I looked a little pasty. But hey, at least I didn't wet myself!

There's a lot of craft that goes into achieving a hit song - at the beginning of your career, you're usually more inspiration than craft, and you get great when those intersect. A skilled songwriter can get you to that intersection.

I'm a native New Yorker, so I'm edgier; I kind of tell it like it is.

Good new songs are the backbone of the music industry. There isn't an artist out there who could survive without hit songs.

I have breakups that I can credit to every song. In my twenties, I picked people who would create that dysfunction and drama, so I could draw upon it.

A great song should make you stop everything that you're doing. You should be so into it that you just can't imagine doing anything else for that moment. You wouldn't even dream of picking up the phone.

When I look at myself, I'd like not to have hair on the top of the ceiling.