Since releasing his most recent album, 2003's "Stop All the World Now," singer/songwriter Howie Day [ tickets ] has received significant press for two high-profile arrests and been linked to Britney Spears. But Day said something else played a much more influential role in the writing of his latest album, "Sound the Alarm."

"The biggest thing that's happened to me in five years was going from 23 to 28," Day told LiveDaily. "That's a huge growing up moment. I feel like it's almost the difference between being 13 and 18. There's a huge difference. Suddenly, everyone around you changes. You have friends that are getting married, having kids. It's, like, whoa. I was just 18. You're not 18 anymore. You haven't just turned 21 and doing a keg stand at a frat party. There's a weird growing up that kind of happens, but then you have to control it. I wanted to grow up in certain areas and not others. I still want to get down and play in a sandbox if I want to. I'm growing up without losing my sense of energy of youth."

Calling from Denver, Day said he wasn't sure how fans would accept his new material, considering the wait between albums.

"It was a big moment, a big day when it came out," Day said. "I didn't get much sleep the night before. It's almost like opening night or something because of the jitters. It's like, 'Wow, it's done. Here it is.' I've done that with every album. It feels like giving birth in a round-about way, not that I know what that feels like. It must be something like that. You kind of carry those songs around for a long time. In the case of this album, the single 'Be There' is a song that's three or four years old. It was one of the first songs written for the record. But I was carrying that one around and no one had really heard it, outside of a circle of friends, the circle of trust. Now it's sort of out and everyone's responding to it."

For the album, Day wrote about 30 songs, he said. He was impressed with that number, until he heard about the writing process of Colbie Caillat [ tickets ], whom he is supporting on her tour. (See dates below.)

"I read an article that Colbie had written 50 for her album," Day said with a giggle. "I was, like, 'Oh.' For me, it was like 30 or so or 40. Some of them didn't get finished. That's why the number is kind of hazy. We actually recorded 27 of them. There was a lot of material. I almost feel like there could be another record that's already done. It's kind of weird. I guess that's good.

"I went through a pretty prolific few years. I just wrote a bunch of songs, with a bunch of different themes. Picking out the songs for 'Sound the Alarm' came down to trying to find the winner in each category: 'What's the best break up song?' There [were], like, four of them. The other three are in the can, as they say. It's cool. I think the end result is a pretty diverse album with a lot of variety."

He chalks up that variety to songwriting help from long-time collaborators Jay Clifford and Better Than Ezra's Kevin Griffin.

"I worked with Kevin Griffin from Better Than Ezra for a long time," Day said. "We wrote [the single] 'Collide' and a bunch of songs on the last album, 'Stop All the World Now.' Jay as well.

"They're like my two big brothers in a way. They're older than me. They've been there, done that in a lot of situations I find myself in the middle of. I do feel as if they're my big brothers. We get together and write songs. Jay is out with me and we're doing an acoustic-duo sort of thing. We all keep in touch. We all know each other well enough by now that it's not too bad writing together. Obviously, when you get together, especially two guys, you have to know each other well enough to put some emotions on the table and get a little deep into life or philosophy. I feel like we've hit our stride on that. To me, being a solo artist, they're almost like band members. Maybe they're like the National Guard instead of the Army. They're not in the Army, but they're honorary band members, even though nothing is official."

On the tour with Caillat, Day and Clifford are performing an acoustic duet, to which Day alluded.

"On this string of dates, we considered doing a band/solo thing with the loops, just to try something different," Day said. "I've never done an acoustic-duo situation . It's been a little interesting. I feel like the acoustic-duo thing, if you're not careful, can become kind of like a little cheesy. It can become kind of like Extreme. But actually, within the first couple of shows, my fear subsided. It's been a lot of fun."