It's a really skewed part of our culture that happiness is the end-all be-all. The people that force themselves to be happy all the time often end up being the most broken.
— Mary Lambert
When I came out, I said, 'I'm going to be a proud gay artist.' I'm not going to be Melissa Etheridge. But she's a goddess!
I hope people learn the power of vulnerability through my songs. I think vulnerability can save the world. Empathy helps people connect with each other.
There is so much shame and guilt in our society, and I think it has deprived a lot of people from living fully. We are all facing battles... We've all had someone who has hurt us. So let's talk about it.
Fat bodies are used comically. I respect Rebel Wilson so much, and Melissa McCarthy. I love them both. But so often, I feel like fat female bodies are used as props.
Sylvia Plath, Rumi, there's a lot of spoken word poets who do a really incredible job putting their spoken work into page poetry - that's what I strive to do.
Before I got on full-time medication, I believed that my mental disorder was the reason I could create so much and create well, because it made me crazy. I could go to these dark places and then come out of it and just be human again.
Growing up, people are like, 'Mary, we'll see you at the Grammys.' You're like, 'I'll be at the Grammys.' Then, you're actually at the Grammys! That actually is happening; it's not just something people are saying because they like your music. It's real!
That's why fame freaks me out in a lot of ways - because how genuine of a connection can you have when you're a commodity, and a conversation with you means bragging rights? That's terrifying to me.
Being in Los Angeles is this brutal awakening, where I feel not good enough as soon as I walk into a room, and I'm wearing the wrong thing, or I don't have enough make up on. It's all about image.
I'm not saying everybody has a social responsibility of what art they create, but art should be open-ended. I just feel there's a lack of consciousness and understanding of impact and reach. Just maybe, for a second, just think of the effect you could have with a lyric.
I would sing to my Beanie Babies, and I sort of created this alternate universe where I was famous, and there were thousands of people that I was singing to.
I came out when I was 17. I was in the church; I was crying every Sunday for about a year. I came to terms with the fact with this is who I was - I wasn't going to be able to be a different person. At 17, you feel like a freak already, and so to have that fire and brimstone against your attraction is just screwed up!
I've always had a little bit of darkness, and I've always been someone who was grieving. I had kind of had a tumultuous upbringing living in an abusive home, so for me, writing has always been a point of catharsis.
I think a lot of us have some form of body dysmorphia... You're looking in the mirror, and you're kind of disassociated in some way. I think a good reminder is to actually, physically touch yourself. 'Ah, okay, this is what my arm feels like. It's not what I'm mutating in my head. I'm not some sort of scary monster.'
I knew when I shot the 'She Keeps Me Warm' video that the comments were not going to be homophobic... that they would be about fat-shaming. I'm a large girl making out with somebody. I knew just that sheer fact would set people off.
I remember when I heard 'Jessie's Girl' for the first time, I was like, 'This is so applicable to lesbians!'
Gay rights and body acceptance are two things I feel very passionately about.
For me, writing is just processing.
I have a big thing with eye contact, because I think as soon as you make eye contact with somebody, you see them, and they become valued and worthy.
I was going to be a teacher. I was applying to graduate school when I got the call to do 'Same Love,' actually. I was gonna go to Boston University for my masters in teaching.
I think no matter how you think about your music, you're ultimately in the music 'business.' I think you have to be business-minded in some sense. And for me, the real goal... is positive intention and social change through music. It doesn't mean that can't turn a profit.
It's an interesting thing about being a 'fem.' People automatically assume that I'm straight.
After singing 'Same Love' across the nation, it's given me faith that I've underestimated the straight world.
I like to think that my music allows people that cathartic cry.
I don't have all answers, but as far as viewing my body... I'm in a place where I can look at my stretch marks and say, 'Oh, hey, stretch marks!' and I'm over it.
I'm a sensitive, sensitive person. Overly sensitive. Extremely emotional.
I used to be on the kitchen floor, crying, wasted and thinking of lyrics. That was the only way I could create - as a tortured artist. I've learned that you can be stable and taking care of yourself and still create beautiful work.
You don't accomplish a lot by changing people's opinions by shoving facts down their throat. I think you change people's opinions by opening your heart up and showing the parallels between you and another person. That's how people's ideas shift.
Body love is more than acceptance of self or the acceptance of the body. Body love is about self-worth in general. It's more than our physical appearance.
People are constantly not feeling, but numbing themselves, either through medication or playing on their phones. If you start feeling bad, it's like, 'Distract! Distract! Put on Storage Wars!' And I know because I'm guilty of it, too.
There's this idea that when you make a certain amount of money that you should be staying at four-star hotels and taking town cars. And believe me, I will take a town car every day, but there are some things where it's like, 'Is this necessary? Is this important?'
