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The key to songwriting is just to be able to observe, and put yourself in situations to be around people, and let those ideas come to you.

The best songwriting comes from being as creative as you can and editing it down to the good bits, essentially.

You know, I would say that songwriting is something about the expression of the heart, the intellect and the soul.

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It's a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.

Songwriting is like editing. You write down all this stuff - all this bad, stupid stuff - and then you have to get rid of everything except the very best.

I see what other people do and what songwriters don't. They don't get out and take care of themselves. Producers turn themselves into a massive brand. Songwriters tend to be under someone else's umbrella. If you're building your own legacy, it can't be under an umbrella.

Songwriting is an art unto itself, not to be confused with performing.

Nowadays, with the state of the music business, for any artist, whether you're up-and-coming or you've been in it for awhile, you have to explore different revenues and different ways of expressing yourself.

Each song has its own secret that's different from another song, and each has its own life. Sometimes it has to be teased out, whereas other times it might come fast. There are no laws about songwriting or producing. It depends on what you're doing, not just who you're doing.

All we do as songwriters is rewrite the songs that have impressed us till we find our own voice. It's part of learning the craft.