I was putting songs on Facebook and YouTube just for my friends. When one got over 100 plays, I would do a dance. The first time someone that I didn't know commented, it was a dream come true. A year and a half later, I played 'Fallon.'
— Tobias Jesso, Jr.
I learned piano off YouTube and still do a lot. It's hard to find contemporary indie music on there, at least lessons, because the reach is smaller. I did it so people like me out there could learn my songs if they wanted to and maybe, in a small way, to pay forward all the free lessons I've had over the years.
Obviously I'm not the best singer; obviously I'm not the best piano player or the best songwriter, but I'm doing my best on all of 'em. Once you have all those things in place, then I think everything falls the way it should.
Everyone in my family is pretty much tone-deaf.
Some people get on the whole touring circuit for years and years and years on one record. What interests me is sitting down at a piano, writing songs, getting into a studio and exploring new sounds to come up with something I'm really proud of.
I was chubby in high school. I used to go to my information technology class, and I would type really fast to get the lesson done quick because the teacher had a little acoustic guitar, and there was a girl I had a crush on in the class. I would take the guitar and pretend to be some great singer-songwriter, serenade her with joke songs.
Piano is one of those instruments you don't have to be good at to sound good - you just have to know where to put three little fingers, which is really pretty easy to figure out.
I don't feel like I'm the type of performer who's going to knock your socks off. I'm trying to get over my nerves.
Some of my best songwriting choices started as mistakes or learning curves, when I accidentally hit a 'wrong' key or something. I try not to lose that the more I learn the how's and why's of piano.
I think the first time I tried to write a romantic song, it was just horrendously embarrassing. I remember thinking, 'Okay, I'm not going to do that anymore.' I think that sort of embarrassed me for the next 10 years.
I just like being as romantic as possible. I thrive off unrequited love. I've been in love in one way or another since I was 14. I go full-on in and get obsessive.
In one week, I got hit by a car - it busted through my hand - and my mom got cancer.
I often find myself writing little ditties I can imagine becoming rap songs. Not the actual rapping part, just the chorus.
I have always had problems with my voice, and the piano helped me believe the song could be bigger than my voice, and I could play with new melodies and things that I couldn't on guitar. It was easier to make the sound fuller and easier to get away with not being as good.
I'm a piano player and singer who can't play piano very well or sing very well. That isn't a recipe for success. I have to get better.
When l write my own stuff, that's my only alone time. From wake-up to going to bed, I'm with someone. I don't like to do anything alone. I guess it's insecurity. When I travel, I won't go anywhere without people to go do something. I'm happier around people; the more people the better.
I don't think I ever heard music playing when I was younger, other than the radio. My parents got me a Walkman and stuff like that, but I was always way more into listening to music than they were.
I try to sort of make myself emotional in the moment when I'm writing, and that always translates better. When I'm writing, I can't do abstract.
L.A. can make you feel like you've already made it. You're living off 40 dollars a week; it's nice weather. You go outside on your bike; you go to the coffee shop, and everybody is doing nothing. It doesn't leave a lot of room for ambition.
I often compare my voice to an old car you're only 50% sure will turn on when you need it to.
I want to be romantic, and songs are a good way to do that.
