I studied and sang lot of jazz when I was growing up. I think that plays a little bit into some of the things I do vocally, notes that I pick in chords.

Some of my favorite records growing up were Christmas albums. The ones I liked best were the albums that you could listen to from start to finish. You could put them on while you're decorating the tree or driving around looking at Christmas lights.

We didn't have a whole lot of cash growing up. My mom was a single parent for a while before my stepdad came into the picture.

I think the biggest way of connecting with people is through your music and kind of saying what you want to say as an artist. And hopefully, you're making something that someone's going to be like, 'This is my favorite song.' That's always your goal, I think, anybody in any genre.

Judaism is my home. Judaism is super important to me, in death and in life.

Empire' deals with the black experience, the human experience, sibling rivalry, what it feels like to be ignored or doted upon by a parent, illness, death. There are so many things that I think the audience can identify with.

The question of whether it's God's green earth is not at center stage, except in the sense that if so, one is reminded with some regularity that He may be dying.

Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.