It's the way I enjoy making art - I like sitting down and making five beats; I enjoy that process. I can go two weeks without making a song and just making beats and I'll be OK.
At the end of the day I'm not just sending beats in. I'm mixing the song. I'm recording the song. I'm engineering the song. I'm in the studio helping with the songwriting. I'm doing the whole beat - every single piece of it is me.
'So Icy' is always going to be one of my favorites because this is a song that blew my mind. I was just making beats for the fun of it. I went to the club and heard the song being played, so I asked the DJ to stop playing the song, and the whole club started rapping word for word.
I'll make a song with Rick Rubin, a song with Beyonce, a song with Lenny Kravitz. I just believe in making good music. I'm not trying to section myself off into just making hard-core rap music.
When we did the 'Titanic' theme, that song was everywhere. At the time we did it, it wasn't an old song. We didn't really listen to that song. We're not fans of the song. It was more about taking the song everyone knew and making it sound like a New Found Glory track.
When I'm a part of someone else's creative process, it's all about facilitating their ideas and hopefully bringing their perspective and making it a part of a song.
In the past, my process would start with a sample of another song, and I'd chop it up and use that as the basis of the song that I was making.
Don't get me wrong: I love having my own song and being the center of attention, but I also love being part of the group and making the show work in a more anonymous way.
Usually I start with a beat, I start making a beat, and my producer side is making the beat. And on a good day, my rapper side will jump in and start the writing process - maybe come up with a hook or start a verse. Sometimes it just happens like that. A song like 'Lights Please' happens like that.
I love making videos for my music, you can literally do anything. It's like you can write a song about anything; you can also write a video that is the weirdest thing you can relate to the song, and I find that quite cool.
When I see something I end up making a song about it and that's the way it is. There have been plenty of times when I've been in the studio and they were like, "Hey, why don't you make a song about such and such," and I just can't. I've gotta have it in my heart.
I learn stuff from making music every time I go in the studio. I'm continuing to try to find new ways to play in a song or be in a song and have a positive impact on a song.
Usually when a song comes to me, I don't ask a lot of questions; I hear something, and I just let it out in song. It's like making a salad. Everything I hear, and everything I am, I mix together in a different way in each song.
If I'm making a song with Billie, then it's for Billie... She has to want to wear that song every day. And I think I try to do the same thing when I'm making a song for myself... I try to treat them both that way, like I'm sort of A&R-ing her and then A&R-ing myself.
I'm one of those people that I make a song... then I write another song and then I'm like, 'But this song is so much better than this song,' and then I kind of ditch that song. It's a long process.
Jeff always had a huge part in making a song a record. You felt like you were capturing lightning in the studio. It was never boring. He always was there to serve the song.