“From when I was a kid I wanted to write. It was so important to me that I was writing my own material.”

Clown’ was written when I couldn’t find anyone who believed in me as an artist. Maybe those labels will think twice next time a young songwriter comes along.

Sometimes you feel like a very small drop in this huge ocean.

I’d be smiling if I wasn’t so desperate. I’d be patient if I had the time.

I was so shy and so quiet, and the only time I had my own voice and I could really connect with people was when I was singing or on stage.

I was very quiet until I got at the piano, and weekends, lunch breaks, after school, before school, I was just making music.

Melody is the first thing that comes to me when I’m songwriting. I learned piano classically first, and then I went into soul, and so melody has always been the first. It’s so important.

I couldn’t help but feel very different from everybody, so I think that’s why I found such a big world in music, and that’s why I kind of – I was an introvert as a kid, but I loved the piano, and that’s where I felt at home.

People that come to my shows are definitely people that feel outsiders. They feel like I don’t feel sexy, I don’t feel like – I can’t go out every night on Friday and I can’t connect to that, and I feel so much pressure to do that.

I feel like ‘Next To Me’ is a great introduction because it’s a simple song that has a simple message for me. I wanted to introduce something that lyrically I’m proud of and introduces me both as an artist and as a writer.

Any song I have to work on longer than a day, I just leave it. It’s not gonna work. Everything that’s good is really instant.

I try to speak of a love that not necessarily romantic. I think there is so much love between people and so much love people want to give but it’s harder and harder these days to show that, to celebrate that, you know?

I wanted to make an album that melodically people can connect to; something that reflects our times and the kinds of difficulties we face.

I tried to bang down a lot of doors but Virgin were the only label who believed in what I was doing. I ended up with the label that understood what I was trying to do.

The focus is on singer/songwriters now rather than huge shows. I mean, of course there’s always a place for that too.

I mean, there’ll always be room for big productions and everything but it’s good to see the other side.

Anytime I write something that’s trying to be too smart, it doesn’t work.

Before Kady was born, I didn’t think having a kid would be such a big deal. My attitude was simple: Babies are nice, play with them, put them in the closet until the next time.

Surfing music is dead. It was just a summer craze for kids on the beach. I’m finished with it.

Wait for those unguarded moments. Relax the mood and, like the child dropping off to sleep, the subject often reveals his truest self.

A child’s spirit is like a child, you can never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back.

The good thing about being an actress is that it’s very children-friendly. I can work for three months and then I can have six months off. And then I can work for six months and have six months off.

Everybody wants to be somebody. The thing you have to do is give them confidence they can. You have to give a kid a dream.

There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child.

The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.