Therapy really did prepare me to become an empathic songwriter. As far as advice goes, it's a matter of self understanding first.

I am definitely not listening to anything remotely close to my music, at least not on a nice day.

I want to be very authentic when I perform, because I feel like I owe that to people listening. You can't go through the motions on music like this. You are making people feel a certain way, that you are not feeling yourself. It's like saying "I want you guys to cry, but I don't really care," which isn't right.

I'm not Metallica, you can tell that I'm really not that angry in most of my songs.

That old adage, that "music is a universal language", is really true. Even if all of the lyrics are understood, they seem to connect with it really well and in some ways, more so.

Therapy really did prepare me to become an empathic songwriter. As far as advice goes, it's a matter of self understanding first.

I am saying what comes out, because I'm really not a methodical writer. I'm not a good building writer, where you are like "well, I going to make a song today, and I think it will be a pop song." Some people are great at it and it's beautiful. If I am feeling musical and I pick up the guitar, usually something will eventually come out and I'll see where it goes.