If you put out 150 percent, then you can always expect 100 percent back. That's what I was always told as a kid, and It's worked for me so far!

I was very shy as a kid but when I found out I could perform and have people's attention everything changed for me. My mom likes to joke that until I was eight or nine I only knew what my sneakers looked like because I constantly walked around with my head down. But all of a sudden the stage made sense and that's what brought me out of my shell and a monster was created.

Even as a kid I would find the one person whose attention I didn't have and I would zone in on that person. It became a challenge.

I'm a very melody-driven writer and I have a rule that I don't write anything down because if I can't remember the melody than it wasn't worth remembering. So it's my way to test myself in the studio. When I was a kid I could sing pretty well so melody always made a lot of sense to me.