If I want to do song and dance, I will and I would like to but I don't want to do it in every film. Where is the novelty then? It just takes the fun out of work for me.

For me, lyrics are the most important thing in a song. And if they don't have meaning, I would never sing them - unless and until someone who loves your work asks me to do so.

I decided to make a CD that I would enjoy listening to. So I would finish a song and sit there, and I would say, 'What song, of all the songs I know, would I like to work on now? What song would make me happy?' And that's how I picked the songs.

I don't want to have one hit, one song of the summer, and then have me disappear forever. I really want my things to last, and I want my songs and my bodies of work to resonate with people. I want to hit people - at least make a dent in them. I want to make a mark somehow.

'Been That Way' is a song that Timbaland gave me. Actually, the beat is. And then he called me to come out there to Miami. I went out there to work with him, and he gave me two beats for my project. One was 'Sorry Not Sorry,' and the other one was 'Been That Way,' and I recorded both of them in my hotel.

Somebody told me about a band that works out their whole set as if it was one song. They learn the whole set as one piece, so they know how the dynamics of it work. It's really difficult to do, and you can only really do it while you're on tour, as being in a rehearsal studio is not the same as being on stage in front of an audience.

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