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I was five years old when I wrote my first song. It was out of longing for my father that I wrote it.

Music expresses longing and love and joy better than any piece of dialogue you can ever write.

I even got letters form kids in hospitals saying the music is what keeps them going, and that really touched my heart.

I'm not just writing songs that are narrating my life, but everyone else around my age because they're super-relatable.

I got into writing music when I was, like, 14 or 15. It was a very private thing for me because I used it as an outlet and emotional release. I kept it very close to myself and didn't tell too many people about it.

At the time I wrote 'Forever,' I had a 14-year-old daughter, and she was reading a lot of books about young love.

When I was very little my mother would read to me in bed. She gave me a fascination for stories, and for the music in words.

I always wanted my music to influence the life you were living emotionally - with your family, your lover, your wife, and, at a certain point, with your children.

When it came to using elements of your personal life in your work, my mother was the master, or the mistress. There were three or four songs she wrote about my father - songs about failed love.