It's good to be Andy Grammer

Andy Grammer says his level of fame has undergone quite a few changes over the years.

"I see myself go through these phases of famous that are really funny. For a while I was 'hum' famous. Like, 'Andy Grammer. Who's that?' And you'd be like..." said Grammer before humming a couple of his songs. "'Oh! That guy!'" And then I as in this middle ground where I was just leather jacket-famous, where I just walked through the airport with a hoodie or a normal shirt, and no one would know. If I wore a leather jacket, it would be like, 'Oh I think I know that guy!'"

Now fresh off a stint on "Dancing with the Stars," the singer-songwriter is recognized by people who had no idea who he was before seeing him on the ABC show.

"I haven't experienced anything quite like this yet, with the 'Dancing with the Stars' stuff. A lot of them [viewers] have heard my music, but now they know my face," Grammer told CBS News.

The Los Angeles-born, New York-raised singer-songwriter released his self-titled debut album in 2011, featuring the single, "Keep Your Head Up." In 2014, he followed that up with the album, "Magazines or Novels," and the hit single "Honey, I'm Good," which has gone triple-platinum and garnered 52 million-plus views on YouTube.

Grammer was far along into the writing process when he finally came up with "Honey, I'm Good."

"I wrote about 50 songs that were terrible because I was trying to write a hit...It was an intense process for me. So song, 101 was 'Honey, I'm Good.'"

Tapping into his own honest emotions helped unleash better songs, Grammer says.

"One of the ways out for me was brutal honesty -- and writing songs where I didn't care if I came out looking like a great guy or not. That song ['Honey, I'm Good'] is 'Ok, you're cool. But you're looking at another girl. Why are you doing that?'"

In the end, Grammer is glad he didn't put out album No. 2 too soon: "We fought through it," he said, admitting, though, that he feared the dreaded "sophomore slump."

"The second album is so hard I think for any artist. If you had any luck with the first one, the second one is a lot of pressure...It was a super grueling process that was one of the hardest things I've ever done," Grammer revealed.

Much of the album is taken from personal experiences, says Grammer, who noted that "as a songwriter you are always looking for these universal truths."

That's how his new single "Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)" came together, the video for which is also inspired by Grammer's own life.

"When I first got to L.A. I was a valet for four years, along with street performing and so when I went to do 'Dancing with the Stars' the first photo shoot was at a place where I had valeted. So I tipped the guy a bunch of money, and it was very full circle. So it seemed like a pretty cool idea to go with a valet-themed music video. If I ask myself if I was as happy back then as I am now, it would be totally," said Grammer.

"Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)" appears on the new deluxe version of "Magazines or Novels."

Grammer, meanwhile, is always writing and conjuring up ideas for what's next: "There's never a time in my life, even in a conversation, if something happens and I feel that then I go and write it down. I have a list of those, always...Then I have notepad of all these ideas, and I go in and piece together what it's actually going to be."

He'll apparently be doing that soon; Grammer says he hopes to get into the studio again in 2016.

"I do think there is a level of pressure that is gone...I'm very excited to go and create," he said.