Maren Morris

I started to see this common theme with the songs that I was writing or co-writing, and it all had this really strong, independent point of view that I had subconsciously been craving from the music scene.

The songwriting community in Nashville really is all about your talent. It's not about your image, and you have to be humble. You have to be kind. You have to have zero ego when you walk into that writing room.

They say it can all change with one song, and in my case, that rings very true, I was shocked that it happened this quickly.

I think about the people that I've seen change because they believed in their own hype. I just never want that to happen to me.

I drive to clear my mind, like many people do. It's like, once you get in the car, whatever song you put on, it's so symbiotic. Your mood could change in a second.

Obviously, writing together is very intimate because it's sort of acting where you need to get to a really deep place to get the most emotional song.

Fine arts education in public schools is really abysmal. The same emphasis should be put on music, theater, dance - anything creative - that's put on math and science.

Don't forget to celebrate. When I was first coming up, everything was so serious - we were always rushing to get to the next thing - that we didn't take the time to say, 'Man, look what we did just now.'

There's no real high like finishing a new song, playing it a thousand times in your car, and freaking out with your co-writers.

It definitely is an ice breaker going into the awards already having one, and it was just so crazy when I heard I did win because I was in London at the time, and we were doing a festival out there, and my manager was like, 'You just won an ACM.' And I was like, 'How? It's so early!'

There's no grace period between album one and album two.

There are so many fun things that you live that you can write about and people of all ages can connect to.