I want to create something that you haven't heard lyrically before. It's part of my job, and even though some of my songs are love songs, I tend to talk about love in different ways.

I work more emotively. If someone listens to one of my songs and says, "I know exactly what that's about," then I've done something wrong. I'm not doing my job properly because that's not what I want to do.

I guess songwriting has become a little more difficult for me over the years or maybe I regard it in a different light because I'm a little more critical of the songs that I write, so I take my time with them, which means I don't sit down and overly struggle with a song or overwork it.

The search for meaning can be through religion but it can also be through art and tapestry. It can be through prayer but it can also be through music and sport. It's whatever provides you with that sense of belonging.

No one chose to be part of a love. You don't choose it. It's not a decision that you make.

It's not that I write songs that are easy to get but I don't think there's a lesson that I'm trying to teach in any of my songs. There's not a moral at the end of it.

I truly believe that recovery requires some kind of stasis where you have to sit and internalize and lick your wounds and confront that darkness. I think that being hurt and recovering from that hurt is important in building character.