People can hear my songs are coming from something real. I mean what I say; I'm not just writing to impress critics or young girls, or older girls. The way I talk is the way I write a song.

Someone told me something that stuck with me: "You have to envision your life, and then go backwards." I've been living by that motto for a while, so I see where I need to be. Now I'm just backtracking and trying to get back up there.

I'm a big fan of songs like Joe Cocker's 'You Are So Beautiful' and Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' - songs that go straight to the point.

My dream was to not get a day job but to sleep, wake up and do my music. I want to keep that dream forever.

To write a song you must have an imagination, to have an imagination you must be free.

I think everybody don't know what color I am. It's like, "He's not black enough. He's not white enough. He's got a Latin last name but he doesn't have - he doesn't speak Spanish. Who are we selling this to? Are you making urban music? Are you making pop music? What kind of music are you making?"

Every time I try to write a song, when I sit down and think I'm going to write, I really want to write a song, and it never works out. It's always when it hits me unexpectedly on a plane or right before I go to bed, something like that.