Quotes About Originality

I wrote a 20-page document, before I was ever hired, on exactly how the visuals of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' would be approached, how we'd look at creating a new type of space epic. That's exactly what the movie is today - absolutely everybody has adhered to that original document.

I was always creative with the artwork. Always creative with the visuals. That's what made me standout.

I'm not in the business of adapting things that are popular for the sake of just getting it on the screen. I think there has to be a vital reason.

Confidence is vital to pushing creativity and creating a point of difference.

You know, rock n' roll's an old carcass: it's one big cliche. It's so difficult to do anything that has any sense of freshness or vitality or meaning. But that's what I'm trying to do, to give it new meaning.

An artist sees that which does not yet exist. He or she imagines a future others cannot perceive. The artist - and the writer - reshapes reality so that it becomes even more vivid and lasting.

Everything is organic. I got the wordplay, I got the vocabulary to really, really rap.

A lot of people who make films in my generation have the vocabulary of all the films they've seen before.

I can't tell you how many things I've worked on where I sat on it for a few years, and then somebody else did something very similar. Whether it's some weird vocal effect you hear on another record, or a drum beat, or even a song title, a subject matter, or a mixture of different kinds of music.

I'm always vocal about people being unique and different in hip-hop.

I never start a song at the beginning; I always start in the middle, working with the original concept. That might be a loop or a vocal hook. A weird noise or a string sample. Once that's at the heart of the song, I work concertina-fashion, expanding the song forwards to the end and backwards to the beginning.

You can't imitate; all our faces are constructed differently... and the vocal cords; otherwise, we'd all sound alike. I don't think anybody should ever teach by imitating.

When I listen to the radio, I just hear so much music that doesn't even sound like people. The vocals are all tuned, and the drums are all fake.

The thing I find frustrating about rock music is, how different can you make an acoustic drum kit sound, an electric guitar and vocals?

Technically, a Ghost song could just be piano and vocals, but it could also be full, pounding, heavy-thrashing hard rock.

My production and songwriting and the environment around those vocals are not inspired by R&B at all.

I pride myself on having a really authentic music sound: no gimmicks, just my vocals.

For 'The Anthem,' a lot of my fans were like 'Oh, man, he's getting lazy making just, like, a pop format tune that everyone's doing these days.' But on this album, I wanted to write songs with vocals that would get stuck in my head, not just movements of instrumentals.

If you are blessed with good vocals then it doesn't mean you start picking up anyone's song and start singing it. You should sing less but with quality.

I've always felt that if one was going to take seriously this vocation as an artist, you have to get beyond that decorative facade.

Other people's films are like a cocktail, a little alcohol with water and juice. My films are like pure vodka.

People ask me 'Why you want to do another magazine - 10 years at 'Vogue,' a great magazine? Why do you want to make a new one? It's so difficult and there's already so many.' I wanted to do something new, bring a new vision.

You can't put yourself into competition with a magazine like 'Vogue.' You have to create something new, something different.

I think there's much more fashion competition in the more junior levels of the fashion department. And that's exciting and stimulating to see, because it's 'Vogue;' it's great to see people dressed originally and with great style and panache. It wouldn't be 'Vogue' otherwise.