I feel like when I get into most rooms, melodies come really easily to me, and they sound good in my head. I never really know until I hear the song back and it's finished if it actually is good.

With streaming services, the walls have come down a bit on genres. So I never really set out to make a country record or a pop record. I just wanted to make it mine.

I've written some really good songs that I love hungover because I wasn't overthinking it.

I didn't move to Nashville with any inkling or dreams of getting a record deal. I didn't have those stars in my eyes. I just wanted to take a break, relax, and figure out songwriting.

I always go back to old vinyl albums I loved, and that's sort of the aim I had with 'Hero' - just to make it look classic and feel like me, but also timeless in a way.

I love, love songs, but sometimes it's okay to just be young and talk about something other than getting married or falling in love.

A lot of new artists, especially girl artists, feel pressure to be so 'media perfect' and 'trained.' I'm intelligent, but I don't like hearing regurgitated answers in interviews that sound so rehearsed.

It's funny to think that at 22 years old, I was really burned out from being on the road for 10 years.

I'm a control freak, even though I can be scatterbrained off stage. The only way I can have fun is if I know where everything is.

Fine arts education in public schools is really abysmal. The same emphasis should be put on music, theater, dance - anything creative - that's put on math and science.

That's the whole point is just to bring people together in a really positive way and laugh together and cry together and just be connected through a simple thing of a few chords.

It's such a changing industry, and I realize that it's become more digital- and singles-driven, but I still love listening to a full record. It's the artist's story captured in 12 or 15 songs.

Being on the stage is the one place I don't get nervous. Before the show is another story, but once I'm up there, and the first chord hits, I go to this other place. It's like a dream land.

Definitely scatterbrained. I internalize a lot of thoughts, and sometimes it seems like I'm not listening or totally zoned out, but I'm always on a loop of ideas and song titles. I'm definitely kind of a space cadet, but I'm very laid back.

It's a pipe dream, but for me, I've always wanted a Tesla. I would never have to go to a gas station.

It's not my aim to be this, like, 'savior for females.' I just want to make good music.

Performing with Thomas Rhett our song 'Craving You,' I'm so excited for the fans to see it and sort of see our worlds come together because I feel like he's sort of a genre pusher and boundary pusher, and I feel the same way about my music.

A really big thing I've learned - and I think it's so liberating - is when you realize no one knows what they're doing.

Just to be nominated, and especially as a new artist and a female artist, is a feat. Winning anything is just a bonus.

I'm not this bright-eyed 17-year-old that got signed to a label and is listening to all these suits tell them the best plan of action.

I'm just getting back into my songwriting groove. It's still pretty early. But I don't want to make 'Hero 2.' It's going to be different.

I've always had an ear for melodies, and they veer pop. My lyrics are more country - what I love is the storytelling and the structure, how tight the rhymes can be. But pop melodies have always been intrinsically linked to my writing style.

'Mr. Misunderstood' - that whole album is incredible and just has amazing songwriting.

As a songwriter, I listen to everything to be inspired... from Rihanna to Bruno Mars to Springsteen to Johnny Cash.

Maybe someday there will be a song I write that I never let see the light of day because I don't want it to be uncontainable and have to play it again. And I have written songs like that that are just for me. It's like writing a letter to someone you're angry at but never sending it and just putting it in a drawer.

I was rejected from 'American Idol' - and I'm happier for it now.

At my shows, I've been fortunate to see every walk of life.

I hope there is a place for me in the country landscape, but I'm not too precious about it, either.

If you think about 'The Pill' by Loretta, that was totally blacklisted back then. But she revolutionized and liberated a generation of women - country listeners and beyond - that were sort of in that box and were able to break out of it.

I remember thinking the Nineties were uncool: 'I landed in the generation where nothing happens.'

I always get less nervous when we get into rehearsals because it just gives me a better idea of how it's gonna go.

I'm just so used to music videos or live TV, so to really see something that's scripted and you have to do it over and over again to get every angle - it's fascinating to me. I would love to do a little acting.

I started to see this common theme with the songs that I was writing or co-writing, and it all had this really strong, independent point of view that I had subconsciously been craving from the music scene.

Texas is really special in that we have our own music scene, our own music chart. It's almost a genre on its own. It feels like you can make a great living just touring the state because it's so big, but eventually, I wanted a new challenge.

I'm not trying to dog any artist or genre, but to me, there is a lot of diversity missing from the radio. I miss turning the radio on and getting punched in the soul with a great lyric.

I'll just drive around if I'm stuck on something or have a case of writer's block.

As a songwriter, I feel like, just for inspiration and research purposes, I have to listen to everything.

When you walk off the stage, I think the end point is that you enjoyed yourself. I get to say that almost every time - either I made a few new fans or something resonated.

Every time I've seen Sheryl Crow perform, it's like effortless perfection. She's so relaxed onstage, but she's really locked into the music and having fun. Vocally, I've always looked up to her.

I feel like, genre-wise, the walls are coming down in Nashville. There are so many writers who have moved to town from all walks of life. There's this immense respect for country, but there are pop songwriters, R&B. Nashville has become sort of this go-to writing city for every genre.

I'm a '90s kid, so I loved 'NSync and the Spice Girls.

To turn the radio on and hear so much more diversity, it's so refreshing. That voice that cuts through what you've been hearing, it's inspiring.

I didn't grow up around a lot of souped-up automobiles. I love my Prius.

I drive to clear my mind, like many people do. It's like, once you get in the car, whatever song you put on, it's so symbiotic. Your mood could change in a second.

I just love Dolly so much, and Loretta. They both are songwriters that knew what they wanted to say; they were bucking a system.

Ever since the Dixie Chicks, the female perspective on country radio has been love songs. I love love songs, but we do have more to talk about, so it's nice that other perspectives are coming back.

I don't want to get political here, but everything I've heard out of Donald Trump is definitely, um, shocking. The fact that he's got women fans is very alarming to me, because some of the stuff that has come out of his mouth is just so awful.

I'm not in the teenybopper bracket, and I'm not in the 30-plus bracket. The fan response has been really widespread, age-wise.

There are so many times I turn on the radio, and I hear a guy, and I have no idea who it is because it sounds like four other people.

I've never been this loud personality. I don't dominate the room when I walk into it. I save that for stage.