The beach is still a public place, and that's an amazing grace about Chicago. We have so many problems, but the water always stays. That inspires me and keeps me inspired about the city and keeps me hopeful.
I am very self-critical, but that's a good thing because it keeps me growing as a human being and as a musician.
I guess learning as musician as well so I am trying to learn and to grow and be inspired by new things. It is always expanding and growing and leaving yourself open to be inspired by new things.
I'm still growing I take each day, one day-at-a-time. I'm always thinking and dreaming. As long as this heart keeps beating, there will be new things coming along.
The real test of a musician is live performance. It's one thing to spend a long time learning how to play well in the studio, but to do it in front of people is what keeps me coming back to touring.
The Internet has become my enabler. It keeps me from stillness and discomfort, and this keeps me from growing.
No-one inspired me growing up more than Thom Yorke. I was eleven when the obsession hit hard and I'm still such a huge fan.
Sometimes I'll open my voice to sing and I'll think, "I hope I hit the right notes." I do music for a living and I still feel like that, but it's good because it keeps me humble, it keeps my feet grounded, it keeps me trusting in God.
I'm a lucky person because the company keeps growing, and that means my team keeps growing.
I am inspired by thinkers. I am inspired by rebellion. I am inspired by children. I have been inspired by love. I have been inspired by heartbreak. I try to take everything that comes at me in life. There have been times in my life that I didn't handle things... right. But even though you stumble, you still kind of get through it.
One musician listens to another musician, and you get inspired and then you do your thing, but it's yours.
I'm constantly looking for new things to do whether that's in the studio, trying to keep production fresh, or it's going out on the road. It's not the best for business. My team sometimes wants to beat me. But that's what keeps it fresh and keeps me inspired.
I think Splash made people realize that I was still alive, and I think I inspired a lot of people. I have people coming up to me all the time in the airport saying, "Hey, you inspired me to learn how to swim!" "You inspired me to start moving around more." "You inspired me to start doing more for myself." So that was good. But mostly I took it because nobody had given me a job. And you know what really matters in life, right?
Usually I do a job, and, like, two weeks later, it disappears and is replaced with something else, but 'Get Out' kept growing and growing and growing, and it keeps taking me to rooms I could never get in before.
I wanted to focus on songs that I was inspired by growing up. I love so many of them from the last 100 years, but I really wanted, for my first step forward, to choose material that has inspired me and got me into the world of musical theater.