'Tattoos' reminds me of where I'm from, and some of the stuff I did when I was growing up. That was one of the things that was appealing about the song when I heard it the first time.
Even when I was calling myself the Microphones I only really ever played new songs... because I feel, like, a pretty strong connection to the song when I'm performing it.
Nirvana is next level. The songs are really cool to connect with on a more mature level, and I don't think I really understood that when I was 15.
It's kind of strange to hear your songs sung back to you! You get a big insight into what people connect to, what's moving to people or what songs people are really into.
When I play live, it's a conversation that we're all having with the song, and the audience... their response and relationship with the songs is as valid as my relationship with the songs.
Writing for other artists helped me figure out that magic you have to capture to make everyone connect with a song.
It's interesting what a new song can do to the other songs. A new song can be the grout of the record, tie the songs together, and define a new room in the house, helping the other rooms make sense.
I think sometime during the peak of 'Whiskey Glasses' is when I realized: 'Man, this is really starting to happen. People are not not just singing these singles, they're singing every song on my album and really invested in what I'm doing.'
It's just a blessing. Artists search and search for songs that will connect for a new artist because the familiarity is so low. People don't know what you look like. It's just so unbelievable to find a song that people are relating to. To have a song that people will actually pick up the phone and call the station to ask. It's a blessing.
I just saw Twilight on TV, for the first time, a few days ago, and, when my song came on, I was just thinking that is so bazaar that I actually had a song in the movie.
I always work on the songs all together up until the very end. I never mix a song and think, "Okay, now that one's done." I think that's why it feels like songs are really connected, and I like that. They're all worked on kind of like a little family.
I'm so grateful that anyone has connected with my songs, let alone millions of people.
I'd just recorded it in Mariah Carey's studio. THey thought the song was perfect for Nina, because she's so shy, so it was nice to have that connection with Nina in the song. It was special.
That's what music is all about, vibes. That's what makes people react and relate to a song, what makes it soulful.
I'm not sure it's a better music world of appreciation and performance. I think the listener is a different guy, and listening is something he does in passing, with other stuff going on. There's less care and understanding of the relationship between the song and the listener.
I feel a connection to many songs that I won't sing because I don't think they are right for me! There is something in my gut that immediately responds. There's no science to it.
I operate with an emotional fearlessness, and I really feel music; I really feel songs.
Hopefully when you listen to a song, you can say, 'That's me,' or 'That's someone I know' - you relate to it in a way that's cathartic.
I think my songs are singing to the rural heart. It's not whether you're from a big city or the middle of nowhere in a small town.
When you have these moments where a song connects with people and creates a conversation, it's quite a humbling experience because it's like, 'Maybe there is a little bit more weight to this job than I thought there ever was before.' Which was wonderful that that happened with 'Dead Boys.'
I don't know what happens at radio as far as what is that X factor that makes a song click and have people get connected to it when it's in another language.
But I still feel like a normal person... I've walked the streets and I know what it feels like. I speak with humility, and apparently those songs connect with people.
Some songs just resonate with you.
With 'More Than Words,' we wrote that, so we are that. I'm just happy people can connect with any of our songs. If that song opened the floodgates for us to be able to tour the world over and over, how could I be unhappy with that?
'7 Years' seems to have attracted a lot of age groups - people seem to see their own lives in the song, and it's great to see so many people reacting in that way to it.
