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I feel the only way I can survive is to spend a lot of time writing songs. I have to have incredible, killer songs that also are hits, or I just don't have a chance.

My other advice is to start writing songs and singing right away.

I tend to write songs critiquing myself. The best way for me to deal with stuff is to write a song about it... That's not to say all my songs are like that.

I don't write songs that don't affect me on some level, because I figure if I am not moved by it, if its not something that I have a longing to celebrate or to be reminded of, if it doesn't affect me, then how can I possibly think it is going to affect somebody else. My touchstone is write something that matters.

If you write songs you have an idea how they're going to sound.

I've always been trying to write songs that hit you in the stomach but ones that make people feel like things will be just fine.

I'm a songwriter. Everything affects me.

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