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 just find that I enjoy the music that feels like there's a journey to the top of this mountain, then you're at the top of the mountain finally with this magical feeling, and you're stoked because you made it, and you're up there, but there's a little bit of sadness to think of all that you lost along the way to get there. I guess I relate and enjoy the path and the struggle very much. Maybe it's the competitive spirit in me.

I like to write pop songs and the stuff I write is fairly poppy, so I thought maybe my lot in life was to write pop songs for people. It never felt right writing songs for other people to sing, though.

Trying to put music out there in the world is a pretty exciting, yet terrifying, thing and I've just been through the ringer.

The world's pretty trippy. I just like to travel around and see what's out there.

I never try and force-feed any song idea or lyrical message. It's really what's on my mind and what comes out of me. And a lot of these lyrics are metaphors for specific life situations that I've been through, and in most cases, the struggles. Something about human beings wearing sadness heavily on their sleeve inspires me to make something uplifting about the situation.

There's a lot of different things, but I think love gives us peace one way or another, and a calming effect on our soul, so I don't know exactly what love is to me, but I know I try my best to surround myself with that. Whenever I can. It's hard sometimes.