Hawaii is paradise. It sounds cheesy to say it, but there's music in the air there.

It's dedicating yourself to your craft. Spending thousands of hours in a studio learning how to write a song, learning how to play different chords, training yourself to sing. You know, to get better and better.

Music is not math. It's science. You keep mixing the stuff up until it blows up on you, or it becomes this incredible potion.

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.

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.

What I like about Elvis is the same thing I like about James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince. These guys, back in the day, there was no smoke and mirrors. It was just raw talent. They would step out onstage and command an audience. Talk about awesome.

In pop music, the public usually see the results - the hit records, the Grammy Awards performances, the concert tours - but not all the work that goes into getting into the spotlight. And not everyone realizes that, even if you have a lot of talent, chances are you won't make it.