Quotes from Jens Lekman

The whole thing with playing on a stage with mics and all that has always been kind of uncomfortable to me.

Hmm... at some point when I was making 'Postcards,' it struck me, what the underlying themes for the record would be. It would be about choices, fears and doubts, and it had an existentialist theme to it.

I think of the Jens Lekman in the songs as a completely different person who's stealing my stories.

I really love the idea of stepping into another character and being able to sing maybe stuff that is not my thought and my own opinions, but be able to portray someone else and take a walk in their shoes for a while.

There's so much nostalgia for music from the past.

I've established a certain voice over my albums. It can be an obstacle, but in the end, I think it's a strength, because I can build upon that voice, which is ultimately very much mine.

I think when you get into your 30s, you start to realize all of the patterns you have in your life and all of the stuff that you're avoiding. It's a terribly unsung period in people's lives. I can't think about many artists who have sung about it, because it's so not sexy.

Goteborg used to be a not very cool place to live. The culture centered around shrimp and bingo. Bands played Copenhagen and Stockholm and skipped Goteborg.

I think sometimes when I sit down to write a song, it doesn't come out naturally, but when you are writing an email to someone, especially if you are writing to a stranger, you write much more spontaneously, and it's freer.

Older men in my family - back to my grandpa - were basically completely bald.

Summer is always best through a window.

I realized that even though I had this urge, this longing, to write about other people, in order for it to be emotionally gripping, I needed to be in there somehow.

I realized I needed to work with other people instead of doing everything myself.

I struggled with a lot of doubts around my songwriting and around what I was and what my purpose and mission were.

Nirvana was a band that led you somewhere, as opposed to all the grunge bands that began and ended with themselves.

I really do believe in clearing samples, and I believe that people should be compensated for them, but the laws are just so stupid.

My aim is for every song to have a purpose - for you to be able to say, 'This song is about this.' But love and heartbreak are some of the most abstract subjects.

I think there are definitely a lot of subjects I don't share with people, but I'm not sure where that border is.

You always try different versions of yourself through songwriting. It can get a bit annoying to see them walk around and do their thing when you feel like, 'I'm not that person any more.'

Australia's beautiful, but I'm not too into Australian culture.

It's good to let go of control. That's probably something all artists and song writers will say at some point.

Making albums is a very lonely process sometimes. Sitting around working on songs, feeling the pressure.

A lot of my songs are written prophetically: I write something, and then I make it happen.