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You've got a song you're singing from your gut, you want that audience to feel it in their gut. And you've got to make them think that you're one of them sitting out there with them too. They've got to be able to relate to what you're doing.

Write your own songs. It helps you to mean what you're singing, which will then make it mean something to listeners.

I'm just writing songs about how I feel or about how people I know feel.

I think most people don't know that I really write everything myself. No help. There's nobody in the studio except for me and the engineer. A lot of people don't think I'm a singer. They think I'm a rapper.

When I'm writing, I'm constantly thinking about myself, because it's the only experience I have to draw on. And I don't see an exact reflection of myself in every face in the audience, but I know that my songs have validity to them, and that's why the fans are there.

Do people have an idea of who they think I am? Yes, and that's fine with me. My music will speak for itself.

The way I write my songs is that I have to believe what I'm writing about, and that's why they always end up being so personal - because the kind of artists I like, they convince me, they totally win me over straight away in that thing. Like, 'Oh my God, this song is totally about me.'

When I write songs, when I sing songs, I don't have anybody in mind. I'm just trying to express what I think people are feeling.

When you're writing a song, you have to know two things. You have to know who you are, and you have to think about other people.