After I had a kid, I value every minute of time that I have alone and I don't take it for granted anymore.
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I don't sweat the little stuff anymore. The little worries, I just don't have time for them anymore.
I hate listening to things quietly. If I'm going to listen to something and fully enjoy it, I want the volume all the way up. That, for me, is a good immersive experience.
Games have fascinated me my whole life, starting with 'PacMan' on my uncle's PC. I moved up to classic Super Nintendo and then on to N64, and then XBox, DS and 'WoW.'
There are no rules. And there are no boundaries in terms of where your imagination can take you. That is so necessary for music.
Having toured a lot really influences some of the decisions you make in the studio - is this part anthemic enough for people to want to sing to it at a show? is this part dynamic enough? Is this drum beat 'arena' enough? You think about it a lot when you are creating, for sure.
Young girls aren't marketed science-y stuff, or techy stuff, or even musical stuff.
The way things are today, people need to talk about mental health and need to be open about it.
I love getting online and looking at people's responses to things and communicating with everyone.
I was in bands all through my youth. Things started out more acoustic and then piano ballads. Then R&B followed by sappy pop music and then rock, punk and heavy metal.
It is really hard to write something high-energy and upbeat on acoustic guitar.
One of the ways that I discovered my confidence and my ability to overpower is becoming a mother. Suddenly, my world wasn't about myself anymore.
Our down time at home consists of hikes and video games and trying to cook - because we are awful at it.
I sleep in a bunk bed because my studio's under it. It's like a loft bed.
It was so freeing to branch out and work with people like Josh Dun of 21 Pilots who played on 'Savage' and 'Almost Had Me.'
I'm kind of obsessed with laser guns.
I find that when you grow and evolve with music, the music understands you, and vice versa - whether or not the creator of that music knows.
I don't know what I did with time before I had a kid.
When I had my baby, it really freed my mind. No matter how well you do or how unsuccessful you are, there's still somebody who thinks you're the best in the world.
I remember when I would write a song as a kid, I would also write out on paper what the drums would do, what the bass would do, and what the vocals would be doing.
When I'm at home, I get what I need to get done during the day and reward myself with a little 'WoW' time at night. Some people read a book before they go to bed.
Pop music is actually a challenging genre. Not only do you have to be artistically expressive, but you also have to do that in a very strict format. I've always liked that challenge, but it's very easy to slip into something non-creative. You just have to stay inspired all the time.
I can really identify with the content that I read in comics.
We need to re-evaluate what we market to our kids.
If I met the right girl, I could easily fall in love.
You should write songs about what you feel, but you can't write in such a way like it's a diary entry. You should write it in a way that people understand in their lives.
When I was younger it was a lot of quantity over quality. Just writing, writing, writing. Hundreds of songs. Now it's fewer songs. If I write 10 songs I believe 80 percent of them are good and gonna be used.
There are times where you don't think you can be one of those strong women. You're not one of the leaders right? But that doesn't mean you're not. And that doesn't mean you're not a trailblazer.
An upbeat song, for example, means one thing, but when you hear it with really vibey, mellow ambience around it, suddenly the same words may mean something else. Music is so powerful that way: It dictates and soundtracks our moods.
Like everybody, you get nights where you feel completely depressed. You start thinking about all the bad things and think about the glass half empty - instead of half full. There's no explanation for it.
I'm such a geek.
I don't have musical theory or great chord knowledge, but what I have got me where I am.
I think there's this standard in our society that when we become a mother, we just become a mother, and that's all you are. That's an amazing thing, but I think you're doing your child a disservice by not following your dreams either. I work really hard to make sure that I'm chasing all the things I always dreamed of.
Getting to be a musician for ten years is very different from being a musician for a year. You get different stories, and have a different connection with the fans after ten years.
You need to enjoy what you're doing in order to do something good. You can't force it.
What puts me in the perspective of the power of a song is listening to it at full volume.
There is something empowering about being a female warrior to me.
Being a performer and recording artist and playing 'World of Warcraft' - that's a pretty time-intensive combination.
You can get a rut where you think you need to create something that sounds like a certain thing - especially with pop music.
Role models are important and if you see it you can be it.
Now that I have a daughter, I notice what's marketed to young women.
I've grown in a lot of ways - as a musician, as performer, as a songwriter.
I used to play music at home, and now I'm playing for thousands of people.
I got signed to a development deal when I was 15. That fell through after about a year when the company merged with another label. Then I got picked up by Sony publishing. So I was writing professionally from 16 to 18. Then I started making my own records.
Love is so much more than gender: You fall in love with a person.
It's nice to pretend we could lead a normal life!
I'm very into superhero culture and stuff like that, so I always think on very epic terms.
The comic hobbyists world is so passionate about the details and the lore and the more you get into that, the more interesting it is for you.
I think Warped Tour's bringing something special to me.
I can't be like, 'This week I'm going to be a musician, and next week I'm going to be a mom.' It has to be a little bit of everything, every day, all of the time.
