I hate the pigeonholing that's happened in the music business in the last 30 years.

You know, most of my career I wrote about moments in time. All of us have felt one thing or another and it didn't last very long. Now I'm drawing from real experience. It's a huge difference.

I decided I am not going to say things I do not mean anymore.

I'll always write music. Whether I release a record, whether I let the public hear it or not, I'm always writing music.

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.

It feels really great to be popular.

I was probably six years old when I first sang before an audience.