The world is changing. I'm trying to adjust to it, just like everyone else.
— Blackbear
I'm an honest person. I've nothing to hide.
I was the only real punk rock kid in my school, with, like, the plaid pants and the Rancid t-shirt.
I was diagnosed with necrotizing chronic pancreatitis, and it definitely put a pause on live performances for a while.
My family was very unsure, and they told me to have a 'plan B' - until I did my publishing deal at 21 for over a million dollars. Then I tattooed my neck to prove I'll never become a lawyer.
I just really love being the first to do something and that drives me to think, 'What are people not doing right now, and how can I be the best at it?'
I ordered a decaf coffee the other night, and I was like, 'Holy crap, I'm an adult.'
It's important to reinvent yourself often, because if you don't, someone else will and squash you like a bug.
I respect anybody that is very in tune with their feelings.
I'm somewhat of a perfectionist.
I didn't want to be famous or any of that.
I was kind of a MySpace kid in high school, and people thought since I had so many MySpace friends that they didn't need to be nice to me in real life. They were like, 'You get enough attention online,' or they were jealous or something. I don't really know.
I learned from the best storytellers in the world: Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Ne-Yo, Michael Jordan, Vin Diesel, RuPaul.
I don't do all the things I say I do in my songs, but nobody does.
Music's a hobby to me.
I like to be the captain of my ship and be involved with everything from stage production, merch, art, and rollouts.
I've done arenas, and sometimes it feels like you're the only one in the room.
People beat around the bush so much, and I try to be really blunt in my music.
I wanna live long. As long as I can.
The reason I make music is to make people feel something, anything.
As soon as I got rich, it was mimosas every morning. I was taking my friends to Six Flags every weekend. We were flying to Hawaii; we did whatever we wanted.
I'm not like any other artist, point blank.
My band got signed in high school when I was 16, and we all dropped out of high school and went on tour. Then I quit the band because I was the manager, and I was doing everything, so I went solo.
I wanna get backup singers, but I don't think I will ever get backup dancers.
I have several guns. I have several dirt bikes and ATVs, good old country-boy things.
When your best friend dies, and you're crying on the balcony, and TMZ is taking pictures of somebody comforting you saying, 'Ooooo, scandalous' - that's the worst part of fame.
Fame is weird.
I feel like I just learned a whole new world when I was studying under Ne-Yo when I was about 17. I was living on Ne-Yo's manager's couch, making three songs a day.
There was a time where I was really confused about who I was and what I was doing, and I was just kind of depressed.
I love to work with producers who are very good with their chord progressions.
Fighting to get up in the morning, fighting to get on stage, fighting to make music that makes people feel good when I don't - that's been a struggle.
I was such a huge Ne-Yo fan.
I was poor my whole life.
I don't really like living in a very small space, like a tour bus, even though I have an amazing tour bus, and I've had multiple tour buses. It's still not a lot of room.
I wanted a guitar when I was 4 or 5, and I learned how to play guitar by the time I was 6. Just self-taught.
