[he's a little embarrassed to have his -- romantic ideals parroted back at him in this kind of context. it's one thing to meet a physical challenge on, for yourself; it feels like another to invest the kind of creativity and emotionalism required to write a song, for someone else]

If you're pushing to be the best young songwriter of our generation, I'm happy to help.

[constantly reframing for the future, for distant goals, constantly casting everyone around him as a protagonist in their own movie]

[(he doesn't tend to cast himself in supporting roles, strangely enough, for all his talk of teamwork)]

-- Is that what I think it is...?