My school life was very much a wandering experience. I was having trouble in school and I was not making a lot of friends. So coming home and actually improvising on the piano and just coming up with melodies was an escape for me.

If I'm in a relationship, I'll go to the ends of the earth. If I'm on the road and we have a conversation, and she says, "God, I really wish I was there with you right now," I'll hang up the phone, send a car, and have the plane ready.

It wasn't that I got pinned against my locker, but I was intensely aware that the things I valued weren't shared by anyone. Girls didn't like me, and I had few friends.

I think that my relationship with my fans has been very special from day one. It's been very special in spite of the fact that I don't think I would ever be able to call myself a press darling. I don't think there's ever been a superficial hype machine around me.

The songs that I sing and the songs that I write have always just been what I feel my voice does well, and what my inspirations have been and a kind of culmination of everything.

Music is so 100 percent for me that the idea of giving that up in any way, shape, or form would be terrifying to me.

I've been aware of my gay fans since album one. There has been such great support from that community and it has gone both ways.