“We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor – got her master’s with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.”

I’m extremely compassionate, loving, all of those warm fuzzy things, but the outer shell doesn’t project that all the time.

As long as your intentions are solid and about growth and progression and being productive and not being idle, then you’re doing good in my book.

We all know we have a finite period of time. I just feel if I’m going to be alive, I want to be challenged – to be as immortal as possible. The path to that isn’t an easy way, but it’s a rewarding way.

People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don’t necessarily merit fear.

My grandfather was smart and had a whole lot of pride. He didn’t speak a terrible amount, but you could tell there was a ton on his mind – like a quiet acceptance of how life had turned out.

I hope not to define myself by suffering.

I’ve been thinking about forever.

I play piano every day. I enjoy that.

When you write a song like ‘Forrest Gump,’ the subject can’t be androgynous. It requires an unnecessary amount of effort.

I never think about myself as an artist working in this time. I think about it in macro.

When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, ‘No, I’m just going to write what I feel I should write.’

If someone breaks your heart, just punch them in the face. Seriously. Punch them in the face and go get some ice cream.

Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story.

The Internet is just another experiment showing us more sides of us.

Boys do cry, but I don’t think I shed a tear for a good chunk of my teenage years.

I guess I’m just inspired to tell stories.