Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I'm talented in other places, not only in songwriting, but music is always going to be the backdrop to whatever happens in life.
Spiritually, I just have an innate feeling about things and individuals in life and I'm touched in that way that I can't explain.
I got fed up with the idea of partnering with labels on a major scale because of how they have to deliver things. They get gun-shy.
People aren't really honest with themselves about anything. That's one of the reasons why we ended up with Trump in the White House.
There are certain people who respect me in the dark. Some people who don't know me are afraid to say, 'What you doin' is kind of incredible.'
I used to draw cars when I was growing up. I wanted to be a car designer. I've never been professionally taught. It's something that comes and goes.
One thing is relationships: Don't get in a relationship if you're going to leave a man if he cheats on you. Because 99% of the time he's going to cheat.
Whether I'm working with a Top 40 artist or crafting my own music, it goes back to one thing: telling a powerful story and having that story resonate with people.
If I do five, six records that sound great, I want it to come out as fast as it can. I don't care how many copies it sells. It's about musically moving the needle.
I have a problem with men that are supposed to be R&B artists that talk about women in a certain way, because you're supposed in the cornerstone of uplifting love in a sense.
Rhythm and blues is about what life is, it's about being able to talk heartbreak and understanding that people go through it, not about this fantasy in how much you're spending.
I'm a vulnerable guy, which is always been there, you know? Like, most of the time I put myself in positions where I am vulnerable, because I don't think you're living unless you do.
Money affects everything, from who I'm with to what label I'm on, so everything I do now is about protecting it. But I didn't understand how powerfully that would affect my home life.
I grew up looking at the Grammys. It was a childhood infatuation with these people walking around with gold statues. I felt like they were the best, and that's why I started working so hard.
People are so over what they did yesterday, they don't even sit and discuss what made it a great time. They'd have to be reminded by their Instagram, after 52 weeks, and it's like 'Oh, I remember that now.'
I think The Weeknd is an incredible melodically driven artist. People often say to me that he sounds a lot like what I do, and I'm sure that the influence is there. But he's not me, nor is he trying to be me.
I want people to dance. I want people to feel good. You went to work, you feel bad - come here, feel good, dance. Don't leave the club feeling worse than you did before you got there! That's what music used to be for.
My days, sometimes, it's just about work. I'm not thinking about taking a picture in the studio, and I don't have the time to stop being creative to stop and post on Instagram. That's not a part of my creative process.
I was playing a lot of Coldplay before the world knew who I was, before anybody knew my 'Umbrella' song. Those songs still stick in my head. I just love it. It's without pop culture, it's just a song. It's just singing.
Politics changes music most of the time. Ronald Reagan - you can kind of say that he made hip-hop what it was by the embargoes that he set. Certain things that he did created N.W.A in a way. Politics has always done that.
I really love customising certain songs for certain people. No matter what weight that comes with it - whether it comes with it not being a number one on the Top 100 or whatever. I'd rather write someone a career defining record.
When the Atlanta Braves were owned by Ted Turner, he was very passionate and did whatever it took to do something good - and eventually he made money. Labels used to be the same way. Now they're corporations, and it's only about their stock.
It takes a lot to put a 5-piece band on, even though we need it. We need those harmonies; I need those four background singers - not because I can't sing but because I need to relay the message of what the song is emotionally, or the feeling, period.
Some people aren't smart enough to understand the intellectual part of a being. That's why as a 30-year-old you don't have a conversation with a 15-year-old. I don't dine with 15-year-olds and talk about life. Our experiences are completely different.
What I want to do is to create a conversation piece and something people remember. I want to make it repetitive enough but not use what I call 'thin thinking' - the kind of thing anyone can do. A hook tells me what you are talking about and it doesn't have to be a lot of words.
I love Kanye. He's literally the only person that challenges me. He has an overwhelming love for music also, and that's why he's misunderstood. The boy is a genius. You can be mad all you want, but he loves what you listen to more than you love it. When he lost his mom I cried.
When I used to work my 9 to 5, I used to go to this abandoned house down the street. It was for sale, but nobody knew it. It was a mansion. Every day, or at least four days out the week, I would just stand on the porch of the house for like a year straight. That was around 2001 or 2002.
My gears that I have to go through... One minute in my mind to be Beyonce and one minute to be Rihanna and one second to do a hook for Kanye and then have to write records for myself. I'm so many people, I'm never just one person. So I don't have to reinvent because artists around me reinvent for me.
To somebody else saying all I need is 10 million dollars, then I've probably made it. But there are Paul McCartneys walking around with $500 million catalogs. That's pretty much what I want. And that's just music. That doesn't even include directing and writing of movies and all of the other things that I want to go on to do. So I have a big dream.
I think the emotion that song carries makes it good. Because you have to produce around something - an emotional attachment and a feeling. The melody itself has a feeling in it. The keys, the tones, frequency, sonics, all of those have feelings in it. Like, it's the ghost within, the music itself. That's what makes the song even have a possibility of being great. The emotional connection. Because if you don't have that, I don't think you really have a song.