But in my mind I've always been a solo artist- I've just been working with a lot of great people like Kanye and Alicia Keys and Jay-Z.

There's a lot of hurry up and wait. But it gives you time to write a song.

People tell me all the time that my songs help them express things to loved ones that they may not be able to say themselves.

For me there's insecurity when you're releasing an album because you spend all of this time working on that one thing and then once it's done, it's done. After you put it out there to the public you never know which songs are going to work or even if the album is going to work as a whole so there is a little bit of nervousness around predicting what the numbers will be and if it's going to be well-received.

Music business is hard. It's very difficult. And it's not for everyone. Even if you can sing or even if you can write a song, it takes a lot of determination, it takes some kind of thick skin.

Soul is about authenticity. Soul is about finding the things in your life that are real and pure.

I never went through a period where I didn't want to play music. I've always loved it and it's always been a huge part of my life.