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I experienced bullying a lot. I was an only child, and I was kind of a small kid with a big mouth, and so I always got myself in trouble.
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I've written hundreds of songs, and I tend to think that my instincts are pretty good when it comes to what people are going to like and what people aren't going to like.
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I truly believe that love is greater than politics.
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I've played so many gigs in front of around seven people. It's difficult to keep motivated, but it's all about growth. The love of music kept me going.
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I write in character a lot.
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A timeless pop song is the hardest thing to do as a songwriter.
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Fear just crushes creativity, and if I let fear into the studio and into the songwriting, I was going to let it kill the artist inside of me.
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I wrote 'Don't Stop' just like I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks' - I didn't try to make either a hit. I just wanted to write a song I liked.
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I write songs based on things I see in the culture around me.
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I was rambunctious - a boy's boy, full of energy. I wasn't a bad kid. I just liked to talk.
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Foster the People wouldn't exist without Mophonics.
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That's how life is: there are peaks and valleys in life, and that's how I like to write songs.
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I feel like my calling is to show people joy: to make them feel like there's something to look forward to.
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'Torches' opened a lot of doors. Ultimately, it turned into an experience to be reckoned with.
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L.A. gives me a lot. L.A. is a city of extremes. People come here from all over the world that have these, like, giant ideas, and they put everything into it. And some people just fall flat on their face, and some people, you know, shoot like a rocket.
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I don't like to write the same song twice.
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I look at bands like the Beach Boys, Hall & Oates and Blur, and those are the bands I want to be in company with because their songwriting is intelligent, and yet you don't need to be a musical genius to pick it up.
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I remember, in middle school, I went to four different schools. That was a rough patch. But it's also what shaped me as a person.
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I play guitar, bass, drums, piano, and pretty much any sort of stringed instrument - besides violin or cello.
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There's a lot of bands that blow up quickly, but then they die quickly. Longevity is the healthy thing; that's the pursuit.
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I was always extremely independent growing up.
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Writing for other people is easier than writing for myself - it's not as personal.
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I'm really into the recycling of art. That one piece of art inspires another piece of art, which inspires another piece of art. I really like that idea.
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I think my inner child wants to take over the world.