I only write when I'm angry or sad, so because that's when I just have to write... If I'm having a good time and I'm happy and things are going really well, why would I want to stop what I'm doing to go and write at the piano?
One of my friends said to me, "Oh yeah, of course you aren't writing." So I was like, "The next time you see me, I'm gonna have a new song." I wrote "Criminal" in 45 minutes when everyone else went to lunch because I had to have a hit. I can force myself to do the work, but only if someone is right up behind me.
I really, really enjoy fitting words together - but I only enjoy it when it's easy, when it sort of rolls along by itself. I never erase anything [and] I hardly ever write anything down... The song will be finished before I write it down... I won't write a song unless it serves me in some way, unless I feel I have to write the song to make myself feel better. If you're not overflowing with something, there's nothing to give.
You know, the age thing really bugs me. Do people have more of a right to not like what I say because I'm 19? I'm up here because of what I write. Obviously, I must know something, or I wouldn't have been nominated for Best New Artist. Sometimes it's like, "You're right. My mother wrote these songs."
I'm not used to not having enough time to live with the songs. Usually, if I write something, I live with it for a little while.
I'm here because of what I write. Obviously, I must know something
I know what my job is: I write the songs, I sing them, I play them on the piano
I also just accept that I might never want to write a song again.
There were songs I would write about breaking up with somebody before I broke up with them, months and months before I broke up with them.
I wanted to write a happy song. I didn't know how.
I used to love to make things - you couldn't drag me away for dinner because I was always writing a story or something.
