I like babies, but not in the front row. I don't want to sing directly to a baby.
— Jenny Lewis
I am a child of digital generation. I have done most of the records with Rilo Kiley on computers, on Pro Tools or other digital programs.
I find most modern country virtually unlistenable. I can't relate to the music or the lyrics.
I think regardless of where people are from, country music is a through line.
Sometimes people come to my shows and think I'm a Christian artist, and they put their hands up in the air, like they do. But first of all, I'm a Jewish girl from the Valley, and I'm from Los Angeles. It's funny to be misinterpreted.
When I think people like one record more than the other, then someone will surprise me.
It's weird because I am accessible to people on Twitter, and I can choose to read good things or mean things, and people can reach out to me directly and tell me how much they hate me or love the song. It's a very strange new paradigm as an artist to find yourself among this kind of connectivity.
I think art doesn't have to be created in a period of misery, but it certainly helps.
My hair looks so good out in the desert, it's unbelievable. It's, like, perfectly not frizzy.
When I'm sick of myself, and when I don't know what to say as a solo artist, I can write a song for a movie. When I don't know where to turn musically, being in a band - Rilo Kiley or Jenny & Johnny - the collaborative nature is really exciting.
I felt like onstage I have to have a certain amount of anonymity, like, personal anonymity, to feel loose and free. When you're up there with people who've known you for a decade, and you make a bad joke and you hear the cackling behind the drums, it's hard to get lost in the moment.
When I sit down to write a song, there is no filter. I'm not trying to write for anyone or anything specifically. It's just trying to capture a little piece of your soul - even if it's a really ugly part.
When something is coming off of a Neve board and being laid down on tape, it's like a warm blanket for the brain. When you're working in a digital form, it's so harsh; it's almost painful. Your ears get more fatigued if you're mixing all day.
I think a lot of musicians play for the playback. I mean, that's the joy of recording - you want to hear what you've done and what you've contributed - but never listening to that playback kind of removes the intellectual part of making music, and it removes the tendency to be revisionist.
My mother's records were formative for me, but when I became a teenager, I wanted to find songs that she wasn't hip to. She was so hip, though, that I had to go outside rock n' roll - so for about 10 years, I only listened to hip-hop, house and techno.
I'm a huge reggae fan. I want to go to Jamaica and make, like, Bob Marley 'One Love' positive songs. That's what the world needs.
I've always tried to get around writing love songs, I guess because I've always had a hard time saying, 'I love you.'
I'm not trying to repeat myself or cater myself to one specific group of people.
I'm not a religious person by any means. But I'm curious.
There's always a bit of fiction in everything that I write.
I was a big fan of 'Days of Our Lives' growing up.
I don't feel unlucky in love anymore, and it's not all emo. It's a scary place to be in when you're like: 'What am I supposed to write about now? I don't feel heartbroken, so now what?'
Certainly, we all wonder what is beyond, and when you lose a loved one, I think part of the grieving process includes where that person might have gone or if you'll ever see them again. I think it forces you to look up to the sky, to the cosmos.
I'm always pretty nervous when I do anything! I walk very slowly. I'm very careful.
I can't imagine how people will react to my music. For me, it's a really fluid process from one record to the next, but it's really up to the listener.
I have that working-class show-business blood coursing through my veins.
When you make a solo record, it's you. It's your name. It has to be the right songs for how you feel.
I'm typically not a heels person.
I had a huge Lisa Frank sticker collection. I traded them.
I demo all of my songs on Garage Band, where I pretty much play everything - not very well, but I manage to hammer out a drum beat and a bass idea.
When you're talking about your own music every day, listening to bands, going to festivals, you can kind of lose sight of your initial connection with music. Instrumental music - especially jazz - helps me refocus.
My mother had a great vinyl collection, and she was constantly playing female singer-songwriters. I first learned about classic song structures by listening to them, and Laura Nyro particularly stood out. Her voice was outside what you'd usually hear on the radio; that really appealed to me.
In your mid-30s, you have to take inventory, or you'll stumble.
It's funny how a song can start in your mind, and then when it goes through all the filters, it ends up in a totally different spot.
I think you kind of lose the human aspect when you make things too perfect.
I grew up on Loretta Lynn and Dusty Springfield. I remember lying about it; it wasn't cool to listen to country when I was 12.
Songs are really interesting in that way. Sometimes, they grow with you. Sometimes, you outgrow them.
After Rilo Kiley broke up and a few really intense personal things happened, I completely melted down. It nearly destroyed me. I had such severe insomnia that, at one point, I didn't sleep for five straight nights.
Rock n' roll is a pretty fun job.
Insomnia is a very prevalent issue. It's a women's health issue, and I chose to talk about it because so many people have experienced it to varying degrees. For me, I'm doing great now, but it took a lot of work to figure out how to get back to sleep. I had to change some of my habits. I developed some pretty bad sleep ritual habits.
Being in a band is a really magical thing because you've got a family and you operate as this one entity. It's very democratic; everyone is involved in the output. But within that, there can be a lot of disagreements and strife.
I'm more in the Stones camp than the Beatles camp.
I didn't know anything about music when I started a band. I barely knew how to play a guitar. I didn't know how to produce records. I learned how to play bass guitar and keyboards in Rilo Kiley. I picked up a lot from my collaborators.
It really helps me to get into the character of the record when I have a designated look. It just really simplifies things for me.
I think I have a hard time expressing myself in my relationships. I use songs to tell people how I'm feeling. If I can't say 'I love you,' I'll write a song about it and hope that the person figures it out.
When you're in your mid-thirties, the cult of people who have children around you all want you in their cult, and they constantly ask you, 'So when are you going to have a baby?'
I think it's always an adjustment for me, but I do feel like, ultimately, I can kind of write anywhere. It just takes a second to get back in to the groove.
When I was 18, I took a trip to Thailand with a friend. We stayed for a month. Bangkok was very raw for a teenager: there were no cellphones, no Internet, and the only music I had with me was this cassette by Liz Phair. I was writing a lot of poetry, and she embodied a talky style of songwriting that I found very accessible.
It would be nice to create something that's healing rather than slightly creepy and darkly judgmental!
That is the true joy of being a solo artist. I can do whatever I want. I can go wherever I want. I can show up with my guitar and my song, and it can sound a hundred different ways. That's the freedom of being on your own. The flipside is: That's you on the cover. If it sucks, it's your fault.
