Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I am not interested in changing who I am to fit someone else's idea of what a category should be or look like.
I have the best and most loyal fans in the world, and they are used to connecting with me since the very beginning.
I was kind of nervous to put 'Learning' out: it's a lot different. That's who I am. I'm going to push the boundaries.
The tattoo that means the most to me would probably be my Chinese symbol on my neck. It means love - I got it on Mother's Day.
I feel like if you're in a bad situation, and then you see somebody that's even in a worse situation, you feel for that person.
After graduating from high school, even though I was working, I didn't have enough money to pay rent, so I stayed with my Nana.
Now that I'm with RCA, they were able to get radio on board, and it's just really awesome to see their support and 'What Ifs' going to No. 1.
I know that sounds weird, but I always compete with myself. If I do something, I always look at a chart and say I can do better the next week.
I always say just stay positive. If you ever get down on yourself, try to find something that takes away that negative. Always find that positive area.
My fans love everything. You can find my fans at a Drake show; you'll find my fans at Post Malone all the way to Pink. They just love music in general.
I feel like everybody that saw my videos was like, 'Oh this dude's about to rap.' They just played my videos, and I feel like I shocked a lot of people.
I kept my circle small. I had my friends that I knew wouldn't do anything to hurt me, and I would also stand up for them, and those are still my friends today.
I definitely see the genre opening up a lot more. I don't know if black people don't want to get into country music or what, but I feel like we're breaking down barriers.
Everyone should have equal opportunities and equal rights, but you can't even have an opinion without somebody going off on you. That's what's wrong with this world today.
As a country, we can do better. Our home should be a source of stability, not insecurity. This issue is personal for me... even with a steady paycheck, I couldn't pay rent.
I learned that my upbringing was rough, but there's other people out there where their upbringing is even worse than mine. It just gives you even more of a reason to want to help.
My nana was a detective; my nana was a great cop. You also have bad cops that were bullied in school or whatever and think that they have power, and that makes other cops look bad.
I wanted to call it 'Experiment' because it's all kinds of different sounds. We have a bunch of instruments on there that are basically going extinct, like the fiddle, the steel guitar, the slide.
When I first got into country, I was trying to do the traditional country thing, and I still have a heart for traditional country. But the songs I was writing just weren't falling into that category.
A lot of people say I inspire them or I've helped them - kids who have been bullied in school or parents coming up to me because their kids have been bullied or anything that they've went through. It really touches me.
My first impression when I heard 'Heaven' was, 'Do not let anyone else have that song! I'm putting it on hold.' I knew it was special from the first time I heard it, and I thought my fans would love it as much as I did.
I usually think about titles. I'll hear somebody say something and write it down in my notes, and whenever we go into a room, somebody will start naming off titles, and whoever has the best title, that's what we start writing.
I just want my hometown talking about where I'm going - like, 'He's killin' it right now,' and, 'I'm so glad he's doin' well,' and I want them to know I'll always come back, every chance I get. I'm not one of those people who'll just leave.
I started going on YouTube and studying everybody who was super popular, from Taylor Swift to Beyonce to Michael Jackson to Chris Brown, just everybody... That's what helped me find my voice and helped me find how I write songs, just doing covers.
It's been neat to find out different writing strategies. I've been in the room with so many different writers. Sometimes, you write with tracks, and other times, with acoustic guitars. That's been really a cool thing, because it brings out different lyrics with you.
That's something that I never thought I would have in a million years. We've done Gold before with 'Used To Love You Sober,' which I thought was awesome, but you don't realize once you get to Platinum, and you see the number difference between 500,000 and a million.
It feels awesome to be a Guinness World Records title holder and to be the first artist to achieve this with Billboard. I remember being in elementary and middle school and looking at the books for all of the records, and I can't believe my name gets to be in there now.
I was on the road with my buddy Alex - he's my guitar player - and we watched the movie 'Click' by Adam Sandler. And I don't know why, but me and him just got in our feelings. And then we ended up calling our girls, and we were like, 'We're so sorry. We wish you were here!'
On my posts, I would tell people, 'If you like this, give it a share.' If you go online and look at my videos, you might see where I have 80,000 likes, but 525,000 shares. That's where you gain more people as followers coming in. It took me a second to learn it all, but now that I have, it's been a blessing and a curse.
I feel like I should show people that no matter where you come from - you can get beat by your stepdad, if you get picked on for your clothes and having no money - I just feel like everyone should know it will be all right as long as you keep focusing on trying to move forward and looking at the positive things in life.
People always say, 'There are plenty of black country artists out there! There is Charley Pride! Darius Rucker!' That's all they can name. They don't understand what we go through, and a lot of people who are fans of traditional country music, as they call it, look at us and aren't going to say, 'Y'all like country music.'