Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I just like stuff that's raw, itself, real and genuine. I think that's the way art should be. That's the kind of stuff that people can connect to more.
You're taught that it's not very likely for you to become successful... that odds are you're going to be a struggling artist for the rest of your life.
I never had any technical training. I never considered that, one day, I'm going to be Beyonce like a lot of girls aspire to be. It just kind of happened.
As female artists, we have to be constantly criticized for the way that we look, the way that we dress, on a whole other level that men don't have to face.
I'm constantly trying to look at things from a different view and to put myself into some new perspectives to evolve myself, grow myself, and reinvent myself.
Some of my writing is very subconscious, and that's definitely what happened with 'Body Language' - I looped some basic bossa nova sounds and just started singing.
If my life is a movie - in the movie, there's always the bad part. There's also the parts where you're down and out, and there are parts where everything's amazing.
When you're an artist, you're working, literally, for the sole purpose of art, and when people discredit you, it's probably the most disrespectful thing you can do.
I've always been someone who, without wanting to or without trying to, I draw attention to myself sometimes in negative ways. It made me sharp, and it made me quick.
I didn't want to go to school, because I wanted to be an artist, and they were never going to teach me art. None of my family had ever done that kind of stuff either.
You can consciously make a difference with music. Bob Marley is one of those few artists that everyone can say that they love. He makes you feel good. It's very real.
I was really grateful for the photography classes, the art classes, and the video classes. They would let me skip all my other classes and stay and work on my projects.
I'm into crystals and good energy and harnessing more. It's just like prayer. It helps you be grateful, think about good things, and keep that positive energy around you.
It's difficult as an artist sometimes. There's a lot of pressure when it's your first album. You want to make something that's meaningful and timeless, not something that's trendy.
I'm Colombian. My family all have different complexions; some are people of color. I've been called every name by white people, been mocked for speaking in Spanish by white people.
There's no particular method or course of action that I take in order to decide who I'm going to work with besides feeling complete and total respect and admiration for that artist.
A lot of people were getting million-dollar deals from music I felt was trash, because their videos were going viral. I wanted to put out music that had soul, because that's what was missing.
Colombian culture has had a huge influence on me and taught me a different way of looking at things - I was always different from the people I went to school with, and I learned to embrace that.
Being able to incorporate my language into songs is really cool. It's really cool to see that people are susceptible to it. It helps with writing a lot to turn off one language and then go to another.
The reason I made my stage name Kali Uchis is because it's still me in the sense that, my dad called me 'Kali Uchis' my whole life. It's still something I've been called since I was a baby. It's still me.
You're always taught that the world is so competitive. You're taught that it's not very likely for you to become successful and that odds are you're going to be a struggling artist for the rest of your life.
I grew up being very different and being ready to fight people. I wanted to stand up for myself, and I wanted to not let anyone think they know me based on appearances, so I was always just fighting back with people.
When I got my MacBook, I started playing around with Garageband a lot. It was just a creative outlet. I put everything into it. I would skip all my classes just to be making my songs. Stuff like that made me feel good.
My first relationship was from when I was about 15 to 19. My second relationship was kind of like a rebound, but also a really important part of my journey - he was very emotionally manipulative and just wanted me to be an accessory.
I wasn't into social media at all, but when I decided I was going to put out my own music, I said, 'Okay, I'm just going to post it.' And that's when it started its rounds on the Internet, and people started to take an interest in me.
My sun and my moon signs are mostly Cancer - it's really strong. We're deeply intuitive and sentimental. I really like to take care of people, nurturing them. I'm very passionate about the things I do and like to see people I love grow.
I'm naturally sort of a sad person, and that comes out in my music, but when I realized how many people were listening to it... I wanted to be a little more conscious about what I was putting out and what people were going to be taking from it.
As an artist, you have to work hard for things that you can't really hold in your hand. I work not for money but for my career, to expand myself as an artist. Every video I make, it's not making me any money; it's just because I want to expand.
Juanes is one of the legendary, iconic Colombian artists. Growing up in Colombia, you can't really not have him on your radar. His songs are everywhere, and there's a statue of him. He's pretty big for Latin America, and for Colombia especially.
I've done my own videos, I do my own styling, so I feel like I've just always been a visual artist... I was one of those kids who wanted to make my own clothes and take pictures of everything. Everything inspired me, and everything felt like art around me.
I don't really use any face products anymore because they make me break out. I like natural remedies. I usually put honey on my face. Sometimes, I put sugar in it so it's an exfoliant, too. I add raw coconut oil, which is good as a face wash and a moisturizer.
The first time I did a show, I definitely didn't get any money. My friend just let me do this show. I was so nervous: my mic didn't work, and I was like, 'Urgh.' It was terrible. It was a dingy club off of the highway, but all these people came. It was packed out.
I was one of those people at one point who was scared to put my foot down and show where the boundaries were. For me, it's really important to stand your ground and know exactly what you are, where you wanna be, and what you're doing, or else people are gonna try you.
When I was 18 or 19, I realized that everything I was doing was connected to music - writing, doing videos, making my clothes. It all centered around being an artist. So I released a mixtape that I made in my bedroom, and it ended up getting a lot more attention than I expected.
The people, the culture... there's so much magic in Colombia, so I feel like being a kid, being able to have that, being able to also call Colombia my home, it was such an important part of my introduction as an artist, too, because it's such a big part of my life as a human being.
I don't like to see people using their power over others, trying to hurt people who are weak or poor or people with darker skin or anyone who doesn't have as much privilege. It makes me so angry. I want to fight for people. I want to be able to make some kind of difference in the world.
We're all born into whatever citizenship, circumstances, or class we happen to be born into. Immigrants and so many people in the working class work so hard every day for nickels and pennies and scraps to just barely get by and then realize that this precious life has been completely drained out of us.
Back in the day, I used to get really upset when people used to say that I didn't really make all my own things - like my art or my videos or whatever. I work really hard on everything, so it used to upset me when people would try to discredit me or say that I wouldn't have what I had without this person or that person.
My dad's job was to manage apartment complexes, so when people would move out or when people would die or whatever, people left things in their apartments, he would always bring me home people's collection of music that they left behind. I was excited because I didn't really have money to go to the CD store all the time.
I was a very creative child. I played the saxophone and piano, and I was always writing poetry and stories, or drawing in my notebook. I just tried to express myself through as many creative outlets as possible. And in high school, I started to get really into photography and videography and would spend hours working on it.
I was kicked out of the house, and I was really difficult as a kid. I'm happy it happened because I was able to grow so much from it, you know? It's always hurtful to feel that you can't be on the same page with people that you love as much as your family. Sometimes they don't know how to deal with all the things that are coming at them.