I've always been serious about music. After you've done it for so many years, you get back to the basics.

I am at my core a singer/songwriter a la James Taylor or a la Billy Joel. It's not that I don't want to work with people, but I do just love doing my own thing.

There's no substitute to being successful on an actual chart.

Stevie didn't use the technology to drive the song. He used it to enhance. I use the tools to further my work, I don't use my work to further the tools.

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.

For me able to do the records I want to do and not have to worry about this producer or that producer or that trend, I'm not really interested in that.

I've been a jazz artist playing pop and R&B my entire career.