Quotes About Artistry

I think have my own style; no one has ever tried playback singing before. I might release a punk rock song that perhaps other won't appreciate, but I like doing my own thing. I make music for my own satisfaction, not for money or fame.

I love pop music. I've tried to always be honest about that.

I've just tried for all of these years to find the best records, the best songs that I could find that fit me, and I've had great people to work with all these years.

You know, when I did 'American Idol' the three times, I tried to tell these kids you have to tell the story of the lyric.

Some people are gonna hate anything; they're gonna hate when anybody tries to go or do anything, and that's usually the people who don't ever create anything themselves.

Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist.

I felt that needed to be addressed: the idea that anything a man tries to do properly or thoroughly is dismissed as either metrosexual or OCD. But why can't you be practical and artistic at the same time, which was considered perfectly normal in the Renaissance?

I think of myself as a guy who tries to write screenplays and now has tried to direct one. Anything more than that is meaningless and it gets in the way of being a real human being.

Drag really isn't just about exaggerating and celebrating femininity. Some drag queens want to look like monsters, some drag queens want to look like hot dogs. Really what it is is just dipping your toes in all the swimming pools of identity and allowing yourself. Because society really tries to compartmentalize humans in a certain way.

A lot of people do talk about the demise of the album, but I still believe that if an artist tries hard to make a great album, people will buy it and listen to it as an album, rather than just a collection of random songs.

When a writer tries to copy another writer, it's doomed to fail.

I don't think anybody really super-consciously tries to develop a style to play.

Everyone tries to compare cooks to rock stars. I see more comparisons to the fashion world.

Adele is selling millions of records, and everybody tries to sing like Adele.

Everything an artist does is scary, but we do it anyway. If someone tries to steer you off-course, push them outta the way and get back on course. Never giving up - that's what I truly believe all the greatest bands have done.

In many parts, I start from the outside and then it triggers things within. For 'The Piano,' I went, 'I'm going to learn these piano pieces. I'm going to learn this sign language, and I'm going to do them all day every day, five days a week.' It was a totally physical thing.

One of the catches with being a dope artist is saying the same exact thing a trillion different ways, and being able to get across somehow differently every time. The way to express maturity and growth and evolution is to do that throughout the music.

I probably could have toured off 'Trilogy' for the rest of my life. It definitely changed the culture. No one can do a trilogy again without thanking The Weeknd.

The Sekrets record is very much me, and Dan's Emergency Room is very much him. And then Alkaline Trio is very much ours.

I've been saying for almost 20 years that I need to do a jazz project and it ought to be either big band or I should do some jazz songs with a trio or quartet.

I've heard some people say that I'm selling out, but I'm not. If I hadn't done 'Black Radio', and just kept on doing just piano trio stuff, I wouldn't be honest with myself; I'd be doing it to please other people. That would be selling out.

I'm in Alkaline Trio; I guess I get to rip off myself. I give myself permission.

I'm releasing a single. It's called 'Live it Up.' It was based on my Euro trip. I only write my own music. I don't let other people write it at all. So I've been working on that a lot. There's three singles coming out. The producer of The Fray who did their double-platinum album 'How to Save a Life,' I'm working with him. He's producing me.

I just love to do the songs, and that's what I'm still about - taking people on a trip. A good trip.