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They can sonically sound like me, but nobody's ever gonna be able to write songs like T-Pain. There's only one of those.

T Bone and I grew up together in Fort Worth, Texas. He had his own recording studio by the time he was seventeen years old. When we were both nineteen he made the first archival recording of my voice.

When I first came out, like a lot of the artists at that time, I had a very polished, very overproduced sound.

The Ting Tings have been a huge hit in my family. I have two young daughters, and both of them love that record, so I pretty much have to listen to that ten times a day.

I love every bone in their heads.

I was just obsessed with soul singers who had these big powerful voices. I used to listen to Aretha, Whitney, Mariah and try and imitate them, note for note and riff for riff.

TLC was so real and authentic. And that's music as a whole. When it's an artist, and it comes from the heart, and that's really who you are, the fans attach to that.

The records that I like, they have life and warmth and soul in them. Like the slap back on Scotty Moore's guitar on 'Mystery Train.' You're not gonna get that in a computer. You're gonna want a live room, you're gonna wanna bounce the tape, you're gonna want real musicians, in a room, vibin' off of each other.