Mat Kearney Quotes

You're happy that people are seeing your work. As for the critics, it really hurts when they knock you.

So how does Liz Phair feel about Lana Del Rey? Well, as a recording artist, I've been hated, I've been ridiculed, and conversely, hailed as the second coming. All that matters in the end is that I've been heard.

But what you realise after you've been in the business for a while is that people develop opinions about you that don't have anything to do with your music, they like or dislike you for a million reasons, they like or dislike you for your last record.

Over in the UK, the music press can be brutal. They can say wonderful things about you one week, and the next week, you're in the can.

It's like they had a backlash the first 11 years. I think the reason why it always seems like there's a backlash is because when bands are unknown, they only get written about by fans.

I've never had a movie that got great reviews. I've had movies that got different levels of good and bad reviews, but you can more or less count on plenty of bad reviews.

Not everyone who writes about you is going to be a fan of your music.

I'd like to say I don't care, but I do. 'Cause when you put out a record, you try to do it for yourself first, and you want your audience to accept it, but you also want the press to accept it, too, because it validates what you do.

I don't mind being criticised, but hearing yourself described as the next James Blunt - that hurts.

I had heard all the rumors and controversy swirling about the 'In Utero' recordings - there was a lot of, 'Oh, the record label hates it,' it was going to ruin the band, that kind of stuff.

I read one thing, and 100 people can say good things then you read one bad thing that says you're the worst and you believe them.

People say, 'When are you making this comeback?' I say, 'It's not a comeback, it's a record.' They say, 'Where have you been all these years?' I say, 'I've been making records.'

One thing I loved when I was growing up, you maybe saw one review from a magazine like 'Rolling Stone,' but now there are 150 reviews before an album even comes out. There are so many opinions out there, but the only one that really matters is your own.

We don't read a lot of what people say about us.

When you're recording a ninth studio album, you can't fail. You don't really have any fears. You just make the best record that you like. You hope your fans are gonna like it, but if they don't, they have eight other ones to listen to.

It doesn't 'hurt' me, hearing criticism from ex-players. It probably disappoints me a little bit more.

We live for our concerts. We like a live appearance more than anything else about this business and it bothers us when we put so much into it and the critics bomb us.

'Seven Turns' was a tough album because we knew that the critics would use it to determine whether or not we should have remained broken up.

I think when you have one song that does really well, people love you from that song, or they hate you from that song.

You know that once you're successful, there's going to be good things and bad things that people say and, honestly, to me it doesn't really matter.

Being in a boy band, everyone has an opinion of all of us and what we do. There was a time I fought with that.

Every time I make a new record, some of my existing fans are going to like it, and some are not. It's inevitable, and it's part of the deal. It's part of the job description.

Well the first record is something that you just put so much into. And the second record, people always talk about the sophomore jinx and everything, but I was still able to get through it and still focus on what I needed to do and make timeless music.

The perception that I was just a pop star was pushed upon me by the public, and it's very hard to change the public's perception even though I never really pushed aside the musician aspect of my career. After I released 'Fingerprints,' my peers reassured me that I was on a level that I always hoped I would be on.

There's no shortage of opinions about our agency, just like every other agency up here - and just like the Congress. I'd encourage our folks not to get too hung up on what I consider to be the noise on TV and in social media.