Ricky Reed

What I ended up learning was that I had to do what I do well, and do it really well and say, 'Maybe there is no pop music that sounds like this now, but I can make it so maybe tomorrow what I like can be what everybody likes.'

I started off making music that made fun of pop; now I'm nominated for helping produce pop songs that aim to be as honest as possible.

Los Angeles is a huge, great diverse place, but I had to find the version that worked for me. I am lucky I did because I probably wouldn't be where I am had I not.

A lot of what we do in the studio on a day-to-day basis is you try to cast a line as far out as you can out into unknown waters and reel it back in, cut out stuff that isn't working, cut out stuff that isn't connecting to people.

I grew up playing in rock bands while I was listening to rap records. I like a lot of stuff.

My career has been one long love letter to California as a whole, top to bottom.

A lot of people from the Bay, especially musicians, feel like northern California is not the place where everything's poppin' off and not quite on the cutting edge artistically as New York or L.A. People from the Bay feel like they have something to prove, and I always love feeling like I have something to prove.

I can never think about, 'Is this going to sell? Is this going to work on radio?' I just have to get in the zone where I'm like, 'Do I love this, or do I not love this?' Essentially it all comes down to that.

My music has evolved to reflect that multigendered, multiracial, multigenre music. Whether I realized it before or not, I'm most influenced by that rock and soul hybrid.

A lot of people say don't let bad vibes into the studio, but I love to. If you're having a bad day, write a song that feels like that.

Pitbull is, like, one of the most incredible humans. He's an amazing guy, and when we first connected on 'Fireball,' he said, 'I love it!' He recorded the verse in a day, we mixed it the next day, and it was on the radio in like two weeks after we made the initial track. That's just how he works. He's so hard working, kind, and really appreciative.

Regardless of what amount of satire or sarcasm is heard in what I do, the reason it connects with people is because the fun and the wildness in it is sincere.