Quotes from Blackbear

I was diagnosed with necrotizing chronic pancreatitis, and it definitely put a pause on live performances for a while.

I'm not like any other artist, point blank.

People beat around the bush so much, and I try to be really blunt in my music.

I wanna get backup singers, but I don't think I will ever get backup dancers.

I wanna live long. As long as I can.

I wanted a guitar when I was 4 or 5, and I learned how to play guitar by the time I was 6. Just self-taught.

As soon as I got rich, it was mimosas every morning. I was taking my friends to Six Flags every weekend. We were flying to Hawaii; we did whatever we wanted.

When your best friend dies, and you're crying on the balcony, and TMZ is taking pictures of somebody comforting you saying, 'Ooooo, scandalous' - that's the worst part of fame.

I like to be the captain of my ship and be involved with everything from stage production, merch, art, and rollouts.

Fighting to get up in the morning, fighting to get on stage, fighting to make music that makes people feel good when I don't - that's been a struggle.

I feel like I just learned a whole new world when I was studying under Ne-Yo when I was about 17. I was living on Ne-Yo's manager's couch, making three songs a day.

I was the only real punk rock kid in my school, with, like, the plaid pants and the Rancid t-shirt.

I have several guns. I have several dirt bikes and ATVs, good old country-boy things.

Music's a hobby to me.

I'm an honest person. I've nothing to hide.

I don't really like living in a very small space, like a tour bus, even though I have an amazing tour bus, and I've had multiple tour buses. It's still not a lot of room.

There was a time where I was really confused about who I was and what I was doing, and I was just kind of depressed.

My band got signed in high school when I was 16, and we all dropped out of high school and went on tour. Then I quit the band because I was the manager, and I was doing everything, so I went solo.

The world is changing. I'm trying to adjust to it, just like everyone else.

I respect anybody that is very in tune with their feelings.

I'm somewhat of a perfectionist.

I was kind of a MySpace kid in high school, and people thought since I had so many MySpace friends that they didn't need to be nice to me in real life. They were like, 'You get enough attention online,' or they were jealous or something. I don't really know.

It's important to reinvent yourself often, because if you don't, someone else will and squash you like a bug.

My family was very unsure, and they told me to have a 'plan B' - until I did my publishing deal at 21 for over a million dollars. Then I tattooed my neck to prove I'll never become a lawyer.