I've lived a phenomenal life, and there's more life in me, but I'm here, I'm not yesterday, but all those yesterday's brought me here. So I'm very comfortable with that.

The interesting thing is that, well, here's what I think about songwriters and songs. Sometimes people sit down and say, "I gotta write a song today, I have a title" and all of that, and sometimes inspiration just happens, almost like "Sugar, Sugar" and a couple of the other songs. But basically, I just started playing the piano, and I'm not a great piano player.

I have no regrets. I have not one single regret. I was born with a wonderful DNA where I felt that my life was not a race against someone else or another artist. It was probably internal.

I was going through some stuff regarding my mom and dad. There was 30 years difference [between them], so when you hear the lyric, "Girl I love you / You know I do / And I do not doubt / That you love me too / But you're so young / Your life has just begun", that's what I was wondering. They were married for 44 years.

It's funny: not only with the title of the album but also the song [It's Decided]. I kind of felt nostalgic. The beginning lyric is, "There's almost a sentimental feeling to another time," and when I got together with Kevin, he just absolutely, in his own fashion, just pushed me to go deeper than I usually would want people to know. That was the most difficult part for me was to bring someone in.

With Kevin [Drew], as I said, in his own way just told me "You gotta find that person that talks to you in your songs." I think we succeeded. I feel relief, to be quite honest with you.

I think with all of us, sometimes we're afraid to recognize that we're here.