Am I coasting on some early success? Yeah. It was a good lucky break for me. But I would rather earn my way back again than simply conform to what people are expecting.
— Liz Phair
People hang their hopes on you fitting into their CD collection in way that they have made a space for, but I'm playing a longer game than that.
I love stretching myself musically.
I've lost touch with a lot of that boutique-type music just because of my age, and raising my son and the multiple jobs I have at this point.
I ended up becoming so self-conscious that my songs stopped being about my life and started being about what people thought of my music. And that was really bad.
All parents gush about what it's like to be a parent. I love it.
I don't know why it surprises people that I surprise them.
Guys don't really don't wanna hear if it's really smart, and women feel uncomfortable if you reveal stuff they're going to have to remember they did themselves.
I always give the encore over to chaos, so people can yell out requests and I can hack my way through a song that I don't really know anymore.
Young kids don't have their identity, so everything is so important. Now I'm mature. I know who I am and I know what my thing is and I know what I'm bringing. It's very clear and defined.
Everything that people lob at you who don't know you, it all hurts. When you're doing something as simple as making music, which really, theoretically, shouldn't hurt anyone - I mean, it's a song! Step back for five seconds and laugh.
After my first record came out, I read everything. I was so amazed that I was in the press.
Women's bodies are used to sell anything and everything because it works, it grabs people's attention, and advertisers aren't going to stop using something that works.
I wear clothes that most people in the Midwest would probably deem inappropriate at my age. And I rock a bikini all summer long. I know that it's not normal, but I just don't care. I live once.
It was a source of shame for my family that I was in rock and roll, which is so blue-collar. It just isn't done. And I felt it, too.
I don't know what the future holds. Anything is possible.
I don't think you can spend too much time as an artist believing what other people think.
I am just like you and everyone else. I am trying to live my life as best I can.
When you love what you do, you're happy just doing it!
I love scoring. Putting music to picture is a rewarding challenge and one that relies on interpretation of emotion - as in, what is the pivotal feeling in a scene and which character's point of view is driving it at any given moment?
I don't have the same access or time to gain access to music the way I used to.
I try to see interviewing as performance art, and just take it as it comes.
It's about the journey and the process. I do things because I love doing them, or trying them.
Wearing a veneer of perfection never did me any good.
I was trying to break out of the suburbs, and when I did break out, I don't think I took my whole self with me - I think I played a role of being too cool and hip.
I have that thrill-seeking mentality, so when people want to know why my incarnations keep changing, or why I'll do something different than I did before, it's that same impulse.
Everyone wants to get into soundtracks. Everyone wants to do songs here and there. But, I think they want it for different reasons. I think I'm just tumbling through my life, enjoying playing with everybody.
It's important to have people who will say to you that you're really off the beaten track.
I don't always trust my own instincts. It would be nice if someone else would tell me what I should do with my life!
I'm known for being annoyingly gender-focused. It's always been my platform.
I prance around and dance by myself to hip-hop songs in the mirror.
I blend my green drink every morning. I also fix my son a full-on American breakfast with bacon and toast.
I just want to make music and make a living. I just have to find the means of doing that.
I have my head screwed on right. I haven't been this way in a long time.
I don't like being approached by people who look at me too intensely, who needed something from me that I didn't have. I don't represent anything.
Composing gives me a chance to work in multiple dimensions and helps me pare down my melodies into what is essential. Learning new skills has always energized me and scoring has opened up a world of sonic possibilities.
I'm just out of touch with new music in general, and I only know about it if I'm hanging out with someone that knows about it, or I catch it on YouTube.
It makes sense - you wanna gather a lot of people together, and Vegas really does that well. New York can, but you know the hassles. I've lived there. It's an entirely different beast.
I think I write songs because of pent-up feelings.
My career has been riddled with controversy, which I never fully understand.
There's nothing wrong at all with women wanting to be women.
I'm always champing at the bit to try everything new. It's a terrible quality that I have.
I am comfortable performing now. I love it!
I remember even getting kicked out of a bar once because I was too loud and obnoxious.
You know, you become an artist, you become an observer, of life, and you digest life by making art about it.
The other day I was reading a blog and I linked over to Streisand's Web site, and it was amazing politically. She's so insightful and incisive. And she also says whatever she wants.
Yeah, I like to be the maker of the art. And I like and want the money. But I don't really dig being famous.
I was raised to be a very intelligent housewife.
My nails are a disaster. If I play guitar when my nails are long, I just tear them off.
You have to do what you need to do as an artist. You have to have that courage.
