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There's plenty of people who can sing OK that make terrific records, and I love them from afar. But when I make a record, I need great voices. That's always my mandate.

Your voice is like a very serious instrument that you have to tame if you want to be an amazing singer - Marvin Gaye or Michael Jackson.

My writing voice is a little quirkier, more singer-songwriter-y than the Top 40 stuff I cover.

I just wanted to be a songwriter. I did really not like the sound of my own voice.

I know I'm not a great singer. But I love to sing and I like to use my voice in different ways.

When I graduated, everyone was like, 'You got to do pop and R&B to make it,' like very contemporary pop and R&B. I tried for a little while, but I just realized my voice wasn't quite fitting some of the records that I was doing.

I don't believe that recordings should sound radically better than the artist, I think that's dishonest. For example, I'm not a great singer but if I spent enough time tweaking my vocals, I could sound like one. But I don't, what you hear is pretty much what I sing.

My voice is a combination of how I grew up and what I was listening to growing up. I like a lot of different kinds of music and am always being inspired in different ways by different artists for different reasons.

Really take the time to focus on finding your voice and making sure that whatever you're creating is of high quality and is useful for people in their everyday lives.