I always loved Sam Cooke, because he seemed very versatile. He sang gospel, soul, blues, pop music.
I think Lady Gaga is great and is changing pop music and bringing back a certain rock 'n' roll spirit, swagger to the game.
Every year, there's some band that plays guitar-oriented pop music that has a single, but for the most part, it's kind of relegated to the sidelines.
I love love songs. But I love pop music as well: Girls Aloud, Kylie, the Spice Girls, East 17, Mika.
Sometimes with pop music, you have to see it to love it. With soul music, it's sparse. There's nothing that's pretentious or planned. It's just so gutsy.
For me, personally, the most interesting music comes from the popular sector - from film and pop music - since contemporary classical music got stuck and went into directions where it lost a lot of the public by over-intellectualizing.
Most of all I want to make pop music that has something real behind it.
There is genuine healing in a beautifully crafted musical theatre song, like Stephen Sondheim's 'Losing My Mind,' or a pop music gem like Joni Mitchell's 'Help Me.'
Like Juan Gabriel and Ana Gabriel, both singers and songwriters of legendary talent, Marco Antonio has reshaped a kind of Mexican romanticism. What he brings to pop music is the kind of songs that really talk to people's hearts.
I really do listen to all types of music, not only rock, but everything from good pop music - which is usually older pop music - to R&B and indie rock. I love indie rock more than a lot of the commercial stuff that you'd expect.
