I want to speak for people that may not feel like they’re being spoken for at the moment. And I want to make a connection between the world around us and the charts.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
I always knew I wanted to be a musician, and I always knew I wanted to write, ’cause the people I was listening to all wrote. I never thought it was an option to sing anyone else’s songs.
I wasn’t intentionally trying to create my own path or be original, it was just I needed to say certain things and I needed to express myself, and that’s how it came out.
