You have to learn how to act a pop song. You have to find the balance of the pop from the pop song and the lyrical significance of the scene you are in.
In the '80s, they were using an awful lot of technology but hadn't really figured out how it worked yet... You had these really great, simple pop songs turned into these gigantic overproductions.
I try to not go, 'I'm writing a pop song.' Music is inherently genre-bending.
All the folks I play with come from jazz backgrounds or at least appreciate spontaneity within the parameters of a pop song.
I would always pick pop songs and would sing them even if they were not correct for the audition - which didn't always get me a lot of jobs, but sometimes they did.
When I sing a pop song, I'm a pop singer. When I sing a country song, I'm a country singer. I've been very lucky to cross over, because by doing that, you can't be pigeonholed.
I love pop songs. One that I've heard a lot is 'Shape of You' by Ed Sheeran. I also love mariachi songs by Alejandro Fernandez and Vicente Fernandez.
I'm inspired by artists like Robyn, just because she writes amazing pop songs, and they're not throwaway. When I listen to a Robyn pop song, I don't feel like she's just kind of saying something and not thinking; I feel like it's really emotional.
All my favourite pop songs are the most stupid ones, the ones that are the most obvious.
Music was my first love, and at Marlborough we put bands together and sang the pop songs of the day. Although I couldn't read or write music - I still can't - I taught myself to play the guitar and piano by listening to songs and working out the chords.
