When you're young and you're comin' up, and you dream of gettin' this record deal, and then you actually get it, and, you know, its apples and oranges from everything that you pictured. The line was pretty self-explanatory to me: once I got in my major label agreement, I definitely couldn't deal with it. It was drivin' me crazy, givin' me gray hairs at an early age.

It's hard - it's difficult to tell when your buzz is at its peak.

It sometimes becomes difficult to tell when you're even creating a buzz. You know, everything in this game, it so relies on timing that that part is really important, and it's something that everyone tries to pay a lot of attention to.

Sometimes you gotta stand by your failures to recognize your success

I believe that life is meaningless without hope, which is really what that line is about. Without hope, what are we living for? I wouldn't wanna see where exactly I'd be in five years. I wouldn't wanna know my exact date of death. I wouldn't want to know my exact cause of death. Certain things I just want to allow to take place rather than just have the knowledge beforehand.

Certain majors [lables] just know what they're doin', and got a good grip on the dynamic of what's happening, and some don't.

I think the time in between albums, as much as it was not anticipated, it was much-needed, and very helpful, very useful. I've done nothing but hone my craft, and get better, and learn, and gather information in the process. So I'm grateful for it in retrospect.