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Lyrics can be important, but ultimately, what pulls people in on a song is melody and the tracks and the way music feels.

Lyrics are kind of the whole thing; it's the message. Something might have a beautiful melody but if it's not the truth coming out of your mouth, it's not appealing.

I feel like guitar explains a lot. You can just listen to a guitar without any lyrics over it; you can just feel what kind of track it is. If it's pain... you can feel it. It sets the mood.

Music is a lens through which to see who we are. Every phrase of every piece of music is trying to tell a story.

I try to tell a story musically in a song.

When I write a tune - and it's been like this for many years - I always hear in the back of my head some sort of vague, orchestrated, fully fleshed-out big-band version of the song with other parts going on.

Sometimes a song indicates that it wants to be about a certain thing. And then if you write it, you find that it is about something that you've done.

When there are no lyrics, people can picture what they want. It's a reflection of where they are in their lives. Music becomes a mirror.

Sometimes I just think that there are more things to be said to make the audience understand what I'm trying to do more. When I'm singing, I don't want you to just hear the melody. I want you to relive the story, because most of the songs have pretty good storytelling.

I get the lyrics of a tune and interpret them my way.