As a kid, I could just pick up melody and harmony instinctively, and that's why I can play lots of instruments.

I would go to school and try to talk to my mates about music and playing instruments and stuff, and they would turn around and go, 'What're you talking about? Shut up.' And I realised that I was the weird one.

Genre hopping is something I intend to do, and I intend to do it forever and ever because I think genres are boring.

Lyrics are really, really hard, I think, or at least they're really hard for me. Some people can channel lyrics faster. I find them very hard to find, so because of it, they take me a long time, and I really think about them.

I didn't do myself any favours. I would be resentful of my own ideas even before I'd said them out loud. But music was always the most consistent and peaceful thing for me. So I taught myself to be my harshest critic rather than just a mean voice in the back of my head.

Ever since I was a little kid, my ears and my hands would talk to each other very well, so I could pick up instruments quite easily.

My mum would play Stevie Wonder around the house, and I remember just loving the songs and feeling so blown away by how much was going on.

I've purposely made my music to be challenging and different. There's some electronics, R&B, blues, Motown, country, jazz and lots of soul.

Every single pair of trousers I own has a plectrum in it.

With every milestone that I've come across, there's always been a little note at the bottom that's said, 'Don't worry, there's another milestone coming up.'

There's a stigma attached to 'pop music,' like it's a taboo word. It used to make my skin crawl when people said it, and I'd say, 'I'm not a pop star! I want to be a respected musician!' But I think people have changed the way they think about it.

The music business is filled with some nice people but a lot of strange people, so when you come across someone who's really genuine at an environment as bizarre as an awards show, you typically gravitate to them.

I have no problem being mainstream. I grew up in the '90s when the mainstream was amazing.

For 10 years, I had a band called Steel Train. We made three albums. We toured like crazy.

I grew up on Raffi. That was my first impression of what a rock star was.

I hear my songs being sung by females before I change them and make them into my voice.

Once you understand that listeners want to be challenged, then you also understand that you can't take shortcuts.

What song have you played 10,000 times? It's probably not something basic. It's probably a song that validates your experience on Earth.

The easiest way I can describe what makes a pop song a pop song is that it's a song you want to hear over and over.

Stepping away from Fun. was both exciting and terrifying.

I don't really look back or forward too much. That's not to say I live in the moment, because I struggle with that as well.

I have all of these lives that I want the music to live, but at the end of the day, it's out there.

I love to stay at home and write.

When I work with other people, I don't have to do that - it's because I love to do it and I want to do it.