I would say that music is a good source of expression for everybody.

Your character is not the best at expressing his emotions. How good are you at expressing your emotions and is music a good way for you to express them?

I would say that music is a good source of expression for everybody. Maybe you feel the same way: sometimes when you can’t find the right words in life, you can find them through a song that makes you feel the way that you are trying to express yourself. So, sometimes through songwriting I can express the complexity of an emotion. And other times, pre-coffee in the morning, it’s hard to express yourself. I don’t know, I find the more I enjoy being an artist and enjoy being a dad and enjoy being a husband, I find that each day that goes by, you find a little bit more of yourself and a way to express that and do it in a way with a lot of love and care.

Can you tell us about your upcoming album?

I don’t have plans for an upcoming album, but our soundtrack is coming out very soon. I can tell you that the Trolls World Tour soundtrack is incredibly diverse.

I’ve written songs on this soundtrack with Max Martin, Sarah Aarons, Chris Stapleton, and Anderson Pack.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the list of artists on the soundtrack, but Kelly Clarkson and Mary J. Blige -I mean our cast is unbelievable. Being the executive producer, I’m excited for this to come out. And I can tell you, every time I put an album out, I want it to sound different from anything I’ve done. I don’t think it will sound like anything I’ve done, but it will sound like me, if that makes sense.

The Trolls franchise has a wide appeal across children. Were there particular animated films that you remembered from your own childhood?

Well, of course, a lot of them. I would say one of my top five movies of all time, not just animated movies, was Dumbo when I was a kid. And that movie affected me very deeply. I was a big fan when I was a kid of a movie called The Last Unicorn. I don’t know if you remember that movie, but the band America did the soundtrack. And I remember that movie really moved me when I was

a young person. I thought the original Lady and the Tramp was fantastic as well. I could go on and on, but I would say that the first one that I would think of is Dumbo because it was the first time I remember feeling very emotional during an animated movie.

For your birthday your wife said, “You grew up without growing old.” What is the secret? What did she mean?

It sounds like she was being very nice. I don’t have any secret for growing except to continue to be curious -that’s very nice, thank you Jessica. My only rule is to continue to wake up and be curious, and there’s always something to learn and realize too, that you have a footprint and you can’t go back and erase it, but you can improve the next path and just continue to be curious.

You are doing the work of your dreams and they say, “Dream Big, Dream Different.” Is that the case?

I love that. “Dream Big, Dream Different, Laugh Together.”

You have a beautiful career and you have a beautiful family. What more can you dream of now, today?

I think for me, I always just want to continue to be inspired. I think now, at this point in my life, it is about being really picky and choosy about the things that I’m going to do. I am really going to be inspired to do it, because I know to do the type of work that I would do to make music or make

a film or both -in this instance with Trolls World Tour- it takes a lot of time, it takes you away from your family, so it better be something really, really inspiring.

It seems at this stage in your career, that it’s harder to be you. I feel you are a lot more guarded than you were twenty years ago because your every single move is followed. Are you okay with that or do you try to stay away from getting your son into that world because you know what is going to happen?

I love my work and I love my family, and I feel like I’ve always been pretty private. I feel like I just try to live my life and be the musician, actor, and producer that I hope to be. But I think there’s a time and a place for everything. And I also think that I personally take pride in being the person that I am -and not someone who you would expect me to be. Interestingly enough that concept ties into this movie.