Quotes About Authenticity

The story of American pop music is the story of failure. The blues, country music, it's not the story of success. People don't win; they lose.

My goal really was to make pop music feel as human as possible.

I am not trying to be cooler or change my image or get into pop music.

I don't have to, like, try to come out with pop music because I feel that that's gonna make me sell a lot more. I mean, I make the music I love to make and that's it.

There are so many amazing out, gay, black artists who are really great in their own fields, but they aren't necessarily trying to make pop music. I guess my thing is different because I am trying to be part of that world. But doing it my way.

It's so easy for me to do a boy-bashing pop song, but to sit down and write honestly about something that's really close to me, something I've been through, it's a totally different thing.

I'm not the best at choosing what's good and what's bad. I wouldn't even know what's a good pop song and what's a bad one. With that said, I wanted to say what's true to me. Some people might say that the Skrillex record was pop, but that was just about the chemistry between me and my boy.

I'm an older woman who's not going to have a shiny pop song ever again, so that gives me license to do whatever the hell I want.

I've done bits of writing for other people but when I'm writing music as Years & Years, I'm using my life and my stories and my experiences. I want it to be authentic and real but also to work as a pop song - I never want to just put in a cheesy line.

I'm not the ideal pop star, not what you see on TV. I look like I could be your best friend.

I'm not doing this to be a pop star. I've had plenty of money and attention. I'm doing it for credibility.

You can't be an openly gay movie star. You can't be an openly gay pop star, really - minus Ricky Martin.

I've always gone back and forth between acting and music, but for music I'm not trying to be a pop star - I just like to do it.

It's no good singing if you just want to be a pop star; you've got to work at it and do it for the love for it, not because you think it will make you famous.

I think, especially in pop culture, we're brought up to think that a normal pop star is this pretty, well-kept-together girl.

I'm not a pop star. I don't feel like one. I'm always joking that I'm actually an eight-year-old boy dreaming about being a pop star.

I need all of my songs while I'm writing them, because I need to get the stuff out of my body and out of my brain. I write out of necessity, not because I want to be a pop star.

You better believe I'm not a pop star.

I'm not a shiny pop star.

In front of a big group of people, in front of cameras, to be in my body and be in that moment, I feel the way that I've always wanted to feel - like a real pop star who is not holding anything back.

I'm a rock/blues guitar player. I'm not wanting to be a pop star or anything.

I'm a little bit more proud of Solange. She chose to do it her way. Because in the beginning, we wanted to mold her into this pop star, and that is not who she is. And we were wrong. I was wrong, the record labels were wrong... She wanted to do it her own way, and she did.

I always felt in my band and in the pop-rock format that I wasn't weird enough, that I wasn't standing out enough. Wearing things to get people's attention - I didn't want to do any of that. I didn't want to compromise myself.

I went through all these different phases in my life. And now, I'm finally in a place where I know who I am; I just needed that extra push. I feel really, really good in the position I'm in right now, and I don't feel like I completely neglected my pop-rock sound: I was able to bring it in with my country roots.