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

I don’t know if I was as ambitious as to change the world, but I do feel like – the reason why I called the album “Our Version of Events” was that I feel a lot of people are not represented in pop music and popular culture.

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.

Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.

It takes so little to make a child happy, that it is a pity in a world full of sunshine and pleasant things, that there should be any wistful faces, empty hands, or lonely little hearts.

If your child marches to a different beat, a different drummer, you might just have to go along with that music. Help them achieve what’s important to them.

What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and left me unfed? Who has seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?

Father asked us what was God’s noblest work. Anna said men, but I said babies. Men are often bad, but babies never are.

A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi… has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It’s not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.