Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Music for me is a bit more spiritual. There are moments when I'm sitting at my piano, and I don't realize that I've been playing for two hours - it feels like divine power. I know it's so cheesy.
Being in Los Angeles is this brutal awakening, where I feel not good enough as soon as I walk into a room, and I'm wearing the wrong thing, or I don't have enough make up on. It's all about image.
That's why fame freaks me out in a lot of ways - because how genuine of a connection can you have when you're a commodity, and a conversation with you means bragging rights? That's terrifying to me.
Adele shattered the image of how the stereotypical singer is supposed to look. She has that whole 'Screw you, I'm awesome for what I do' attitude, which I really look up to and want to be a part of.
I look up to Tegan & Sara, obviously, Adele and Natalie Maines from the Dixie Chicks. All these artists are strong in their convictions, and they haven't changed who they are for the music business.
As I got older, I fell in love with Radiohead, and 'OK Computer' is one of my favorite albums of theirs. Sonically, the tone of the guitars on tracks like 'Electioneering' just rips right through me.
There is so much shame and guilt in our society, and I think it has deprived a lot of people from living fully. We are all facing battles... We've all had someone who has hurt us. So let's talk about it.
There I am, chain-smoking and watching YouTube videos in my bedroom at 6 A.M. when a spoken-word video comes on the screen. I knew I had to do it: that it was another part of me that needed to be explored.
I wrote the chorus specifically for 'Same Love' as a narration of my story. I decided to release 'She Keeps Me Warm' as an extension of the chorus because I felt like there was more that needed to be said.
My life is going at the speed of light, so it's a lot of just trying... to be present in each moment... Giving each situation and each part of life that space and making sure that it's sacred in every aspect.
I think artists are scared to have same-gendered pronouns in their writing, and I don't think it's because they're scared to be out, because gay artists are visible, but they don't want to alienate an audience.
I'd want it to be really special to both of us, but I'm a huge fan of 'At Last' as a wedding song. But what's also really cool is songs that no one else would have at their wedding, like an obscure Radiohead song.
Yes, I would loved to have just sustained myself through my art, but less than one in a billion musicians gets that life. So rather than being like, 'I'm an exception!', like a moron, I thought I'd get a real job.
I've always had a little bit of darkness, and I've always been someone who was grieving. I had kind of had a tumultuous upbringing living in an abusive home, so for me, writing has always been a point of catharsis.
After a show over the summer, a girl came up to me who was a pastor at her church, which was not accepting of same-sex relationships. She said that 'Same Love' allowed her to come out regardless of the consequences.
I want to go to Italy and France; those are my two places. And I really want to go to Greece. I've seen so many pictures on Airbnb that make me think I should be living there. I could eat great salads and be on a boat.
I'm a big emotional mess. I try to talk about things that people don't like to talk about, especially in music. Hopefully it reaches someone and lets them access their vulnerability. That's what I want it to accomplish.
Self-care is the number one solution to helping somebody else. If you are being good to yourself and your body and your psyche, that that serves other people better because you will grow strong enough to life someone else up.
I used to be on the kitchen floor, crying, wasted and thinking of lyrics. That was the only way I could create - as a tortured artist. I've learned that you can be stable and taking care of yourself and still create beautiful work.
It is a little scary to go across the whole country, and basically the world, and be like, 'What's up? I'm gay, and you should let me get married everywhere.' I don't feel like I'm a spokesperson. I just sing what my experience is.
I knew when I shot the 'She Keeps Me Warm' video that the comments were not going to be homophobic... that they would be about fat-shaming. I'm a large girl making out with somebody. I knew just that sheer fact would set people off.
Before I got on full-time medication, I believed that my mental disorder was the reason I could create so much and create well, because it made me crazy. I could go to these dark places and then come out of it and just be human again.
People are constantly not feeling, but numbing themselves, either through medication or playing on their phones. If you start feeling bad, it's like, 'Distract! Distract! Put on Storage Wars!' And I know because I'm guilty of it, too.
You don't accomplish a lot by changing people's opinions by shoving facts down their throat. I think you change people's opinions by opening your heart up and showing the parallels between you and another person. That's how people's ideas shift.
Going from someone playing 15-people venues to performing at the Grammys, it was this giant leap and sort of showed me it was possible with what I wanted to do and the kind of music I wanted to write and artist I want to be to impact a lot of people.
Growing up, people are like, 'Mary, we'll see you at the Grammys.' You're like, 'I'll be at the Grammys.' Then, you're actually at the Grammys! That actually is happening; it's not just something people are saying because they like your music. It's real!
There's this idea that when you make a certain amount of money that you should be staying at four-star hotels and taking town cars. And believe me, I will take a town car every day, but there are some things where it's like, 'Is this necessary? Is this important?'
I'm not saying everybody has a social responsibility of what art they create, but art should be open-ended. I just feel there's a lack of consciousness and understanding of impact and reach. Just maybe, for a second, just think of the effect you could have with a lyric.
I think no matter how you think about your music, you're ultimately in the music 'business.' I think you have to be business-minded in some sense. And for me, the real goal... is positive intention and social change through music. It doesn't mean that can't turn a profit.
I came out when I was 17. I was in the church; I was crying every Sunday for about a year. I came to terms with the fact with this is who I was - I wasn't going to be able to be a different person. At 17, you feel like a freak already, and so to have that fire and brimstone against your attraction is just screwed up!
I think a lot of us have some form of body dysmorphia... You're looking in the mirror, and you're kind of disassociated in some way. I think a good reminder is to actually, physically touch yourself. 'Ah, okay, this is what my arm feels like. It's not what I'm mutating in my head. I'm not some sort of scary monster.'