BONNIE MCKEE

I started writing my own songs from the time I was a little kid. I would write my own lyrics to other people's songs that I heard on the radio and take whatever song and make it about fairies and angels - whatever little girls sing about.

I've been singing since I could talk, pretty much. My dad was really musical and taught me how to sing harmonies and got me a karaoke machine with tape decks.

I've always had a teenage thread running through my music.

There are some artists that don't like working with other females, which is fine. They have their own thing. I personally love being surrounded by other females.

I think what it means to be an 'American Girl,' and what I wrote the song about, is our freedoms. The idea that we as Americans can be what we want to be and say what we want to say and that we take it for granted.

I like to think of myself as the people's pop star a little bit. I respect Lady Gaga so much, and I love what she does, but she has this kind of mysterious, out-of-reach thing. I'm just not that - as much as I'd love to have that sort of mystique, I think I'm kind of an open book.

I was always super, super musical. So my parents recognized that and put me in choirs, piano lessons, and all that.

I saw Tina Turner do 'Proud Mary' on TV, and it was so electrifying and such a unique experience. I remember crying out of excitement, and I knew that I wanted to be a performer and make people feel excited and moved, and that's why I gravitated towards it.

When I moved to Seattle in fourth grade, I joined the Seattle Girls' Choir. It's a world-class choir, and we competed, toured Europe, and went and sang at the Vatican, so it was a really awesome experience to have that young.

If I know I will be working with someone and they are not keen with writing with a girl, I like to be non-threatening and cool so they will trust me. It's a thought process of who work and how I want to present myself.

I've had a lot of successes as a songwriter, and I really have nothing to prove in that arena, so I'm just excited about the next challenge of pursuing this artist thing.

I think the key to writing hit songs is simplicity.

The original title was 'Waking Up Diagonal'. It's the first line of the song. I just thought it was more interesting than 'I Don't Care', which is such a boring title to me. When I hear that song, it breaks my heart a little bit because it's my story.

I have been doing some writing on the side a little bit with artists that I'm really excited about. Kind of more up and coming people. But, I'm focusing more on my own project. It's a full time job being an artist!

A lot of times, if you're not getting inspiration right away, we'll listen to stuff to get inspired.

I thought back to my middle-school experience of having slumber parties and watching Romeo + Juliet and staring at Leo and thinking about my first kiss and what I wanted it to be like. And when you have your first real love, it's an epiphany, you know? It's like a whole new world.

I was invincible. I believed all my problems were gone and I finally made it, that L.A. was my answer to everything.

'Teenage Dream' was the most difficult song I've ever been a part of. We wrote five different versions of it. We couldn't get the lyrics right. Max Martin and Dr. Luke wrote most of the melody, and then Katy Perry and I were responsible for getting the lyrics right.

It's great to just reach out and give something to the fans when they're hungry for it.

I've always had a teenage thread running through my music. On my first album, I had a song called 'Confessions of a Teenage Girl.' It's about using your feminine wealth to get what you want.

When I'm dealing with Britney Spears and Katy Perry, these massive brands, like, really, very Coca-Cola, you know what I mean? There are certain kinds of standards. There are risks you can take, and there's risks that you don't. And I think I'm interested in taking a little more risk in my own music.

I realized there are so many steps from getting a deal to having a hit.

I always had the fantasy of Hollywood and Los Angeles and the beach, not realizing that Hollywood was so very far from the beach.

A line has to have a certain number of syllables, and the next line has to be its mirror image.

I like big, soaring melodies and fun, splashy lyrics. Maybe like what Blondie would do in 2013.