I've done a lot of growing up since the age of 16 and I really wanted that to be reflected in my music.

I feel good in my own skin because I've accepted the fact that I'm me. That's what's so great about being alive and being on this planet: Everybody's different.

I call myself a FFP: former fat person, and when you're an FFP, you will always see in yourself what people used to bully you for.

I can't lie, I did a lot of really, really stupid things, and it was because it was my way of crying for help.

I used to watch those syndicated, black-and-white Country Music Television shows from the '60s with my dad. And all of those people that played on our television set, they just felt like family to me. And I believed in my heart, as a little kid, that I would be doing that someday and I would know all those people and we would be friends.

I'm finding that I tend to be one of those people who gets into very committed, long-term relationships, and then I really focus on that relationship and not so much myself.

What makes me feel good is all of the people that rooted for A.I. get a chance to say, 'He did what you never thought he could do. The critics. He did what you never thought he could accomplish.' This is a moment that me and my fans and my family and friends can share together because we always believed in the dream.

I'd say to any woman, get out of that bad relationship that's turning you into a shell of your former self. Learn from it and get out. Then wait; enjoy yourself and your friends because, when what you want comes along, you'll spot it.