I write my songs and just play them, so there are not a whole lot of fireworks. As long as the music comes first, it's OK to have some fireworks. But not the other way around.
I knew I wanted to be an artist, but I never took music lessons. I was just playing around in front of the mirror and being silly, then suddenly I started making songs.
I'm a pretty easygoing person, and it bleeds into the music. Even if I'm writing the most personal song, it's not going to come out totally serious; there's always a little tongue in the cheek.
A big part of the Motown formula was, they took music and turned it into this sort of automotive assembly line. They were cranking out 10 songs a day in that studio, or more.
There's a lot of reflection that goes on whenever I write a song - it's been a wild whirlwind last couple of years and there's a lot to talk about, and hopefully that's evident in the music.
My record company had to beg me to stop filmin' music videos in the projects. No matter what the song was about, I had 'em out there.
My wife grew up loving country music, so I always run songs by her whether I wrote it or if somebody pitched it to me.
One of the things that I think is such a constant in country music is that the song is so much a story. I believe it is supposed to be based around a story.
I have yet to have a successful outcome of sitting in a room with someone and trying to write a song. The way that I generally co-write is that someone else writes the music or part of the music.
After all my years of doing instrumental music I still like just a simple instrumental song with a nice catchy melody and an opportunity to play a solo over a harmonic structure.
That internal ache is the starting point of country music. If it's a happy song and I can still feel sad in it? That's my favorite.
Music is like a lifeblood - it changes the way I move; it changes the way I feel about myself. The way I walk into the room is different depending on the song I was just listening to.
I don't feel comfortable doing interviews. My profession is music, and writing songs. That's what I do. I like to do it, but I hate to talk about it.
Nobody sang better than my mom. That's why I've never even thought of singing for singing sake. I've always thought of a song as an acting piece, as a way to say something.
Rap for me is like making movies, telling stories, and getting the emotions of the songs through in just as deep a way. And I grew up in rap and movies the same way.
Anita Miller: This song explains why I'm leaving home to become a stewardess.
[During the song "Shout" at the toga party] Bluto: Gator! [He, D-Day, and others begin shaking on the floor]
All the folks I play with come from jazz backgrounds or at least appreciate spontaneity within the parameters of a pop song.
The idea of writing songs because you're depressed and you need to communicate it somehow, that isn't really true for me.
There are songs where no matter how much you know you shouldn't - like the Ying Yang Twins' 'Shake' - I'll be in a dress, and I'll krump to it. It's horrible!
If Hori were to die, I should not forget! Hori is a song in my heart for ever... That means-that there is no more death...
