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Hit songs are mysterious and slippery beasts; few artists have a lock on them. This means that many people, like me, have become fans of songs rather than fans of artists.

Didn't Lionel Richie just make a country album? No one is giving him a hard time... and God bless him - I love Lionel and should be able to do what he wants to do, like Madonna should, too. Both are having success and I applaud them. If you don't like it, don't buy it. The ageism criticism is getting old.

Good new songs are the backbone of the music industry. There isn't an artist out there who could survive without hit songs.

Artists don't always know. Almost every song I ever recorded that was a hit at the majors that the promotional people picked I didn't think it would be a hit. I was wrong every time!

I don't really care very much if I don't think that the critics really understand music.

You don't just go to the studio and say, 'I'm going to write a hit.' It becomes a hit when people like your compositions.

I think that I've got some pretty bad reviews on albums or songs that later proved themselves.

I tried not to listen very much to the critics. I know that whenever you do something, you must have a lot of critics, or it means that you haven't done anything. I never really bothered much and I don't care.

You can keep rummaging around until you find a song you like, but you can't predict whether it'll hit or not.

As a musician, I have always refrained from criticizing another artist.