I write a lot and I will have some originals on the record. I think it is a mistake for an artist like me to think I am a better writer than Cole Porter. I think it is important to realize what my strengths are. I do like to write and I'm not shabby but I don't think I'm the most brilliant writer. I think it would be a shame and sort so egotistical to say I don't need these wonderful writers. These men created works of art and wrote hundreds of beautiful songs. It would be a mistake for me to say at this point in my career that I am so good.

I'm fascinated by politics. I love watching everyone from Neil deGrasse Tyson to Lawrence Krauss to people like Richard Dawkins and Noam Chomsky on YouTube.

As I've gotten older and the world has gotten far more complicated .

When grandpa was ill and could've died, I would have swapped all my record sales so he could get well. He is the reason I am a singer. He was my best friend growing up.

I was reading a Time magazine interview with an author named Brené Brown. She said, "People that fail seem to ultimately do the same thing they think works over and over again." I had an epiphany and called my manager and started a creed with my producers. I promised we'd do whatever was best for the song and the album - no ego would get in the way.

I think the legacy we leave is our family. I don't think it's money. I don't think it's - I'm not saying that charity isn't a great thing. I just think that it's my family. Even now I look and I think, God, I'm lucky if I lost it all.

The fact that there's a more open discussion about everything from feminism to racism ... I look at my two boys ... this is their future I'm talking about. When I'll be long gone, it'll be them and their kids. I know that sometimes the darkest times are followed by the lightest. Sometimes bad things have to happen for good things to happen. At the very worst, we're having very open discussions, discussions about things we didn't even know f-king existed. I talk to my friends about it and they are absolutely shocked. They didn't even know.