I care about women's rights and reproductive rights and my gay friends being able to keep their marriages official. You don't want your genre to disown you for it - and I don't think they would now - but you still see that sort of hatred and vitriol that comes with disagreeing with the conservative agenda.

My lyrics are more country - what I love is the storytelling and the structure, how tight the rhymes can be. But pop melodies have always been intrinsically linked to my writing style.

I've always had an ear for melodies, and they veer pop. My lyrics are more country - what I love is the storytelling and the structure, how tight the rhymes can be. But pop melodies have always been intrinsically linked to my writing style.

I did choir, soccer, some theater. The only weird thing about my life was that I was playing honky-tonks on the weekends.

I always go back to old vinyl albums I loved, and that's sort of the aim I had with 'Hero' - just to make it look classic and feel like me, but also timeless in a way.