I'm getting bored performing the same songs over and over. Songwriting comes and goes.
All the records I keep are like friends I visit.
I have this red cardigan that my friend Coco gave me that has holes for thumbs. It's my cozy sweater. I wear it a lot.
I wanna grow and develop as an artist, and I feel like different kinds of collaborations can only help me in that way.
I'm really out of touch with myself emotionally. I've always had a hard time talking about how I feel.
Half of my anxiety is about whether people are going to like me.
In 2015, I told my band that I was taking a break so I could focus on my home life, go back to school, and try to remember what it was like to feel like a human being again.
I definitely wouldn't consider myself a professional, but I like to dress up like one.
I used to work at a label. I used to be a publicist. I used to be at a management company.
Singing a song like 'Your Love Is Killing Me,' people are worried about me. My mother called me, like, 'What's going on with you? Are you alright? I thought you were doing fine.' And I'm like, 'I am doing fine. It's just, this is what I do.'
I was pretty troubled for a long time. And I didn't know that. As a kid, I never talked about my emotions. My mom gave me a journal, but I didn't know what it meant. I just wrote all the time, not even thinking about it. But it also made me feel better.
People always ask me, 'Why do you only write about heartbreak?' I think I only write when I'm broken, so that's just what happens. It makes me feel better, but having some distance helps.
I always write from a personal place - whether it be about my friends or myself or a story that I heard.
I feel like I'm getting better at being a writer.
I try to focus on the melodies and try to make everything else minimal. The melody and the lyrics are most important to me.
I moved to New York to pursue music.
I'm not a down-in-the-dumps person. I think some people assume that I am because of the music I write.
I started writing for myself when I didn't know how to understand how I was feeling, and I didn't know how to talk to people about it, so I would break into the subconscious to try and understand what I was going through.
I've always been really shy. I was always afraid of any kind of confrontation.
I'm a total goofball.
Brit Marling is very positive, very professional, very encouraging.
I have a day job Monday to Friday. I work at a record label in Brooklyn called Ba Da Bing. It's a great indie label and I listen to music all day. I meet people online and find out about the cool new music blogs.
I love being domestic: making coffee, just putting on a record, and just sitting, not doing anything. It's so great.
Sometimes music should just be about you sitting on your bedroom floor, or in the back of the car, singing along stupidly. Evan Dando's music was all about that for me.
I like having a home. I like having a place to return to.
My friends actually used to call me the 'Female Conor Oberst.' I got to open up with him once, and I told him about that, and he thought it was hilarious.
I'm pursuing a degree in mental health counseling. It'll be a long journey, and I still want to do music and other creative projects.
Every time I re-perform a song, I gain some perspective.
My goal is to become a therapist by the time I'm 50.
Honestly, live is my favorite way of performing. Every show is a completely different energy.
I think there are times in a lot of people's pasts where they've unintentionally fallen in love with really damaged people. You go out with someone who's a mess so you can feel less of a mess.
I didn't think I was helping other people. But I think that comes hand in hand with trying to be able to connect with people, and if you make things too personal, then it's harder for people to relate to you. Otherwise, it's just them listening to you read your diary.
Both my brothers are drummers.
I'm still learning how to be comfortable touring. I haven't found that balance yet.
I'm not the sad sack that people might think I am. But I think that if I didn't write and perform, I probably would be.
As a kid, you put musicians on a pedestal - well, I did. The more you meet bands, and the more you hang around them, you can have normal conversations.
I have a hard time not wearing my heart on my sleeve and answering people honestly. You know, my friends warn me that I should be more guarded 'cause sometimes I am too honest and open, but it's also just who I am.
Moving to New York City and doing what I do, social anxiety is a really ridiculous kind of curse to have. But I met people along the way who deal with it - performers as well - and they are learning to deal with it daily and deal with it in different ways.
I only work with people that are mysteries.
Just getting older, you stop caring what other people think, but also, you know who you are, and you know what you want.
I'm attracted to music made by people who let themselves be emotional. They really care about what they do, and we believe in what they say.
Relationships. Ugh. You have to laugh sometimes.
In some ways, being on the road is like summer camp. There's a camaraderie, but I'm also learning how to be more of a leader.
When I first started making music, it was where I went when I couldn't express myself, when I wasn't able to connect with other people, when I couldn't talk about what I was going through.
In my teenage years, there was a lot of angst going on.
I'm still friends with most of my exes. There are only one or two people that I'll never talk to again.
I always had a hard time communicating my emotions. I'd retreat into my bedroom and listen to music. And when you're a teenager, you're dealing with all these hormones. It's like, 'What are these?'
Writing songs helped me figure out how to communicate with other people. I finally figured out that if I could express something in a song, I could probably express it in my real life, too.
I only write when I'm in a dark place. I hit 'record' and get it out, writing and playing my guitar at the same time.
