Quotes from Julien Baker

I adopted this idea whether I was going to end up making music for three people in a bar or Wembley Stadium, I was always going to do music.

There are people I haven't seen for a year and we will do a show or something and when we hang out it'll be this instant endearment. I'm like, 'Our lives, the cosmos, are intersecting, and this will bring us closer together again. I have no doubt.'

I played with a band, and the lead singer would always introduce me as 'the 13-year-old lead guitarist.' I didn't want to be a novelty, like 'Oh, she has three arms! Check her out.' But I've learned to accept it as more of a compliment.

Especially with women in music there is this unnecessary competitive element. And, like, why? Why do people do things where they try to put peers up against each other?

The more blessings or resources you have at your disposal, the more I become aware of... how should I steward this? It's supposed to be an investment that I can turn around and create art that gives something to other people. Ugh, that sounds like the most Miss America answer of all time.

There are a bunch of talented bands out there... So yeah, I often think, 'Why aren't these people onstage and why do I have a microphone?'

Connecting with people who are able to maintain a sense of humility is really useful.

Spotify stresses me the hell out.

I can make a record with six-part string arrangements and the best musicians in the world and have it be not genuine. I'd rather make a genuine record that I truly stand behind and have it fall where it may.

Painting with broad strokes, I feel like a lot of journalism makes it out to be like the collective consciousness has a finite imagination for multiple women at one time in a similar genre.

If 1,500 people are gonna see me and they each pay $20, I want to give them everything that I possibly can. They just made an exchange that allows me to live a dream of mine since I was a child. And that's not lost on me. So I want to expend every ounce of power and energy I have.

It's super cool to me when my manager screencapped Sharon Van Etten saying my album is great on Twitter and I about cried 'cause she's a hero. And that led to... I got to have lunch with her! I got to meet a hero!

I like Telecasters because they are so versatile.

There are so many people in Memphis who have real reasons to be angsty, but I was just a suburban white kid with all this misplaced rage.

I was a very emotional teenager. But I wish that I could tell myself that I matter more than I think. Things are a bigger deal than I think they are, but they're also not as big a deal as I think they are. My mistakes are not the end of the world.

My music is not always about getting my ideas heard, it's about letting other people feel empowered to have their ideas heard by example.