"It's interesting," Cabrera said about the paparazzi and the interest in his relationship with Simpson. "It's all fine and everything. The hard part is people wanting to talk about relationships that are going on your life. It's weird and new to me. All I want to do is tour and make new records and have fun."

Cabrera just wrapped up a headlining club tour, and will finish the year with appearances at a handful of holiday-themed radio festivals. He's also pushing his new MTV television series, "Score," in which two would-be musicians with different tastes battle to win a date with the girl of their dreams by creating an original song with the help of Cabrera. At the end of each show, Cabrera performs a song.

Battling tonsillitis during the club tour, Cabrera took time out to talk to liveDaily about touring and his latest album.

liveDaily: Do you enjoy playing clubs?

Ryan Cabrera: I love the good, couple-thousand-seat venues. They're perfect. Everyone goes nuts. You get to hang out with everybody. It's a good night, and a good feeling where everyone feels like they're a part of the show, which is important.

How is the feeling of this tour different than the previous one?

For this tour, having a second album, I get to play longer and do more things musically-- switching things up--and I can up the production of the show a little bit more and go crazy. The vibe during the shows is usually really fun, and I want everybody to jump around and have a good time.

Do you play any covers during your performance?

Paul Simon. I love Paul Simon. Gotta kick that out.

Do kids in your crowd even know who Paul Simon is?

Some of the people know it. Then some of the people who don't know, they can say, "Let's go out and check out Paul Simon." Maybe they'll pick up "Graceland." I hope they go out and pick up things like that. It's really cool.

You turned your second album around pretty quickly. "You Stand Watching" was released in September of this year, while "Take It All Away" hit stores in August of 2004. Did you plan it that way?

No, not really. I was just going to go out on the road as much as I possibly could. I came back to L.A. for a day to make [“Score”] for MTV. I got a pilot, and part of the show is that I perform at the end of every [episode]. I figured I'd better write some new songs. I love playing. So I came back and wrote the record in like a month and recorded it and put it out.

When did you find time to film your television show?

I did it for a week during the summer.

How has the reception been so far?

Everybody keeps calling me telling me they love the show. It's really exciting that random people I never thought would love the show are calling me. It's a cool concept. You get to see a lot of things, like--people never get to see the behind-the-scenes of writing a song, the drama that can go on with that.

Was it difficult writing your second album?

Actually, it came really fast. I went to write and I was in such a good place. I went up to the back of this mountain and wrote every day. I had ideas from the road. Once it started flowing, it came. I had a lot of stuff that has happened in the last two years since my last record.

Do you make it a point not to explain the meaning of your songs?

Each song is really a person. I know what it's about. I never reveal too [many] details. I want people to take the song and apply it to their lives. If it's for you, it's perfect. It doesn't have to be about anything but your [translation]. Sometimes you hear a song and it's exactly like your life. It's what gets you through things. I want other people to have that same thing.

Who produced the record?

I produced it. I've always been into that kind of thing. The thing about it was, I didn't want to over-think it. I didn't want to produce it up too much. The songs come out, and when I write the songs, I hear in my head exactly how I want to them sound, with the full band. With that, I go in [with] these cats that I played with on my last record. I kind of talk them through my songs. I didn't want to over-think it and do too much to it.

Will you hire a producer for your next album?

I'm not opposed to it. I'm not the guy who thinks I can do everything. For this record, I wanted to show that I could do it. People will have their opinions of you and they don't even know what they're talking about--just because of the way you look or who you're friends with, which is why I named my album "You Stand Watching." There are people who are so judgmental. People are so opinionated about things, and they don't even know what they're talking about, or can't even do it themselves. For the next album, if I meet someone who kind of understands where my head is musically, I'd totally break down and work with them. I think I'd always co-produce. It's my music. If I write it, I can kind of hear what it sounds like.