Quotes from Julia Holter

'Maxim's' was supposed to be on 'Ekstasis,' but it was very much in its own world.

The meaning of the words in my songs are very important to me. But what's most important to me is that the music works.

I don't ever like to see paparazzi much, but I have seen them, and I guess anyone who's seen them knows how scary they are.

If you've ever seen paparazzi go after a celebrity, it's really freaky.

I usually like to hide my vocals behind the music. I don't like to hide them consciously, but I have a tendency to prefer the vocal at the same level as everything else and put lots of reverb on it.

I love '80s beats; everyone does.

One thing I do like about L.A. is the fact that you can be - whether you're famous or it's just a matter of, like, seeing people you know all the time on the street, you can be pretty anonymous and walk around and, like, not run into people, because it's such a big city and because a lot of people drive.

I listen to the timbre of the music, and I fit my voice to blend with that timbre.

A lot of my personal life feels very separate from my music.

I just always make honest music. I just always kinda do what I wanna do.

I think my music is experimental, playful, challenging, focused, fun. I don't want it to be thought of as trying to appeal to a certain type of person or being very cerebral.

I was in school for four years writing music to please my teachers. That was not music I liked. And when I make music that isn't for something I want to make, and it's to please other people, it's - the outcome is really bad.

For me, the poetic decisions tend to be calculated, and the musical decisions inspired by the poetic decisions are free.

I thought I was gonna get a doctorate in composition or be a composer and be at a university for the rest of my life, mostly because my parents are academics, and that was the logical thing to do.

The classic problem in a relationship is a person trying to control the other person. People just want to conquer somebody.

I don't think I'll ever become a pop star.

I was pretty scared of the idea as a younger person of being a musician on the road. It didn't occur to me as a possibility.

I don't consider myself supremely talented, but I really like to try things and sift through it and see what mess I made.

You can have an Internet presence, but it doesn't mean anyone has any idea who you are or what you look like. Which is great.

If I'm kind of sad or depressed, it doesn't necessarily help me to write a song about exactly what I'm depressed about.

Green tea is my main source of caffeine, so I drink it every day.

When I'm depressed is when I'm not interested in writing anything, whereas some people, I think, are spurred to creativity through their personal experiences and through depression. And for me, it's a very low place, and it's not fruitful.

It's so hard to know where you belong, ever. You have to be yourself and let yourself fall wherever you fall.

I usually work in a room which is totally cluttered with my mess, and there's stuff everywhere, and it's kind of chaotic because I am a very messy person. I could totally write in a pristine environment, but it would mean I would have to be at someone else's house.