Quote

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.

To make a song is a gift, and once it's done it keeps evolving and changing and becomes a tool to interact with other people. It's like a conversation.

Popular music usually has a chorus that needs to repeat, and people need to remember the song. That's sort of the major guideline when you're writing a song.

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

But when you get to a song, not only do you have to do a vocal melody, you have to write words and not be redundant and make some semblance of a story.

Every song has a bouquet, which is the music. If you can put words with something that is really apt, then you've done it.

Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.

Music is very nebulous, and you can conjure up a lot of moods with music. But lyrics - they're a lot more tangible. They're much more specific. And you want to say something meaningful and creative and artistic and that tells a story and that takes people someplace else.

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

When you write songs, you can't really point out the exact thing you're inspired by. It's more a state or a mood or an atmosphere that you're trying to put into words.