It is a game you have to play. You have to tour your ass off. It's just always "where am I now" versus "where could I be?" It's constant competition with yourself. But I'm up for it.

I've always got songs ready to go. It's not a challenge to conjure anything, it's just whether the music I supply is desirable.

I can tell what inspired the songs for me, or what I was thinking and feeling at the time. But I don't want that to be the definitive meaning behind the song. I like the idea that people can interpret, even if they're way off base. I'm rambling. I'm not good at talking about my feelings.

"Jogging Gorgeous Summer" song was inspired by a general feeling of sunshine, feeling good, sitting in the backseat of a car and hearing a song for the first time on the radio and feeling warm. I went back to the house I grew up in, and the people let me in to walk around. I went into my sister's old bedroom, and on the window ledge there was this little handwriting from my sister, and it said, "Jogging Gorgeous Summer." I thought that was a really pretty phrase.

It's always something that interests me, crafting a really perfect pop gem, but it's not a lifelong obsession. I've kind of moved beyond it. I think I needed to get that out of my system, to exorcise.

You're forced to step into that performer role. I can't just hide behind a synthesizer forever.

I operate in such a vacuum. I write by myself, it's a very solitary experience, and I'm not used to, I've never had a label or anyone to say, "We wanna hear a single, we gotta come back and retool some of these songs until they're more catchy."