Quotes from Sharon Van Etten

I'm a total goofball.

Noveller make soundscapes that are creepy, ethereal, really beautiful and all over the place. They can be intense, dark, and groovy but also dreamlike and happy.

Half of my anxiety is about whether people are going to like me.

I don't think I'll ever feel perfectly balanced, but I feel like I'm figuring it out, and I'm surrounded by really wonderful people that want to see me succeed and be happy. Life is wild.

I have a day job Monday to Friday. I work at a record label in Brooklyn called Ba Da Bing. It's a great indie label and I listen to music all day. I meet people online and find out about the cool new music blogs.

I believe my songs are strong enough to stand on their own - even way back then when they were recorded badly and minimally.

I hit 'record' whenever I'm going through a really hard time. I don't listen to it for a couple of days, so I have some perspective. If it's too personal to share, and I feel like would alienate the listeners, then I usually don't share that stuff.

I would love to work with PJ Harvey some day.

When I write, it's to heal. It's my own self-therapy so that I don't actually feel sad all of the time.

I started playing, and people responded to it and connected with it and now, I don't even know what I'm really connecting with anymore or if I'm helping people. Now it's more of a business.

People always ask me, 'Why do you only write about heartbreak?' I think I only write when I'm broken, so that's just what happens. It makes me feel better, but having some distance helps.

My friends actually used to call me the 'Female Conor Oberst.' I got to open up with him once, and I told him about that, and he thought it was hilarious.

I'm really out of touch with myself emotionally. I've always had a hard time talking about how I feel.

I'm a really strong person. I've no regrets in my life.

I didn't think I was helping other people. But I think that comes hand in hand with trying to be able to connect with people, and if you make things too personal, then it's harder for people to relate to you. Otherwise, it's just them listening to you read your diary.

When I can write a song in a way where I feel like other people can relate to it, and I can take it past being cathartic just for me, that's when I know I can share it. Otherwise, I'd just feel like it's selfish.

People relate to songs so differently. No matter what it's about in reality, people create their own meaning behind it and connect with it on their own terms.

Hopefully, the stuff that is way too personal that I record and keep - people won't hear it because it's way too personal.

Singing a song like 'Your Love Is Killing Me,' people are worried about me. My mother called me, like, 'What's going on with you? Are you alright? I thought you were doing fine.' And I'm like, 'I am doing fine. It's just, this is what I do.'

Performing a song is intense. When I see people connecting, it makes it all worthwhile.

I'm still learning how to be comfortable touring. I haven't found that balance yet.

I've always been really shy. I was always afraid of any kind of confrontation.

I didn't start writing with band arrangements until I was working on 'Tramp.'

I moved to New York to pursue music.