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I think it's an important thing, if you grew up in a neighbourhood that's different from the rest of the world, to remember what was different about your place and keep that in your heart, because that's what made you.

I feel like, big city or small town, you can relate to following your parents' footsteps or putting your own dreams on the back burner or vices that we get caught up in - that whole cycle. That's not just a small-town thing. That's a life thing.

But instead of that stuff you get relationships with people and neighbors that you would never get in a city. People in small towns are a lot more open.

I know what it's like to be from an incredibly small town and the oppressiveness of it and the desire to get out. But I didn't realize that readers in Seattle, New York, and San Francisco might not get that so instinctively.

I think there are people who really love the comfort of their small town, and there are people who feel stuck by it.

If you live in the same small place long enough, something you don't like is bound to happen.

Something becomes personal when it deviates from the norm.

I had never had a deep sense of belonging anywhere. I always felt I was an outsider.

And living in a metropolitan area which is ethnically diverse, our lives are very complicated, so our emotional experiences are going to be varied like that.

Some of my songs are about the feeling you belong somewhere else. But there's also something grounding about coming from a small town.