Charles Bradley Quotes

I started to use music almost like a therapist, where it's like, everything that I don't really dare to say or speak about, I can sing about.

As a stand up, and often in acting, there is no place for the most intense feelings. Rage, genuine sorrow, naked hope... These things don't fit on a comedy stage and if you act you'll get to express them once in a while. Music is a place for the intensely personal.

It's that beautiful thing to love your weaknesses, your insecurities, and then put them all on blast. That's why I started writing, and that's why it was so hard to do it in public.

I put my emotions in my music and I want people to relate to that.

I didn't never have to go to a therapist. I just always put it in a song and you heard me.

I want people to feel the times where they don't feel good. You should dive into those emotions, because that's what I do with my music.

The loss of my mom really inspired me to go to a place with my performances that were emotionally honest, and I found that audiences really responded to that. People need to see heartbreak transformed into beauty.

I'm trying to basically just focus on sharing everything that I was feeling with other people, so I can hopefully inspire other people to free themselves.

There's so much stuff that you see every day that you want to talk about, but I'm not the type to open up, so the only way I could open up is through music.

Strangely, I feel that I become increasingly reclusive in my normal life and more open and candid in my music.

Rap helps me connect emotionally.

'Nation' was one that I'd have killed myself if I hadn't written it. It was absolutely important to me that I wrote it. It was good for my soul.

Some things feel really good to sing: there's a physical aspect, but there's more to it - a deeper place you go to.

My music started as a way to break through weaknesses - like anxiety, which was completely taking over my whole life, where I could barely function.

I was terribly shy and never said anything in class. Then I started getting into school plays. When you've got words to say, you've got a sort of armour.

It's called Sisters of the Winter Madrigal. It was interesting for me to see it done after so many years; because I wrote it and I didn't realize what a rage I was in.

By the second time I sang by myself in school, I just realized that I was more in control of my environment than I had ever been before.

Singing allowed me to express myself in ways that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

Now, performing is second nature and I love every second of it. It is a very emotional thing when I can't play a song; maybe I'm hitting on something that I don't want to deal with. All of it is so personal. It is like therapy.

Acting has always been a way for me to express myself, and show all my vulnerabilities and flaws through my characters.

The more I push myself to really live and really experience things and step outside of my comfort zone, the more the songs are allowed to flow.

I think it's really cool to embrace the pain of something that may have hurt you and be able to express it through music.

I'm reserved, so I've always needed to find a way of opening up. Jazz helped me do that.

I think anything that's creative really takes my mind off whatever it is that I'm going through in my life. If you're going through heartbreak, and you can write a song, it's a wonderful win-win, because it takes your mind off the heartbreak, and you get to vent.

Music is my way out. I keep things locked up and never say anything. I guess in order to say something to one person, I have to sing it to a couple of thousand. It doesn't make for healthy relationships.