Criticism is always going to be painful. You live through it. I'll live through it now. It's even harder when you're younger. You don't have the maturity. You're still developing. If you get damaged while you're developing, it's a psychological battle after that. Today, if I get the criticism, I'm not bothered...if I wear the wrong thing, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Maybe when I was younger, I might have been more affected by that.

I lost my sense of trust, honesty and compassion. I crashed down and became what I consider an emotional mess. I've never been so miserable in my whole life. I just wanted to go to bed and never get up.

I'm more private than people realize. I'm not that easy to get to know.

It was just like a dream. I could have ended up with an album that's not all that different from anything else coming out of Nashville. Mutt made the difference. He took these songs, my attitude, my creativity, and colored them in a way that is unique.

I'm never at my best on television. There's a row of cameras between you and the audience, and it's very weird, very confusing.

I really admire artists that are willing to take a different approach and a different angle to their shows.

I'm neither embarrassed of who I am, where I come from, what I've experienced, I'm not ashamed of it.