As you alluded, you are very well known for your love songs. Do you feel pressure to keep cranking out R&B ballads?
To be honest, I don't feel pressured with the writing. If you go back to all of my albums, you'll see that there's more on the albums than just ballads you hear on the radio. Don't get me wrong, those are the songs that people know me for, but there's more to what I can do than just ballads. Everybody doesn't listen to just ballads all day long all the time. What happens to the rest of the space and how can I contribute to that space? Not every second of your life you're listening to R&B songs and not everybody in the world listens to R&B songs. I'm always interested in knowing what I can do to entertain people who don't listen to R&B songs.
When it comes to your lyrical content, what responsibility do you feel to make or create responsible music?
There's more to gain from this industry than just making a dollar off of music. In the end, you're talking about inspiring people and making a contribution to people's perspective on life. I want to help contribute a more realistic perspective about romantic relationships and anything.
When you look back on your personal life, what do you consider to be the hardest lesson you learned in the game of love?
The hardest lesson I have learned is knowing that people will always disappoint you. Not so much to expect them to disappoint you but be prepared for that. If a person never disappoints you, then that's what's up. Having a realistic expectation that nobody is perfect, even though they are going to disappoint you, you still can choose how you deal with that disappointment. You can even choose not to look at it as a disappointment and just recognize that that person is just being themselves. If you want to be a part of their life and you want them to be a part of yours, that's just something that you're going to have to deal with. Otherwise, just don't live with that person.
Although many of your songs aren't necessarily based on your personal experiences, you have a way that gives them a universal appeal. When you start writing your music, do you typically start with the lyrics or do you start with the melody?
It depends on the circumstance. It's not either-or. I don't have a set way with how I come up with songs. Sometimes the melody comes first and sometimes I get the words first.
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