compared to it. That's kind of the main thing for me.

In fact, on a side note, after the success of the first record, I got asked to write for some pop artists, as everybody does, and I did a couple songs for some of these massive stars and the review that I got back was, "This artist likes the song but it's too POP-y for them." I was like, "What do you mean, I thought I was writing for a pop star."

I've been through a lot of ups and downs. I've been on both sides of it all, I guess. So there's not one specific event or thought that I'm dealing with or drawing from necessarily.

Let's say I'm at a party and I don't like the feeling I'm getting, I'll just leave. Why do I have to be there?

I can tell when something's real, or when something's put together. I can just feel it.