I've always been a really really big Sheryl Crow fan. I just respect what she does in a way that she just remains true to her music and sort of has just been real. She isn't trying too hard ever.

I know who I am as an artist and I know what my sound is, but I wanted to know what I could do in order to take it to that next level. So the experiences I had last year of moving to California and traveling to places like Rome and Nicaragua where I met a lot of people just had a really big impact in my life.

As you get older, challenges arise that you aren't prepared for, but what got me through it was music.

My biggest advice for girls - and this is something that I wish I could have known when I was younger - is to have thick skin. It's something that you definitely develop when you get older, but when I first started, I was so obsessed with pleasing everybody. I wanted everybody to like me and to like my songs.

I think just being on 'One Tree Hill' has given me a lot of confidence.

I like to perform live like we're all just hanging out in my living room. I'm totally casual and informal on stage.