Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
My parents wouldn't let me listen to 'American Idiot.' So it felt very rebellious to go over to my friend's house after school and listen to it in secrecy.
It's like a cosmic joke that people dream to perform in front of a huge crowd. But it is a welcomed challenge. I hope I always have that positive apprehension.
There are bands who write of emotions that are very heartbreaking, touching, or relatable, but they'll be like concept records, they're about fictional characters.
The more we can personalise, the more the market can fragment, because of all the availability that streaming presents. Things become old sooner. That's terrifying.
Especially with women in music there is this unnecessary competitive element. And, like, why? Why do people do things where they try to put peers up against each other?
Especially in the sphere of social activism, I think we tend to unwittingly conceptualize progress or revolution as black and white and having a clear beginning and end.
I love 'Exit West' by Mohsin Hamid. It's a magical realism retelling of the refugee experience, where people find these magical doors that transport them to another country.
We always have a great time touring Germany, but one of my favourite museums in the world is Museum Ludwig, an incredible contemporary art museum in Cologne. I could spend all day in it.
Painting with broad strokes, I feel like a lot of journalism makes it out to be like the collective consciousness has a finite imagination for multiple women at one time in a similar genre.
I feel like it's a necessary part of musical development to go through that phase where you think that your favorite style of music is the only style of music, and I thought that for a while.
I didn't grow up on country and blues, I was just a kid listening to VH1 and then I realized I needed to expand my musical horizons. Now I have a deep appreciation for southern heritage music.
When I was in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, Green Day was my formative entry to punk. I wish I could say I was listening to Minor Threat and Black Flag, but I wasn't. Bay Area punk bands were doing it right.
Music is everything. Evidence of the divine. The possibility of man to be good. The possibility of improving our surroundings and expressing ourselves. All of these things are collapsed together in my mind.
I can make a record with six-part string arrangements and the best musicians in the world and have it be not genuine. I'd rather make a genuine record that I truly stand behind and have it fall where it may.
I do have a little bit of trouble with candor around the things that I used to do. I think it's probably just resultant of shame and embarrassment and not wanting to be defined by the life that I used to live.
It's super cool to me when my manager screencapped Sharon Van Etten saying my album is great on Twitter and I about cried 'cause she's a hero. And that led to... I got to have lunch with her! I got to meet a hero!
It's not like a choice to have an identity politics discussion when you're living it all the time. And if it's uncomfortable, well then maybe the way that we need to deal with that is by letting things be uncomfortable.
I am voting in the midterm elections because I believe that when people engage with their local government, it reminds those placed in power that they are public servants who will be held accountable for their decisions.
The thing that is comforting about being a touring musician is whenever I say bye to my friends, I'm like, 'I don't know when I'll see you again but it'll be sooner than I think and if it's not soon then it won't matter.'
I don't think I'll ever get that tour ennui. Just getting to visit New York and all these different places - I'm always so excited to look at the window. I look like a crazy tourist stumbling around... 'This is beautiful.'
Writing songs has always been a process where I divulge a lot, just because music is a tool for me to sift through and process intense emotions. But having music be my primary occupation has changed how I interact with art.
I played with a band, and the lead singer would always introduce me as 'the 13-year-old lead guitarist.' I didn't want to be a novelty, like 'Oh, she has three arms! Check her out.' But I've learned to accept it as more of a compliment.
Sometimes you want to complain and be like, 'Why? Life is so horrible.' But it doesn't change that there are redeeming qualities and a universal capacity for redemption and grace. There are still things that make it worth it and bearable.
I was a very emotional teenager. But I wish that I could tell myself that I matter more than I think. Things are a bigger deal than I think they are, but they're also not as big a deal as I think they are. My mistakes are not the end of the world.
There are people I haven't seen for a year and we will do a show or something and when we hang out it'll be this instant endearment. I'm like, 'Our lives, the cosmos, are intersecting, and this will bring us closer together again. I have no doubt.'
