“As soon as you make anything that people like, you get all these new artists hitting you up like ‘I want to sound just like Billie Eilish.’ And I’m always like, ‘Absolutely not.’”

The amount of times I’ve been told something by artists I’m working with, which I’m sure they haven’t told even their significant other or families, is shocking.

The excuse of having a dog is great, because before I had a dog, I wouldn’t be like, ‘I need to go hike for two hours’; my girlfriend would have been like, ‘What are you doing?’ Now I take the dog, and she comes with me.

There’s always a better word than a swear word.

Well, predominately, if I’m writing for another artist, I’m sitting there with them and we’re writing it together.

It’s always important to be checking in with people you love.

I have nothing against reverb.

Our mom cooks well, and we cook poorly. We try.

The way that we tried to approach every piece of music is, if the song had a brain, it would be aware of its catalog.

People were like, ‘he’s collaborating with Taylor Swift’ and I was like, ‘I am?’ I think she’s wonderful. Her songwriting has inspired me for years.

You go to a truck stop and there are key chains with names on them, and there’s no Finneas. There’s no Billie. They’re little things, but as a kid, you just feel weirdly ostracized.

I really value just being able to go out and grab a coffee or going to a movie and not have anyone recognize me.

You know, that’s kind of always been our philosophy: not letting the place that we are get in the way of making great music.

Kids have tools to do what I’m doing.

I have always loved Ben Folds, he’s like an idol of mine, a hero of mine.

When I started, I felt that there was this incredible amount of doubt of my ability as a producer.

I think it’s really easy to be the altruistic hero of your own narrative and story.

No shade to the other artists in Chicago, but if you got confidence in yourself and you know you’re Number One, say it.

An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along.

To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.

If there is no mystery, for the artist, to solve inside of his art, then there’s no point in it….for me, every act of the art of solving a mystery.

The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.

Different people have different ways of doing things. For me, becoming a songwriter first and falling in love with the Nashville songwriting community and the process of songs and getting better and putting more in what I wanted to say, was absolutely vital in me even wanting to be an artist.

A good artist should be isolated. If he isn’t isolated, something is wrong.

Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness.