Everything that I do is very autobiographical. I’m trying to be as much of an open book as possible and give the audience every single piece of me.

With [my] music, I feel like I get to be myself, tell my own story, and take my life experiences and not put them into another story but into my own words.

Music is so personal to me. I can be myself, and say what I want to say. I feel I'm honest and don't try to hide things. But music enables people to learn about my personality, how I'm evolving. Even if I don't feel comfortable talking about something, I can feel comfortable expressing that same thing through my music.

Yes, music for me is not about my own pain, relationships, or breakups, I write about the world around me. I want the music to be a nature force big like a mountain, ocean, or hurricane. Music for me is really big and the closest thing I've experienced to something divine. I want people to be reminded of their inner warrior. We're in an important time, fighting for nature and what you believe in. I think we're hungry for more. I write pop music and it's very intellectual and full of emotion. I have many different styles within pop in my songs. Every song has a clear identity and asks for its own colour, its own mood. I'm really missing meaning in pop music and I have been for the last 20 years. I miss the force that we need and I believe that it's up to individuals. We don't have a machine to clear the water of plastic, we have to do it by hand. It's up to us, the people. The true power lies within the people it always has but somehow throughout history, the rich leaders have made it seem like power lies with one person. But that's so old-fashioned, we're getting out of that now, the power lies with the people. I really want to remind people of the power they have that they may have forgotten about.

Most of my writing is emotionally autobiographical. You’ve got to pull up the things that mean something to you in order for them to mean anything to your audience. That’s how they know you’re not kidding.

I write to get to the bottom of whatever I’m feeling. And I hope that my music will comfort the people who hear it, and maybe help them process whatever they need to.

By nature of me being the one singing it and writing it there is always an innate bit of autobiography there ... but I think I learned years ago that you don't get songs that have that long stride and that pivot-hinge ability if it's too much diary entry.

✓My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.
✓What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man
✓What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room

✓There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities.
✓I did it to myself. It wasn't society... it wasn't a pusher, it wasn't being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.
✓What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.
✓There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, 'If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles.'

✓Music to me is like breathing. I don't get tired of breathing, I don't get tired of music.
✓Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes.
✓Don't go backwards - you've already been there.
✓Affluence separates people. Poverty knits 'em together. You got some sugar and I don't; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well, I'll give you some of mine.
✓Sometimes my dreams are so deep that I dream that I'm dreaming.

✓I don't think any of us really knows why we're here. But I think we're supposed to believe we're here for a purpose.
✓I'd like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ass I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.
✓.There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, 'If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles.'
✓Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.
✓I can't help what I sound like. What I sound like is

Sitting and writing music on your own makes you think a lot about your life. Who are you? Would you change anything about yourself? This is where it comes from. It is like having a mirror held up in front of you, looking into yourself and asking these questions.

For me, music is like this release of “oh, I’ve gone through this sad situation and I can write about it and it’s a healing process”, and acting for me is so much fun not to think about myself and to think about other people and telling those stories. So it’s almost like a different release for me. Music is the self, everything is me and it’s my story and I want to share that with people so that they can relate, and acting is…I love removing myself from the equation sometimes, to just tell other people’s stories that are just as important to tell.

…this song is quite autobiographical because I didn't grow up in the U.S. I am half Japanese, and it came from wanting to just fit into this very American person's life and simply not being able to. Just fundamentally being from a different place and feeling like I would just get in the way of their progression if their life, because I could just never get to wherever they're naturally going.

No matter what these people say about me, my music doesn't glorify any image. My music is spiritual when you listen to it. It's all about emotion, I tell my innermost, darkest secrets.

Music’s the soundtrack of my life and has been since I was a teenager. There’s always music. If I’m not playing it, I’m listening to it. With my writing…sometimes it inspires a story, sometimes it highlights something I’m working on, sometimes it simply helps me stay in the narrative mood.

I see my life in terms of music.