I feel like I've had bad nights or destructive nights or nights where I don't remember anything or nights where I was seriously injured or seriously in danger. And I remained nihilistic and unconcerned because it felt like there was no alternative.
I hate those articles - this is a pet peeve of mine - like move over X, here's the new Y. And it's just like, X didn't become obsolete because there's a person doing a similar thing. You also don't have to be like the new old-thing, you're just the current you-thing.
Music and musical instruments were proximal to my life from very early on - I took piano lessons for a brief time, but then my dad had a guitar and when he was not playing it, I would pick it up and mess with it. He jokes that I used to complain that it hurt my fingers.
When I talk about what I'm feeling, I can get outside of it and analyze it. I think that process, especially on 'Sprained Ankle,' happened after it was recorded. All of those songs are just documentations of how I felt at that time. I was writing them because I needed to.
My parents were always playing records: My mom was really into the Beatles and Fleetwood Mac, and my dad was more Billy Squire, Whitesnake, '80s hair metal. But I think there's that crucial point where you become an adolescent and you don't want to listen to your parents' music.
If 1,500 people are gonna see me and they each pay $20, I want to give them everything that I possibly can. They just made an exchange that allows me to live a dream of mine since I was a child. And that's not lost on me. So I want to expend every ounce of power and energy I have.
Every girl is a singer. I wanted to learn the solos and play lead guitar. I would meticulously teach myself solos so when dudes were like, 'Oh, you're a girl, you can't play guitar,' I could rip these insane Telecaster blues solos and tell them, 'Yeah, I can burn up a fret board.'
With my first high school band ever, we would have these breaks in the song for idiotic solos, solos that were un-tasteful and would be shredding, but I needed to put them in there, and I realize now it's because we were playing shows with a whole bunch of bands that were all male.
I think it's possible for Tennessee to be flipped to a Democratic majority, which would be beneficial to enacting policies that I would like to see, but beyond party allegiance, we have an opportunity to involve ourselves in change that will empower us not just now but in the future.
Songs like 'Everything To Help You Sleep' or 'Claws in Your Back' took a little bit more grappling with the actual poetry for me to feel comfortable with the song. And there's a little bit more song crafting going on, and I had a specific idea in mind of the imagery I wanted to evoke.
Appointments' is largely just derived from pieces of dialogue with another person, and then also what's going on inside of my own mind, or a person's own mind. They're intended to be a little bit exaggerated and a satire of things that we're not sure are entirely true, or maybe biased.
Some shows feel very reverent - when you're in a seated theater, no one really sings. I love it when people sing! I wish people would sing all the time. Because one of my favorite things when I get to do as a musician is step away from the microphone and listen to everyone sing together.
The more blessings or resources you have at your disposal, the more I become aware of... how should I steward this? It's supposed to be an investment that I can turn around and create art that gives something to other people. Ugh, that sounds like the most Miss America answer of all time.
There are people who are explicit and people who are implicit, right? Like I say, 'I think there is a God,' but I've seen Christian metalcore bands do altar calls at their shows and be like, 'Come get saved right now.' I think there's a subtler way, which is to say I'm being honest with my beliefs.
A lot of artists I like end up being queer. Or maybe it's a subconscious thing that you can identify of, like, 'Oh this person understands the nuances of the romantic narrative of a queer person, or the social narrative of a queer person.' And then you discover, lo and behold that they are a queer person.
One thing I'm super aware of in my music when I'm writing is: 'Am I overcomplicating this?' I'll write a song about some deep existential quandary and explore all these dumb thought waves, and then think 'Is it effective to say that? Or is it effective to say one simple thing that communicates the feeling better?'
I'm not going to force your participation in a conversation, I'm going to say I can be an example that these things can exist and don't have to be mutually exclusive. Like being a queer artist and being a Christian. Those things don't have to be mutually exclusive and I'm just going to be honest about them so that you know.