I've worked with Lil Wayne and Wiz, but I'd like to work with Snoop next. I love 'Paid tha Cost to Be da Boss' and 'Doggystyle' and pretty much anything he puts out. And Ice Cube - like, all the legends.
When my dad played me 'Walking Man,' I heard those chord changes and that melody, it completely blew me away. Maybe you wouldn't really hear the James Taylor influences in my music, but they're definitely buried in there.
Taylor was named after James Taylor and claims that she knows all the James Taylor songs, and I'm a huge fan of James Taylor and know all his songs, too. My dad told me that if I ever met Taylor Swift, I had to tell her that I know every James Taylor song. We started naming albums, and we were both shouting them out.
I listened to a lot of Marvin Gaye and Motown records.
Marvin Gaye is an inspiration to me. He was one of the first Motown musicians that my mom and dad introduced me to, and I always thought it would be a good idea if I was ever an artist, and now I am, to make a record called 'Marvin Gaye.'
I actually get a lot of messages with people saying, 'What's a Marvin Gaye?' and, I mean... Oh, wow. I must be getting old, because someone who was born in 2004 just asked me what a Marvin Gaye was.
'Marvin Gaye' came about my first day in L.A. It was kind of crazy that that's my first song that I wrote and it blew up that much. What's crazy is the next day I wrote 'See You Again,' so that's pretty interesting. I was trying to prove myself as a songwriter.
I'm a huge Marvin Gaye fan.
If I was on a 'Modern Family' kind of show, and they said, 'You have to say that the burger is $5.55; Have a good day!'... I could do that!
On YouTube, when you have a big viral success with a song that isn't your own, the natural inclination for most YouTubers is to keep doing that. What you really should do is show people that you actually have substance and can write your own music.
Shy Carter helped me write 'One Call Away.' He is a brand new artist. I really want to help jumpstart his career because I think he's super-talented.
I'm down to act a little bit - go on a couple auditions or make one of those three-second cameos with one line.
I'm always inspired by people who have really cool Twitter profiles.
When I wrote 'Marvin Gaye,' my whole intention was to make a record that people would put on a record player... and just instantly make out with each other.
The scar on my eye is a result of the doctor's sewing up my face. It was 450 stitches and plastic surgery.
The fact that people are actually shaving their eyebrows is very flattering. But it's crazy that people are singing songs I wrote in my bedroom.
I think with me and the type of music that I'm trying to make, it's always going be soulful because I grew up listening to different types and variations of soulful melodies and jazz, but experimenting with different types of stylistic souls.
I didn't grow up wealthy. We couldn't even afford spaghetti sauce when I was first born, but my mom and dad worked really hard and came from the bottom up.
