I love Nashville, and I love the South, but on a professional level, I had started feeling smothered by the Nashville way of doing things.

The songs come from a vulnerable place, but expressing that part of yourself can also make you feel fearless.

James Michael and I played everything on the album, then brought in the guys in my band to add their spirit to it with solos and specific parts.

I never listened to country music growing up.

Nashville has a formula, and it works a lot of the time, but it wasn't right for me. They're afraid to step outside the box - even though, with me, my success came because I was outside of the box to begin with.

I never excluded any genre on my first record.

There's a lot of freedom for me living in L.A.