So it was just a case of getting a bunch of songs that I had been writing for years but hadn't recorded together, and the result was My Own Best Enemy.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It took a long while for me to even put out a record because there were so many options of how to do a song, and in some respects, I'm never totally happy with the outcome.
It was always important to me that I made a record where I really sang well, and I don't think it's happened yet. There's always a possibility with each album that I might not record again, and I wanted to produce one that I could feel was mine.
Writing songs is not something I wanted to share with people for a long time. It was precious to me. I didn't want someone to crush it. I waited until I felt strong enough to take the criticism.
Not to take anything away from artists who don't write their own songs, but it's always been important to me to make sure it's my story.
I really just tried to make a record full of great songs, which is the goal I always have.
At first it was my brother's songwriting and I was just doing what everyone told me.
I had all the material for a long time, but I was just too busy. Sometimes we'd sit around at home and sing some of these songs at family things, and everyone always said I should record them.
Writing songs for other people was never the goal for me.
All my records have been written to be records, rather than writing a group of songs and seeing if they fit together.
When I got my first email from a record label, I decided I didn't want to go in with just one song, so I sat down and kept on writing.