For my father, he didn't know what 'Grey's Anatomy' was. He didn't know who John Mayer was. But when I showed up on the 'Law & Order' TNT promo spot, he thought, 'Wow, my son has made it.'
I love Bruce Springsteen's writing, but I grew up on '90s hip hop, like Tribe Called Quest.
I'm really influenced by '90s hip hop. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were my heroes growing up.
When I started forming my own taste, there was a period in high school when I listened to only rap and hip-hop, like A Tribe Called Quest.
Songs like 'Learn To Love Again' and 'Rochester' and some of the more gut-wrenching ones deal with the pain of the younger times of your life... trying to make sense of some the stuff we probably all went through.
I think I have always made really beat-driven pop-rock records.