I feel like once you go with a band, it's hard to go back. I just don't see myself performing without a band.
— Syd
I learned everything I knew about recording and engineering from my experience with Odd Future, so I was pretty comfortable with not having much.
Some people just need something to be mad about.
I want people to love me for my music.
It's no secret that I love women. I think everyone loves women. And I like having beautiful women around me.
Finding someone that trusted my vision helped me find certainty in who I was.
If you think I'm a young boy singing these songs, dope. Run with that.
I was a loner; I spent the first half of high school alone.
I knew that if I just came out as a singer, people would just be criticizing my voice.
I grew up in a house that was constantly under construction. It's been under construction my whole life. My mom loves interior decor, and my dad loves construction - he loves demolition and building new walls.
If I have a session with an artist who I've never worked with before, they don't have to meet my parents, you know? Unless they want to.
I think I see a lot of artists struggling to make their first album perfect, and I've been there.
I've always been comfortable with my gayness, but I was intimidated by the social anxiety.
I've always known I was a genius. But I never thought I was a star.
I get kinda nervous before every show.
I have stopped going out places just to avoid uncomfortable conversations.
I've gotten used to not having all the responsibility on my shoulders.
Don't overthink it, and don't let technicalities stop you from creating.
As a child, I wanted to be a singer, but that was only because I thought I could sing. I'd sing along to Brandy and Usher and *NSYNC.
When I started making music, I just wanted to be the producer who sang the hooks. I wanted to be Pharrell, honestly, the one who made the beats and was in the music video with the girls.
Most of my friends are straight dudes. I talk to them about girls. I don't talk to girls about girls; I don't talk to gay girls about girls.
At some point, I started listening to music a little differently. Rather than being like, 'Yo, this is dope - who made this?' it started being like, 'I wish I made this.'
I'm sure that, on some level of the major-label and old-establishment industry, there are execs and agents who think homosexuality is a liability.
I used to have long hair and get it done every two weeks, and it was never worth it to me. I would just walk out of the salon and put it in a ponytail anyway.
Performing live was something that I had to really work at.
I'm never a flashy type of person.
I have really dope parents, and they happen to both really love, love music - they're huge music fans.
It's weird: I don't really know where I pull my inspiration from. I think it's N.E.R.D.
I do want to inspire people - young girls who may like to wear boys' clothes and who romanticize women and feel nothing wrong with it.
I'm just a really shy person. I don't gravitate towards attention, so for someone like me to have as much attention as I have is bizarre.
I think I see myself differently than most people see me.
It was a nerve-wracking first few years having to tour and perform in front of people with the little bit of confidence I had.
Almost everything I've ever recorded, I recorded myself at the desk, in my house.
If everything happens for a reason, what's the reason?
I have an uncle in Jamaica who's an OG producer/songwriter over there, Mikey Bennett.
Older people generally appreciate live music.
The gay community hated me for being part of Odd Future. They thought Odd Future was homophobic because they tend to use homophobic slang, and they were like: 'How can you work for and support homophobes?' But they aren't homophobic; they just don't really care whether you're offended or not.
My mom wasn't expecting me to end up how I ended up. When she wanted to have kids, she wanted to have two girls, and then she got my brother and me. Which is a disappointment to anybody. You can't help it.
I hate the word 'lesbian.'
I used to get the most anxiety before shows because I really was never prepared.
Fashion has always been influenced by hip-hop.
My parents have always been supportive of whatever I've wanted to do.
If you want to be a pioneer, you have to be intentional, at least a little bit.
If you ranked Odd Future, I was at the very bottom.
I sing every day, on a regular basis.
Feeling invisible definitely makes you want to become visible sometimes.
