Jonathan Shapiro Quotes

Nobody owns me or my music.

I don't want to be owned by a corporation and obliged to make a certain type of album. I want to be free.

That is the true joy of being a solo artist. I can do whatever I want. I can go wherever I want. I can show up with my guitar and my song, and it can sound a hundred different ways. That's the freedom of being on your own. The flipside is: That's you on the cover. If it sucks, it's your fault.

Artists can do whatever they want!

There's something to be said for being given a tremendous amount of freedom as an actor.

I just wanted to do my own albums where nobody could tell me what to do. Roc Nation was the perfect fit because I could do what I wanted to do.

The only place where any artist feels liberated is doing independent music. I have had great experience making music for The Dewarists and Coke Studio. No actor, producer or label is telling me what to do with my music. I'm the boss. It is my life, my expression.

To be able to create an album where you are in complete control of your own work is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an artist.

I would design for anybody who gives me a free hand and who doesn't sit on my head.

I've experienced a lot of creative freedom because I'm on a family label. It was nice to put out what I wanted to say and do what I wanted to do.

I'm creating the kind of games that I like right now. I'm not being held back by technology.

I can't tell you how freeing it is to have my own label. For the first time in my career, I have total control.

Weezer isn't stuck in roles, so we just do what we want to do, what makes us excited.

Very few artists are as independent as I am mentally, physically, spiritually and technically. I sit in my home studio and record things by myself. I don't need to get anybody's approval or validation.

You gotta make the movie you want to make.

I really have to feel a sense of freedom in my storytelling.

I'm not entangled in shaping my work according to other people's views of how I should have done it.

There's a lot of creative freedom. Acting is a whole boatload of fun, but I prefer to do it on my own terms.

My art side is free and there are no strings attached.

I like being free to take on any project that inspires me and to trust that the work will speak for itself.

I feel fortunate about being able to make the music I want to make and getting away with it.

When people say 'What are underground comics?' I think the best way you can define them is just the absolute freedom involved... we didn't have anyone standing over us.

I don't much like being directed. I enjoy being allowed to play.

The best times I had on film sets were the times the director let me express myself, but those were rare.

Leaving Def Jam was kind of a blessing in disguise because we can make whatever record we want.