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.
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!'
My fans are so loyal to me, and it's an amazing feeling to have everyone support me.
We lived in eight or nine different houses and six or seven different apartments growing up.
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.
Chris Young was a big influence of mine, and he's one of my good friends now.
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.
My nana is a real life mentor, and so is Brad Paisley and a few other idols in country music.
Nobody deserves to be bullied.
I got bullied so much growing up for being a different color in a majority white school.
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.
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.
I could help a lot of people's kids that are going through racism or getting bullied. That's what I wanna do.
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.'
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 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.
I try to focus on my fans, who I know have been there since day one.
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.
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.
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.
