India Arie Quotes

Being able to take musical ideas through every iteration is attractive to me. Granted, not everyone's going to want to listen to that, but it should exist.

We don't want to box ourselves within any type of genre, you know? Whatever feels good, if it moves us and we like it, we get on it and make it our own. That's what we do.

I feel like my music is like - there are always new influences in there.

When recording, whatever you first think about, you come out with something totally different at the end of it. Whatever plans you have you throw away, because it's always going to end up sounding pretty different from what you initially thought of. I probably only had about five or six songs when I started, and it just sort of flowed from that.

My last two records that I made were both quite pointed in one direction and I think I do my best stuff when it's all over the map, when there's a couple traditional things, a couple pretty rocking things.

I don't ever try to make a song better than my last song. I just try to make it different from my last one.

My music is a direct reflection of the eclectic person I am. I don't like to be stuck in an R&B box.

It never gets boring for me because there's so many different things to explore in the studio. The studio's become the sanctuary that people have come in and found new things out about themselves, as weird as that sounds. But it's true, I'm no different. I've made some crazy hard records, and I've made a jazz album.

What I love about Beyonce is she's not a slave to a genre of music.

I never thought that I would be creating my own 'cross-over' genre. What I did was very real and organic. I have worked in so many different styles so it all just came together.

Hip hop is doing the new rock thing; there are no rules. They can do anything, really. And that's inspiring.

My favorite band of all time is The Clash. The thing I love about The Clash is they started out as guys who could barely play three chords. They dabbled in reggae, punk, rap, jazz. They came to a sound that could only be defined as The Clash. It was impossible to say what it was. I admire them for that.

To keep creating something with this type of music, you have to take it out of the box.

When I started writing, I just wanted to do something different and creative. I first thought neo-soul was a good pathway for me, so I tried that out but realized I didn't want to be placed in that box.

When I start writing, I'll have a vague concept or I'll just have a title, and the song just goes on its own direction. Usually it goes in many directions within each song. They get really convoluted sometimes.

Sometimes I think that I want to do something strictly basic, really simple. Just with a few chords. But I won't have anything more than two or three sentences in my head. That kind of evaporates once I start playing and then it goes off in whatever direction.

I'm very, very open to experimenting with different people and trying to find different methods of writing and making music.

Whether I'm writing solo stuff, electronic stuff, or material for Motley, I just write to write. I come up with it and put things in different piles.

I really wanted the first record to be different from what I'd done with Genesis, so we were trying to do things in different styles.

I think every time, before we do an album, we have a discussion where we sort of consider the idea of doing something radically different.

I'm always trying to switch voices and genres.

I always want people to expect the unexpected, to hear me in records that have nothing to do with bachata. 'Golden' is the golden opportunity for them to appreciate me on other records.

I just like blending all the genres together but blending them up in a good way. I try to be as free as I can with it.

I don't want to be stuck to any specific genre.

I've been criticized for doing so - crossover music. But I never claimed to be a pure dancehall artist.