• NYMAG: Was there a moment you felt like the tide was turning against you?
• Ben Folds: "Insecurity in your art and self are horrible demons. And when I quit the band and went solo, that was scary. I just had twins, after having been 'rock band dude,' and I worried that I was entering a way too grown-up phase and was going to be cast aside. Then [my first solo album, Rockin' the Suburbs,] was released on 9/11, and I can’t complain about what happened, but it crushed the record commercially. It got some good reviews, but it was the beginning of the era that continues now of people going real personal when they don’t like my records. I’ve kind of gotten to a place where I can say [about a writer who keeps slamming me], 'Oh that fuckin’ joke again, he’s still around?' And that it means you’re actually still around and relevant. But that was a pretty low time. Another time was, ironically, upon the release of my highest charting solo record, Way to Normal. I had a rough personal time, made a record that had a certain kind of humor in it, went with a producer who contributed to a distorted sound which made it sound a bit more bitter, and I felt bad — l felt it was being misunderstood. Magazines I’d respected growing up like Rolling Stone were jumping out and saying I was the angriest guy in show business and somebody better take this guy out now. And I just felt like, yuck. Despite that, the touring of the record was beautiful, it was great. But in my perception I felt like I put out a record that was picking fights."