I'm a big collector of vinyl - I have a record room in my house - and I've always had a huge soundtrack album collection. So what I do, as I'm writing a movie, is go through all those songs, trying to find good songs for fights, or good pieces of music to layer into the film.
I never want to be too mean with my songs, but with 'I Hope It Rains' it was definitely somewhere in the middle with being sassy but also a little class in there as well. It was a good blend for me and who I want to be perceived as an artist.
A lot of Irish people perform. They perform in drawing rooms. They sing songs and they play piano.
When people hear the name Gregory Isaacs, I want dem to think of 'Night Nurse' and 'Red Rose For Gregory' and 'The Cool Ruler.' I love it when somebody comes up to me and say, 'I love your songs.'
I will not promote other people's songs big time. I will just mention that I produced the song to get the credit I think I deserve.
I have a hard time narrowing things down to ten or 12 songs. If I walk off stage in anything less than two hours, it just feels strange. It feels early.
Those songs are about getting out; they're not about getting out of family. It wasn't about how family life was curtailing because I didn't know family life.
I made video art for quite a long time, and I made this video covering myself in burgers and dancing to Major Lazer and doing covers of Britney Spears songs... I can't remember how I got there, but my teacher said he'd have to fail me because it had mild nudity.
I wrote my first song when I was six or seven, a silly little song. But I used to write poems in high school - not songs.
The 'Maybe Memories' album I remember having and listening until it broke. I remember it skipped one day; two or three songs wouldn't play on my CD player because I listened to it so much.
When I'm not touring, I sing at home, either at the piano or I'll pick up my guitar, singing old Buck Owens songs.
By the end of it, you never know how it's going to turn out. Hopefully if I pick the right songs and put the right melodies on it and all the collaboration works out. it's a win-win situation.
My songs have always had hope and perseverance in them - I never write songs that have no escape hatch, no positivity.
It all has to do with art - writing, painting, things I've done for a long time but just never had enough time to pursue. I have poetry - things that are designed for songs, but they're always poems first.
Magne Furuholmen is a very dear friend of mine. A-ha are a classic pop band and they've got some brilliant songs. I'd say 'The Living Daylights' was one of my favourite Bond tunes: regardless of it being a Bond song, it stands alone as a great piece of music.
Most of the time, songs that I write end up being finished in 30 minutes or less.
I moved to Nashville with the same kind of mindset that I had in L.A., and that is to make sure you don't get outworked by anybody and make sure you're always writing songs and take every opportunity to play that you can.
I had no album title, and the album is like a journey in that it's a complete body of work. It's not just a couple of catchy songs and filler, so I felt that I needed to capture the essence of the album.
I can play songs that I hear from a movie and just play it a few times on the keyboard. I will hit all the notes on the keyboard until I find the right key, and then I will play the rest of the song.
I think there's nothing better than seeing a three-chord straight up rock 'n' roll band in your face with sweaty music and three minute good songs.
I was never just a 'fill in 16 bars on a beat' rapper. I was making real songs from the jump.
I see some recurring themes: things that feel threaded together, some symbolic references, and songs about some of the big questions, like death. There are a lot of references to weather, too!
'House of Balloons' was actually supposed to have more songs than it does.
I can speak for most songwriters - those breakup love songs are so easy to write, as far as the inspiration and all that.
As a singer, I just want to try to honor what the writers create - and as someone who's trying to write songs, I just hope I can stand in their company and not embarrass myself.
I played with Prince in 2010... the America tour. The one with Misty Copeland dancing on top of the piano! But Prince played the piano on that song. But I played two dates with him on that tour. When we played the gig, every couple of songs, Prince would change his clothes.
When I was young, I just sat down and started playing Chopsticks at the piano. I got so far and then lost interest. Eventually, I regained it and started writing songs.
When I'm not in the booth, I'm one of the most laid-back guys. But growing up, I liked DMX, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and T.I. - dudes that went all out on the track. My first songs were energetic because I liked their energy.
It's pretty crazy the amount of people that have covered my songs.
I'd much rather be playing songs than talking to people.
In the past, I never wrote any love songs. That was not my thing.
I said, other people can write songs, let's see if I can. So the first 400 or 500 wound up on the floor somewhere. Then I wrote one called Melissa.
I think the best songs are being written by the very under-stated, under-appreciated indie artists. The thing that separates them from mainstream success is they either consciously or unknowingly refuse to deliver on a big chorus.
I can say I'd honestly rather be happy than have 30 to 40 songs that I've written about these thrilling, exciting, horrible, unhappy times.
I'm not saying you have to be totally despondent or anything, but... in New York, it's cold sometimes; it rains sometimes; even if everything in your life is great, bad weather can set the mood. You can write songs in New York because it's not always perfect. To write a good song, things can't be perfect.
They tell me I produced songs. I just stood in the back, wore a good suit and said, Yeah, that's happening.
