I started writing music in a season of my life where people were telling me I wasn't defined by mistakes, and God really loved me and was fighting for me, and there was a journey to be had with that. And I don't know of a more important message.
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.