music quotes

Anything that encourages people to pick up an instrument and play, I’m fully behind.

I look out at the stadiums full of people and see them all knowing the words to songs I wrote. And curling their hair! I remember straightening my hair because I wanted to be like everybody else, and now the fact that anybody would emulate what I do? It’s just funny. And wonderful.

The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.

When I’m 40 and nobody wants to see me in a sparkly dress anymore, I’ll be like: ‚Cool, I’ll just go in the studio and write songs for kids.‘

Sitting on a bedroom floor crying is something that makes you feel really alone. If someone’s singing about that feeling, you feel bonded to that person.

I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Martin forever; it’d be awesome to work with him. He’s really kind, and he’s been really encouraging when we’ve met.

I find in my poetry and prose the rhythms and imagery of the best – I mean, when I’m at my best – of the good Southern black preachers. The lyricism of the spirituals and the directness of gospel songs and the mystery of blues are in my music or in my poetry and prose, or I missed everything.

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

Speaking purely from a musical standpoint, I think I am a great performer.

The vibe on ‚Starboy‘ comes from that hip-hop culture of braggadocio, from Wu-Tang and 50 Cent, the kind of music I listened to as a kid.

I’ve rarely seen video screens used well in a music concert.

When we’re falling in love or out of it, that’s when we most need a song that says how we feel. Yeah, I write a lot of songs about boys. And I’m very happy to do that.

For the chorus of ‚Secrets,‘ we used The Romantics‘ ‚Talking in Your Sleep‘ and ‚Pale Shelter‘ by Tears for Fears. It’s like hip-hop: just grab it.

I just love Bowie. I think he’s the ultimate inventor.

I don’t want to make niche-oriented music.

I have never used Auto-Tune in a live television performance, and I have never used Auto-Tune in any of my concerts. That is a promise.

I want my fans to love themselves. It’s almost like I want to hypnotize them so when they hear my music they love themselves instantly.

I don’t think I’d ever apologise for music I make, no.

How I love David Bowie.

One of my big fears is people saying my songs are all starting to sound the same.

I’ve noticed a lot of younger artists have less fear of doing different sorts of things, whether it’s various types of music, or gallery artists moving between video and sculpture and drawing.

Anybody that doesn’t like Cardi B a hater!

It’s kind of exhilarating, walking through a crazy, insane mob. The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.

Even though I’ve been putting out bodies of work for years, ‚Beauty Behind the Madness‘ felt like the beginning.

My experience with songwriting is usually so confessional, it’s so drawn from my own life and my own stories.

Life is a song to me.

I really am a fan of Ye’s music.

You go to a festival, you know you’re not going to play all new material at a festival. The audience is not there for that. I’ve made that mistake, but you find out pretty quickly.

It’s important to love in hip hop.

Music has to be sort of ignorable sometimes.

My nails are my rhythm section when I’m writing a song all alone. Some day, I may cut an album, just me and my nails.

I’m a songwriter. Everything affects me.

As a songwriter, you respect and appreciate the writings of other people, and I often get asked, are there songs out there I wish I’d written? Yes. There’s many of them!

When I was in high school, there were these British blues-rock-type bands with really good guitar players that would jam on one song for half an hour. And as much as I was amazed by some of those guitar players, seeing them prompted me to make a note that that’s not something I could do.

I love story songs because I’ve always loved books.

I remember talking with Arcade Fire after their first record, when they were getting all kinds of offers from major labels, and I don’t think I gave them any advice. They survived that whole onslaught pretty well anyway without me.

My music is influenced by L.A. culture.

I was a strange, loud little kid who could sit at the piano and kill a Beethoven piece.

I love the song ‚I Hope You Dance‘ by Lee Ann Womack. I was going to write that song, but someone beat me to it.

I consider myself to have one of the greatest voices in the industry.

I was 14, and I fell in love with Pink Floyd.

In a certain way, it’s the sound of the words, the inflection and the way the song is sung and the way it fits the melody and the way the syllables are on the tongue that has as much of the meaning as the actual, literal words.

‚Jolene‘ has been very popular all of these years, even overseas.

The game is changing with songs like ‚Earned It‘ as opposed to it changing me.

People like music when they’re in love, but they don’t need it as much. You need music when you’re missing someone or you’re pining for someone or you’re forgetting someone or you’re trying to process what just happened.

When I’m writing a record, I kind of don’t listen to much music. Just because I want to be inspired solely on the emotion; just based on how it feels.

I always wanted to operate at the highest altitude, just in terms of hip-hop and the music.

The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.

I’m working on my life story. I’m not decided if it’s going to be a musical or a movie with music in it.

From the beginning of my rap career, since I was seen and heard, I always had a store.

I really love the culture of hip-hop.

I just want to keep writing music.

I decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn’t want any money from them. I got three jobs and I just hit the ground running.

Doing music to pay bills is an uncomfortable situation. I never wanted to be in that situation.

I often get ideas for songs on the tour bus at odd times. Like at 6am when no one is around, I’d just write.

A chorus is not easy.

Compton got such a legacy in hip-hop.

The first rap CD that I had, it was so different for me. The energy, the wordplay, all that caught my attention, and I liked it.

I’d like to do a completely off-the-wall collaboration. I would like one of my songs to be the hook to a rap song. That would be so much fun!

But, I’ve always loved John Mayer and I think T-Pain is brilliant.