I moved to New York to pursue music.
— Sharon Van Etten
I hit 'record' whenever I'm going through a really hard time. I don't listen to it for a couple of days, so I have some perspective. If it's too personal to share, and I feel like would alienate the listeners, then I usually don't share that stuff.
In my teenage years, there was a lot of angst going on.
I would love to work with PJ Harvey some day.
I feel like, as a female, I am maybe hyper-sensitive to feeling pushed into a corner or somebody taking a song a different way.
I think leading up to the tour is the most stressful part because you barely have any time home.
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.
I've always liked to learn how to do things - I'm a hobby person. So I'll learn something at a beginner's level, then usually move on to the next thing.
All the records I keep are like friends I visit.
I used to hyperventilate, but I don't do that anymore.
I was without my own place for nearly two years. It's such a cliche to be a homeless musician in New York, but luckily, I had amazing friends who let me stay with them. I visited my parents a lot. It's not like I was sleeping in my car, though I might have done that once... But it was by choice!
Most musicians are normal people who want to hang out and are really down to earth.
I get things out of my system through my songs, but, because they can be about so many different things, it takes me a while to get through them emotionally.
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.
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.
I think, in general, I find writing to be very therapeutic and singing in itself to be really therapeutic.
I go back to things all the time. It's really nice, too, like when I'm going through some kind of a writer's block, and I'm feeling uninspired, I go to some of my oldest songs from over the years and sift through them, and one thing that's very nice is to see how I've grown up a little bit. A little bit.
I'm still friends with most of my exes. There are only one or two people that I'll never talk to again.
Noveller make soundscapes that are creepy, ethereal, really beautiful and all over the place. They can be intense, dark, and groovy but also dreamlike and happy.
I don't know how to get a crowd singing along. That's not what my music does.
I have a lot of alter-egos: I would love to be a back-up singer for someone someday. I have an electronic side-project. I have a '90s grunge side project; I have a piano project... I have this industrial, goth-electronic song, super creepy sounding, just really dark and dreary.
I'm very democratic about stuff. I know what I want, but I also like getting opinions and people sharing ideas.
I definitely wouldn't consider myself a professional, but I like to dress up like one.
Brit Marling is very positive, very professional, very encouraging.
There's something to writing a hook and something to writing a memorable melody. That's what I liked about musicals. Then I realized I could write my own songs, and I didn't have to sing other people's.
My mom is a history teacher, so we'd go on all these historic trips as kids around Halloween, because it was kind of creepy.
It's not onstage as often anymore, but whenever I got anxious, I used to talk a lot more, and I wouldn't even know what I was saying... it was so bad. If I just talk myself through something, even if it's just talking about nothing, it usually gets me out of it.
I was so broken when I did the first record. I was living in my parents' basement, I didn't know anyone. I was broken-hearted and writing this really dark record. I was at the bottom of a well.
I totally lucked out by meeting a lot of amazing people. I guess it stems from going to shows and being confident enough to meet people and be able to talk to them like a normal person rather than have my head down all the time.
Performing a song is intense. When I see people connecting, it makes it all worthwhile.
Relationships. Ugh. You have to laugh sometimes.
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.
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.
I like having a home. I like having a place to return to.
Hopefully, the stuff that is way too personal that I record and keep - people won't hear it because it's way too personal.
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.
People relate to songs so differently. No matter what it's about in reality, people create their own meaning behind it and connect with it on their own terms.
Whatever your writing is about, you're really connected with it, and you can always go back to when that was. I remember everything, and time and place are like a center for me.
I used to work at a label. I used to be a publicist. I used to be at a management company.
I didn't start writing with band arrangements until I was working on 'Tramp.'
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 can't read notes well, but I can hear something and sing a harmony to it automatically.
If I start panicking a little bit, I just talk through it with somebody.
If I make assumptions about the audience and start overthinking things, I can drive myself crazy about how the audience perceives me. I try not to do that anymore.
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 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?'
I am my therapist, and I analyze what's happening and if I'm being hurt in the process. The result is songs that are very emotional, very deep, although I try to write them generally so they won't alienate the listener.
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.
I'm a total goofball.
I feel like I'm getting better at being a writer.
