Growing up in Cleveland, I learned about singing from my mother, who had once sung professionally and who admired Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin.

I'm not sure if the next song I write is going to be about love or a song about a tree.

People's real hopes and dreams can be distorted and misdirected and packaged until you're not sure what you really want or what you even really need.

When you feel like you've had a good show, you go backstage and you talk to yourself about it, and if you have a bad show you talk to yourself about it.

You have to pay attention to the moment and make it the best it can be for you. I've been trying to do that. It's really made a major difference for me. I'm a happier person.

There's a power in words. There's a power in being able to explain and describe and articulate what you know and feel and believe about the world, and about yourself.

I think it's important, if you are an artist, to use your music to stand up for what you believe in.