Coming from Britain, I was terrified of meeting all these other artists, because artists over there tend to fight with each other a lot, the premise being that there's not enough room for everybody.
I have many musical inspirations, but I would really love to just be me. My very own artist.
In the future, I see me as being my own artist and definitely not a ballad singer!
A lot of my favorite artists are fashion icons.
I've been starting in new places year after year after year. It's just like when I went to Greece or the Philippines. I love when people think I'm a new artist. It's a chance to start over.
In my experience, what every true artist wants, really wants, is to be paid.
Work can take on a new dimension if you know something about the artist.
I think I've grown a lot in the last few years, and I needed to express myself as an artist on this. It wasn't necessarily about going in and making an album chocked full of hit singles... there were a lot of things I did out of the joy and the want to do it.
Artists who write songs... what they're going through usually comes through in their music.
I never hung around people who took hard drugs, and much less hung around artists who took hard drugs. All I know is that people should listen to their bodies more. The body is a temple. We aren't here forever. Take care of that space suit and make the best of it till the wheels fall off.
What you have to go through to release a film is probably the most arduous set of tasks - compared to all the other things an artist can release, it's probably the most labor - intensive, especially if you don't have any money and not a large team.
I think that I'm not really preoccupied with my identity or what I am as an artist and how that can be wrapped up in medium. I just think about whatever project it is that I'm doing.
The internet is about popularity. It is a medium to spread my popularity as an artist.
Make this decision today. Will you be a good and honest writer, or would you rather be famous, loved, noticed? Tell me, because there are different paths for these two divergent goals. The decision to be a true artist is lonelier and slower, but it will lead to better work and, I think, a better life. Very rarely you will be a good and honest writer and also know a little comfort and some attention and the well wishes of a crowd. This is very rare.
For me, I don't really feel like I have any particular main influences or artists that I pull from; it's more of an underlying effect of such a big range of music that I love and I identify with - and all of that plays into what I do in minimal ways. I just really try to make music that reflects my identify, which is hard to pin down and is a lot of different things. I strive to make music that is hard to describe and meshes a lot of different genres, with the vocals being the thing that ties it all together.
They told me that they are starting a classic label, and wanted me to be the first artist. So I signed, and am producing myself, and writing my own music, but I'm their first artist on their classic label. And I have creative control.
I can’t really trip about people not knowing, I guess in due time, all in God speed. But some amazing music I have is from artists that people really don’t know. It’s like, some things are really a gift, and if that’s not meant to be, hey I can live with that.
I think that most successful artists - not always, but a lot of them, in any field - have business savvy as well and have some sense of marketing acumen. I think the key is to be good enough at it that it doesn't overwhelm your aesthetic interests, but have just enough that you make smart decisions.
Most artists never get a chance to be Picasso, but that doesn't mean you would stop painting.
I think all artists need to try to improve, or their work gets stale.
Despite the fact that I trust the people at major labels who tell me that they want to offer me a home as a "stable artist," who can just do what he does for the long haul, time has shown that it rarely works out that way - the bottom line is the bottom line, not mention the threat of mergers and firings and whatnot, and people get dropped.
I don't really have a favorite artist - I mean, I really love Drake - but it depends on my mood. I like anything that makes me feel good.
I think that when you're making your way up in the music industry you have all these heroes and the reasons why they are your heroes. As soon as you get into the industry your guidelines change a little bit. For me, my heroes now are great people first and great artists second.
The words. I love words. I love to write. Being an artist is what I love.
There's so much about Dolly Parton that every female artist should look to, whether it's reading her quotes or reading her interviews or going to one of her live shows. She's been such an amazing example to every female songwriter out there.
