Quotes About Inspiration

I was always interested in writing from an early age, but it seemed so far away and inconceivable, like wanting to be an astronaut or a pop star.

I'm a camp counselor for pop stars.

That's what I want to put out into the world - just stuff I love, tributes to my favorite pop stars.

I didn't look up to only pop stars, but I did look up to Adele, Amy Winehouse, Grimes, Robyn, Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones, M.I.A., Coldplay, Keane, and more.

When you have a teacher who is part of a tradition, the other people in that tradition are such stars. You just look at them like pop stars.

I love Linkin Park; that's one of my favorite groups, that I went to all their concerts. I love those guys, man. They do, like, pop-rock, know what I'm saying?

I think I have always made really beat-driven pop-rock records.

My faith plays a big part in who I am: a Christian guy playing pop-rock music. I'm in a pop-rock band, not a Christian band.

I fell in love with 'Ben Hur' when I was 8 years old, and I just knew I had to be involved in movies, even if I was the guy who melted the butter on the popcorn.

You don't have to be Pope Julius to have great art in your house.

The church needs a pope who can call us to conversion and lead us to take seriously what Jesus did.

Find a poet whose style you like, emulate that style, then deal with things that you know about - don't waste your time looking for your own style.' I wish I could remember who told me that, because I'd like to congraulate him. I've emulated all the old guys - Tennyson, Alexander Pope.

E.C. Segar, who created 'Thimble Theatre' and 'Popeye,' is one of my favorite cartoonists.

It's so funny when you're actually directing because things start popping that you don't expect to pop, and something that you think is going to pop, maybe doesn't quite have the impetus that you thought it might.

What's weird is the Hot Boys and the whole New Orleans Cash Money thing had a really big impact on the Bay when that was popping off. I don't all the way understand it. I mean, I know that they were big everywhere and had a lot of commercial success in the mid to late '90s, but they were really, really felt in the Bay Area.

I approach things from my feeling first. I have to get a feel for the character. I'll do that through music; I'll do it through what is naturally popping up for me when I read the script. My ideas or whatever the occupation of the character might be.

I have a huge note on my phone where things just start popping up. It doesn't make that much sense to me at the time, but once a song is finished, I can read into it and figure out who the characters are in my life.

When I moved to Nashville, I didn't really let myself sonically explore, but things naturally got a little more poppy. And in L.A., even more so.

I entered music at a poppy level.

A new idea is like carbonated liquid in a bottle. You just sort of shake it until the cork pops, then you write and write.

I've conducted the Boston Pops! Imagine that! Me! Maya Angelou! I've sang and danced at La Scala!

I always have a big idea. It pops up every two to three years.

If something pops in my mind and it's easy, I write it.

My pops had me at the studio since I was born. That's why I got into music. He would let me go up on the controls and mess with stuff.