Don't ever call a guy first. The thing they want the most is whatever they can't have. It sounds really juvenile, but it works.
For me, 'risky' is revealing what really happened in my life through music. Risky is writing confessional songs and telling the true story about a person with enough details so everyone knows who that person is.
'The Story of Us' is about running into someone I had been in a relationship with at an awards show, and we were seated a few seats away from each other. I just wanted to say to him, 'Is this killing you? Because it's killing me.' But I didn't. Because I couldn't. Because we both had these silent shields up.
My ultimate goal is to end up being happy. Most of the time.
I know that a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania is about the most random place for a country singer to come from, but I had an awesome childhood.
I think the first thing you should know is that nobody in country music 'made it' the same way. It's all different. There's no blueprint for success, and sometimes you just have to work at it.
You can't generalise about an entire country, but I like the energy of British men.
I still have mixed feelings about what growing up is - this thing that happens to everyone, so I've heard.
If you cry over a guy, then your friends can't date him. It can't even be considered.
I've always felt music is the only way to give an instantaneous moment the feel of slow motion. To romanticise it and glorify it and give it a soundtrack and a rhythm.
I try to read as much as I can. I try to read an informative article every day. I try to stay read up on our world issues.
I like the way the stories of my relationships sound to music more than the way they look in print, in gossip columns or in me talking about them in interviews. I think it's a better way of telling the stories.
I can't deal with someone wanting to take a relationship backward or needing space or cheating on you. It's a conscious thing; it's a common-sense thing.
I've had a few semi-toxic relationships, but it's not what I look for when I'm seeing someone.
I'm typically single. I'm the girl who - I call it girl-next-door-itis - the hot guy is friends with and gets all his relationship advice from but never considers dating.
Nashville is my home, and the reason why I get to do what I love.
Anytime someone tells me that I can't do something, I want to do it more.
My parents taught me never to judge others based on whom they love, what color their skin is, or their religion.
I am alone a lot, which is good. I need that time to just be alone after a long day, just decompress. So, I go to either my house or the hotel, or my apartment, or whatever - wherever I am, I go home and I watch TV and I sit there, with my cat, and I just watch TV or go online, check my emails.
Vanity can apply to both insecurity and egotism. So I distance myself, because I feel everything.
I've been careful in love. I've been careless in love. And I've had adventures I wouldn't trade for anything.
People haven't always been there for me, but music always has.
I go to all these photo shoots, and each time I figure out something new about myself and what I want to wear.
I think when people make a record with a goal in mind - like taking it to the next level or making them seem more mature - that gets in the way of writing great songs.
I love Karlie Kloss. I want to bake cookies with her!
There's so much about Dolly Parton that every female artist should look to, whether it's reading her quotes or reading her interviews or going to one of her live shows. She's been such an amazing example to every female songwriter out there.
I didn't know what a stockbroker was when I was eight, but I would just tell everybody that's what I was going to be.
I've been a huge fan of Chris Martin forever; it'd be awesome to work with him. He's really kind, and he's been really encouraging when we've met.
I can imagine it's hard to make a relationship last. I wouldn't know.
I'm always afraid of failing. I have to quiet that fear if I'm going to get up in the morning.
When I'm in management meetings when we're deciding my future, those decisions are left up to me. I'm the one who has to go out and fulfill all these obligations, so I should be able to choose which ones I do or not. That's the part of my life where I feel most in control.
I don't compare myself to anyone else; I don't make comments about anyone else because they do what feels right for them, and that's okay by me.
What makes me happy is just curling up in with my mom in her bed and watching a marathon of 'CSI' and 'Grey's Anatomy' episodes with pints of ice cream.
Part of me feels you can't say you were truly in love if it didn't last. If I end up getting married and having kids, that's when I'll know it's real - because it lasted.
My dad is a Chatty Cathy, the social butterfly; friendly; knows everybody in the whole world by six degrees; tells me that every performance is the greatest he's ever seen, every new outfit is the coolest. Constant cheerleader.
I approach love differently now that I know it's hard for it to work out.