I just love new, beautiful music.
— Yvonne Orji
I originally wanted to embrace the imagery and forthrightness of rap music. There are some interesting, dynamic voices in rap. But I find most of it irresponsible in its overt violence and commercialization of anger. As artists, we believe we can will action through language. If that's the case, we have to take responsibility for what we say.
— Yusef Komunyakaa
The music I grew up listening to had a message.
— Yungblud
The broken heart on my right finger represents me before I figured out who I was, and the full heart on my left is because I'm left-handed, I use that to write my music, and my music helped me obtain my direction in life.
To me, that's what music entails. It's freedom, it's having the undeniable confidence to express yourself in a way that you know is right.
I've always been enthralled with chaos and mayhem musically, and I loved speaking out and challenging stuff, and I thought, why is my music not representing this?
I worked flipping cheeseburgers and Big Mac's at McDonald's, purchased a microphone, and cleared all the stuff out of my basement and started making music.
— Yung Lean
I was brought up on Black Sabbath, David Bowie, 50 Cent, and Guru. And it all comes out in my own music somewhere.
As soon as my brain starts working on reading a book, my dreams get a little more exciting, and music comes a little more naturally for me.
Music has to change. I don't want to stay the same forever.
— Yuna
I came from a strong jazz/ singer-songwriter/folk influence, but in L.A., I learned how to have a balance between all these genres and R&B music and hip-hop, mixing them all together.
I didn't take music seriously in the beginning. It just kind of a hobby to me. It was something that I love doing for fun.
I'm a Muslim. I don't try to hide it. I'm also a girl who loves music.
I really like the idea of modesty. By the time I got into music, I was already wearing the scarf all the time, and it's really personal to me, my Muslim beliefs, so I decided to keep it and find a way to work around it. I don't see it as a restriction or limitation - I can still be me and get into music and be an entertainer.
Just look at 'K-pop' - who would've expected American fans to embrace it? It's really cool to be one of those artists who can break through the American market. I'm not trying to conquer America; I just want to make music and see if people like it.
I think you can soften people's hearts, even if they have a lot of hate. Music can do that if it's beautiful and honest. If I can do that - soften just one person's heart - I consider myself successful already.
If I die tomorrow, I've done the two hardest things anybody can do in this life with the least amount of security - music and acting - and I've had success in both. I can't really complain. I try not to live my life that way.
— Yul Vazquez
When I look at the five thousand garments and then all this music hall work, I ask myself how I could have done it all. I was a phenomenon!
— Yves Saint Laurent
Music is a part of someone's soul. Music is a feeling for me. And if that soul is evil, then I don't want anything to do with it.
Initially, I started writing music because I wanted to express my thoughts and get what was going on in my head out to the world.
I always spoke my mind, and that was a result of the music I listened to growing up.
I admire hip-hop artists because they drop so much music.
The best thing for me is the amount of DMs and people hitting me up every day saying, 'Your music is providing me with answers.' That blows my mind, because that's what Alex Turner and Eminem were for me.
I hate it when people try to explain music. The best thing about music is that it's invisible. If you make a song and someone is like, 'Explain it,' and you explain the message, it's like - poof. It all crashes down.
I think you shouldn't get my music confused with who I am or who we are, because Yung Lean, from the beginning, is like a character created by me. Yung Lean was everything that Jonatan wasn't. And so me, as a person, and my views on things are certainly different than Yung Lean's views, so you should definitely not get those two mixed up.
I don't like party music. I like emotional music.
I didn't expect to have music as my main thing. I always thought I was going to be a lawyer. When I graduated, I was doing really well with my music in Malaysia. I had stable income, and I had really good momentum in the music industry, so I had to make a decision whether to stop that and continue being a lawyer.
A lot of people tend to go into the music industry and be really - what do you call it? - oblivious to everything that comes with it.
I've always been singing all my life, but I started playing guitar when I was 19, and that was my final year in university, in law school. I think that happened when I started making a lot of friends who were in the independent music scene.
I think being bi-continental is something I want to continue. Kuala Lumpur is my home, but L.A. is where I've been able to make the music that I want.
Religion is a huge part of me; I'm a practicing Muslim. I'm pretty much open about it if people were to answer questions. At the end of the day, I'm just a normal girl. I have my own beliefs just like everyone else. I have a strong belief in something, but I also love music.
I think when I first started out making music here in Los Angeles, a lot of people were really curious about my ethnicity, and you know, whatever questions they had, I'd be more than happy to answer them.
I really believed that my songs were good enough for the whole world to listen to. I had fans from America or the U.K. who would be like, 'Oh my God, I love your music'.
I grew up with reggae music.
— Youssou N'Dour
My music is jazz.
— Yusef Lateef
I remember talking about a Mozart song during a music class at school, and I said, 'I wouldn't have done it like that.' I didn't like the way the chords moved. And my teacher told me to get out.
I get tons of messages every day telling me, 'Your music has provided me with answers.'
When I felt upset and lost, music always had the answer.
I write music about what's going on in my head, what I'm angry about, and what I think is wrong/right.
When you find new genres of music, you take ownership of them.
I'd like to live in a house in Miami and make music, or Brooklyn.
I'm really into, like, characters - music characters like Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain - just, like, how they are and stuff. Like Lil Wayne.
I don't really like the idea of putting myself in any category now... I think that people are looking for music that's real and honest and that they can relate to emotionally.
I guess music is very global.
When I got signed to the 'Fader' Label, they got really excited about having me as their new artist. They were promoting my music everywhere. Pharrell was one of the producers who wanted to work with me, so I was really lucky to be one of those people who got to work with him.
I was doing quite well in Malaysia... Everyone was so excited about my music, and they started accepting me as an artist.
I have a lot of friends who do EDM music; they had to tell me what a 'drop' was.
I feel like fashion and music relate to each other in a lot of ways. I always had to be creative: I'm a very creative person. I always liked making stuff. Apart from music, I always liked making clothes. You're able to express yourself.
I grew up listening to a lot of different types of music, and R&B in particular was something that I loved - Aaliyah, Usher, Alicia Keys, TLC.
I grew up listening to a lot of Malaysian pop music, which is kind of like a mixture of traditional and pop... I was also listening to a lot of English music as well.
