It was a difficult second record. I had moments where I couldn't write; had moments where I was writing lots. It was just a massive learning process for me.

The goal was always to do something that felt human but was 100 percent electronic.

I just want to write another record that's as good or better than the one I've already made. That's my main goal, to follow up stronger than before.

Combining sounds that are from another universe with the classic songwriting structures never gets old for me.

Before adolescence I had an incredible voice. Like when I was 12, 13, 14 - I was taking acting classes, I was painting, I was making music, I was taking photographs. I was kind of exploding creatively, and then something about adolescence really just ground that out of me.

Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity.

I do not feel any artist can produce great art without putting great personality into it. It is always a piece of you that goes on the screen or the canvass.

I found poetry at 12 and 13 and, lo and behold, learned that my attorney father had a background in poetry - as he wore dashikis and Afros in the '70s and named his kids Arabic names. He was a poet and a lot like The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron and all of these folks. He definitely was an artist.