Tell Your Truth

"What I've learned as a writer is that the more I can get to my own emotional truth, the more a song is actually about me, thinly disguised as an Indian princess or the hunchback of Notre Dame or other characters, oddly enough, the more it communicates universally. For the most personal songs I've written, I've had people come up to me and say, How could you possibly have known that? I felt like you read my diary. It's really an interesting phenomenon, and of course it makes our job as songwriters a lot easier. The more you can tell your truth, the more it resonates for others. Of all the lessons I learned about songwriting I've learned over time, that's been the most revelatory for me."