I feel people may see me as that young pop star artist, which I guess I am, but I'm not that cutesy little guy anymore. I'm a young man, and I want to come off that way.

My grandfather played a big part in raising me, and he taught me how to be a gentleman. Since he first told me those types of things when I was 13 years old, I've taken all those types of lessons from him to heart. I'd like to keep that with me.

A friend and I were talking about how I don't like carnival rides that make me dizzy. I looked up from the conversation and thought, 'Dizzy - that sounds like a great title for a song.' The next day, I went into the studio with some co-writers, and we wrote that song.

I aspire to write like Robert Wyatt. I take a lot of inspiration from the way he writes.

I believe that the future is determined by the great public universities. They educate 80 percent of the students and make the American Dream available.

When I sing, I think mostly about the music. But I know that, through singing, my body shows everything that I am. I am a very passionate man and I suffer a lot and have a lot of joy also. In my opinion, it is very important for me to find this stimulus and motivation for singing.

You can't just look like one culture and expect to inspire a multitude of people. That doesn't work over time. Everybody wants somebody to look up to that looks like them so they can truly believe in that reality for themselves.