The truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation. So make your words count.

We don’t just live in a celebrity take-down culture; we live in a take-down culture. People will find anything about you and twist it to where it’s weird or wrong or annoying or strange or bad. You have to live your life not only in spite of people who don’t understand you - you have to have more fun than they do.

You better lose yourself in the music

Try things. Laugh a lot. Mess up. Apologize. Hug people. Take chances. Trust yourself. Lose things. Get over it.

But when I hear a great song, I can't help but be inspired by it, regardless of whatever genre that song falls under.

There’s a general rule that I always go by, and it’s that you fall for who you fall for. Whatever small issue you get hung up on, whether it’s because they’re shorter than you, younger than you or they live far away - if you really are crazy about someone, none of that matters.

Songs for me are like a message in a bottle. You send them out to the world, and maybe the person who you feel that way about will hear about it someday.