It takes a different mindset to be successful in anything; that's why there's not a lot of super duper successful people, because it's guys I know who may be ten times more talented than me, but they don't work as hard.

I like clever songs. I like songs that make people think and I try to have substance in all my records, even with 'Sweet Dreams' how it was a club record and it was up tempo, but it was melodic and it was, like, lyrical.

When you're an artist, you can only do your own stuff. Even if you only write for other people, you're really more focused on yourself. So while everybody's out touring, I'm working on records.

A song is a song and a hit record can change a life.

I'm very competitive; it's not enough just to have a few number ones. I want to have 200.

It takes a different mindset to be successful in anything; that's why there's not a lot of super duper successful people, because it's guys I know who may be ten times more talented than me, but they don't work as hard.

I really was kind of like a musical nerd. I would watch VH1's 'Behind The Music.' That was heavy when I was a kid. I would sit up and want to watch that all day instead of going outside sometimes.