What is the main difference between Departure and your past albums?
This record is written on the piano where my other records were written on the guitar. I found the keys are a little bit more universal, and you can play around a little bit more. I started getting into it and messing around with this vintage '80s sound. It just allowed me to really get crazy. With a guitar, I feel like you pigeonhole yourself a little bit.

What was the most challenging part of making this album?
Just trying to lock in my niche and my sound and what I really wanted the record to sound like. I had the ideas, I had the content, [but] I just didn't know how I wanted it to sound. So once I hurdled that I sat all the writers and the producers down that I thought would help crystallize that sound, and told them what it is I was trying to do.

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