“All You Got” is the lead-off track on the album, and it’s also the song you wrote for Kidd’s Kids. Can you tell me a little bit about the song?
Sure. This is a song that came from a place when I started thinking about Kidd’s Kids, and the lesson that they give is a lesson that I think is so pertinent to everybody. It’s a lesson that I had to learn this year through American Idol. The album title goes hand-in-hand with this, too. There’s mountains and there’s valleys in your life, and when you’re in the valleys it seems that’s when you learn the most. And I happened to be in a valley just from all the critics out there during Idol and on Kidd’s show, because there’s a lot more ears listening to my music and you can’t have everybody love it. That had gotten me down, and I met some of the kids from Kidd’s Kids.
And these are kids that have every right to be down, to be sad for themselves, to wish their life wasn’t in the place that it’s in. But that’s so far from how they actually act. It was a moment, it sort of all made sense to me. And these kids bring this message of hope to everybody that they meet. So, I wrote this song, “All You Got,” basically from the lesson that I learned from these kids. The song is written almost from the perspective of these kids and what they’ve learned and what they share with everybody that they meet.
I love the sentiment behind the song; I think it’s great, but I have to say that the song does lead off your album really well.
Thank you. We finished recording it, and I go to Jordan and I was like, “Dude, that’s the opening track.” It starts [the album] off so well. And when you think about that line – and people who know who I am and know what’s been going on in my world – that’s what I’ve tried to live out for the past couple years, going for it with the music and not being content with sitting around and watching the clock. I think everyone can relate to that message.
With the track listing for the album, was it a conscious decision to alternate the ballads with the more uptempo songs every other track. I noticed it goes from “The Last Song” to “She Sets Me Free” and “Where I’m Going” to “I Wanna Fall in Love." I was just wondering if that pattern was done purposely?
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