It's a springboard to the rest of the world. America is a huge market, so it made sense to try my luck. I kind of want to touch the world efficiently everywhere. America is the biggest audience. For that, it was the biggest target.
On a professional level, what is the most important lesson that you have learned over the years?
The more you know about who you are in life, the quicker things happen. The more you do, the more things happen. I have done this for almost 10 years now professionally, so now it feels like, "Okay, cool." I'm way more efficient, like a machine.
While on a promotional tour for Shine, I happened to catch you on a stop in Charlotte, North Carolina. During your performance sets, you noted that there was a story for every song that you've written. What was the story for your first single, "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)?"
That was me and my girls talking about guys trying to get you to be with them and stuff. We're like these really powerful women. We're pissed off at guys, like, "Oh, he didn't call me. He's supposed to call today [laughing]."
I see [laughing]. Well, your lyrics have a very universal appeal, even though you're speaking about your particular experience. How did you manage to bottle the familiar and then make it relevant to others?
I just tell the truth. The story I tell is the truth. Every lyric is a conversation I've had.
Writing down the truth, is there a particular process you undergo?
As quickly as it comes up, I'm usually looking for a piece of paper. That's how I do therapy. I just write about people. I think when you're done with crazy guys, that is the best form of revenge. When I was writing this album, at the end of it, there is this whole story based on one chick in there. I said, "Oh, my God. This s**t will never live this down." It wasn't my intention. It was my way of writing about how I empowered myself more to get revenge. I just tried to think through my head why I did the things that I did.
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