Dean Lewis

“When you first start out, it's a big thing you're always like 'does my voice sound good?'”

“I'm not trying to get across some sort of message or statement. I'm just literally trying to write the best songs I can write. It's all that matters.”

“I wasn't the kind of guy who was like 'here's my demo,' or 'listen to my demo.' I just never thought it was that good.”

“I've been writing a lot of sad songs, and I got to the point where I was like, 'You can't write another one or you're lying.'”

“There's nowhere else in the world that's quite like that, where they encourage going after your dreams, especially in Los Angeles. I think it's really cool.”

“Especially with 'Be Alright,' that's about a bunch of relationships and some people that I'd never even met, there was some stories friend and family had told me over the years, that I put into the song.”

“Having all this success in Australia is life-changing and incredible and has given me the opportunity to come to the U.S. and get started over here.”

“People know my song but they don't know the guy who sings the song.”

“I have this unyielding desire to do high-quality work.”

“There's Sia and 5 Seconds of Summer but that's sort of it, nobody from Australia really has success in America, and to have a song go so well on radio, you start to have success and you think, 'Oh God, I don't want to lose that!'”

“I started realizing that when I played festivals I didn't want to be writing all these down, sad songs.”

“I was writing songs in my room for like six year, not showing anyone.”

“There's a cafe in Mosman near where I lived and if I have any days off I go there at 10 in the morning with my notebook, sit in the same chair, order the same breakfast and coffee, write my thoughts down, and chat, have the same conversation with the owner.”

“You write for other people and it feels you're giving a little bit of yourself away.”

“There's only been a very few times when I'm recording something and I get shivers.”

“I visualize songs like a little movie scene and I try to almost talk through the scene. What emotions am I trying to get across?”

“When I'm working on an idea I have a very high level of expectations. If we do a video it has to be high level. Artwork has to be really good.”

“Everyone wants to be chosen for Up Next. You get on a billboard in Times Square and in Los Angeles! This helps get your name out there on a huge scale.”

“I didn't really gig my way in. I was just in my bedroom writing songs for so long.”

“When I recorded 'Waves' I was in England, and I was there for months.”