Quotes About Self-expression

I don't leave the house without thinking of how to represent myself.

I'm not totally blind to the fact that I like people to see my work, but if it's not something I would enjoy seeing in a magazine, then I think I shouldn't be making it. I think that I don't represent only myself, I represent more people; I mean, if I like it, then I think more people will like it because I think I'm quite a normal guy.

You cannot represent cool. You've got to be cool. You've got to be authentic. I think, after all these years, that is how I define cool. It is being authentic. That is powerful.

I don't think I represent some new category. I think I do represent kind of a freethinker.

I am a woman. I go on set, and I'll be who I am, and I'll represent who I am. I think it comes with age.

Deciding to not attach ourselves to something that doesn't appropriately represent us is extremely powerful.

I feel like the 'Supernova' record, those songs are very me. It's a more honest representation of me than any record I have made prior to that.

As much as I think that in the future we won't need labels, at the moment they're really important. So I'm making myself embrace that. I truly am proud to be queer. Even watching 'Queer Eye' is something that inspired me to say that. So that's the power of representation.

I think that there's not always been queer person of color representation in pop and so I'm making the most of it because that is who I am.

My character is very organic and an authentic representation of who I am as a person at the time. As a 28-year-old, I'm different as a man than I was as an 18-year-old. As you grow as a human being, the character evolves.

I am not a representative of anything. I have my opinions.

I do want to be a representative of the African community, and I want to hold myself and dress myself in a way that reflects that. I want black kids to see me and think, 'Okay, he's carrying himself as a black man, and that's how a black man should carry himself.'

I think that was my biggest fear - censoring myself and putting myself into a cookie cutter to be representative. But I think what I realised is we don't need that.

I always told my representatives, 'Look, I come from the 'School of Janet' - that's my mom - she raised me to know that I'm more than just set dressing.

What I've noticed about Hollywood is, if you go out there shouting about who you are, they will love you for it. But if you go out not knowing what it is that you're representing, and you are just a canvas, they will make you into the thing they need you to be.

All I have to do is to do my thing. I don't have to talk about it like, 'Oh, I'm representing for Asians.' I'm just... doing it.

Music is about self-expression and representing the times, and I think fashion is the same. It took me a long time to find my own style, both in terms of fashion and music.

In drama school, they do these big shows and period dramas, and I felt that none of those shows were representing me as a person, and I knew I wouldn't be cast in any of those when I left school. I decided to write my own one-woman show, and that was called 'Chewing Gum Dreams.'

If you want to edit your photos and make yourself look different, go for it. That is up to you, but in my opinion, you should always post things that you think do a good job at representing who you are.

At the end of the day, me representing myself shouldn't be a big deal.

I think it's about creating a brand for yourself and making sure that you're known, and that people know you for who you are. How do you do something that represents you and translates everything that you represent as a person and as a player? I think that's something that we all develop.

Actually, I don't think there's anyone that represents the artists, except the artists themselves.

As an artist, what you do represents who you are. Coming from a genuine, honest place - that's what I'm trying to do.

We decided to self-title it '5 Seconds of Summer' because it really represents who we are and who we want to be as a band. Working on the different songs - writing, recording and watching them all come together - has been one of the most incredible experiences we've had as musicians and we are so proud of how it has turned out.