I really do love pop. I understand songwriting, I understand the business, and I'm not stuck in any one particular time period.

If I could live in one city and do every single thing I do there, I would choose Venice. You can't turn your head without seeing something amazing.

Almost all the producers I know and dig, like Quincy Jones or Brian Eno, are really musicians first. I'm a composer, an orchestrator, an arranger and a musician first. I know how to write and rewrite songs, and the genius is really in the rewriting.

I really do love pop. I understand songwriting, I understand the business, and I'm not stuck in any one particular time period.

Artists don't come much cooler and well rounded than Lady Gaga. Love and respect.

What do great artists do when you see a world around you that's in turmoil? Some of the best artists make you feel good (hah), they look to the future.

I'd probably be a super wealthy guy if I had sat around writing songs and getting them placed like everyone else I know. But I write songs about people or after I meet them and they're somewhat biographical - they're fiction but also non-fiction.