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

I took temp jobs, recorded a demo in the evenings and eventually shopped a record deal. All I knew was that I wanted to write songs; thankfully, I also got to sing them.

I wanted to write about relationships. But I didn't feel I had the experience to sing about them in a deep way. Studying psychology helped me out in terms of my understanding. I still look through my old textbooks when I'm in need of inspiration.

Music is a very powerful thing. If I'm angry, I can write a song about it, and it seems to make everything okay.