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Sometimes I don't go into the studio for quite a while because I haven't found enough good songs. They have to have a certain caliber and connect with me because I'm going to be playing them for the rest of my life. I start off with a circle of friends whose songs I love anyway.

I don't do any songs that I'm sick of now - sometimes even songs that I request. If I'm sick of 'em I don't do 'em even for myself.

I honestly don't listen to a lot of music - I spend so much time working at my own music.

I think for us up-and-coming artists, once you're out there, once you've put stuff up, once people know who you are, once you discover who you are, we're all in the same boat: it's down to whether people appreciate the music or not.

I'm perceived as someone who goes out and searches for new music, but it was all present in my household.

Some people think its just fun and games and others don't know how much I pushed to get here. They have to be in my shoes, but by listening to my music they can find out.

My mom had a produce business in in Oxnard, and we used to take these long trips to talk to farmers and different distributors. She'd take us with her after picking us up from school, and she'd be blasting all this old soul music and R&B. I knew all those O'Jays songs before I knew Snoop or Dre or Tupac.

I don't listen to a lot of music any more and even the people I've loved for years - the Nick Drakes of this world - I can't go back to them and listen to them over and over.

A lot of times, I don't feel responsible for the songs myself. But that's my job or my place in life: to keep my search and catch the ideas before they pass me by.

I am such a music fiend. I go after so many different types of music. I'm on iTunes constantly just buying new music!