Maren Morris

I'm a '90s kid, so I loved 'NSync and the Spice Girls.

I learned to write from different points of view and not just something I would say.

To turn the radio on and hear so much more diversity, it's so refreshing. That voice that cuts through what you've been hearing, it's inspiring.

As a songwriter, I listen to everything to be inspired... from Rihanna to Bruno Mars to Springsteen to Johnny Cash.

I missed being onstage behind the microphone. After a while, it was hard to hear another voice singing my lyrics.

Mr. Misunderstood' - that whole album is incredible and just has amazing songwriting.

I'm a control freak, even though I can be scatterbrained off stage. The only way I can have fun is if I know where everything is.

It seems like almost every day I've been able to cross things off my bucket list.

Being the everyman in the writing room helps a lot: you have to be a real collaborator and selfless, and not have ego when you walk in there. That's the antithesis of the artist mentality.

My Church' - that was really the tipping point of me going from songwriter to artist.

I was rejected from 'American Idol' - and I'm happier for it now.

If I had been thrown out into a radio tour when I was 18, or 17, and given a record deal, I don't think... it would have been a total nightmare.