There's definitely a visual aspect and an emotional aspect to a song. And that harks back, for me, to theater.

David Cook

Intimacy is the capacity to be rather weird with someone - and finding that that's ok with them.

Everyone wants a better life: very few of us want to be better people.

The challenge for a human now is to be more interesting to another than his or her smartphone.

Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.

Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own - but that we could never have described on our own.

There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.

I'm competitive to a fault, so of course every week I'm just like, "I want to win, I want to do great."

I spent a majority of my life in Kansas City, so I am a Chiefs and Royals guy. I used to work for the Royals for like five years in the suites department and in the stadium club restaurant.

I'm admittedly a record guy. Singles and I are a different beast. I'm definitely an overall picture thinker.

It's amazing what a spray-on tan will do.

I got to play with ZZ Top and introduce Bryan Adams and George Michael. And to have it all topped off by me winning 'American Idol?!' It's pretty absurd.

I absolutely think the Seattle grunge sound was instrumental to my music education.

The further you go on the show, the larger the budget gets. But in the beginning they were just like, "Here's a hundred bucks in L.A. Good luck."

I live for Tuesdays, and die by Wednesdays.

I'd always wanted to grow my hair out. And now looking back on those photos I understand why I probably shouldn't have.

I have to be involved. Whether it's me writing by myself or with other people, I definitely want to have my hand in the creative process. That's part of why I got into music in the first place.