AJ Michalka Quotes

I regrettably wasted time at university by being overwhelmed and intimidated by the talent of other composers. I felt stuck and didn't know what I was doing there. I enjoyed my experience, but I didn't grab it in the way I would now.

The temptation to quit and start over infects every creative process I've ever been in. Frustration and boredom always fuel this self-doubt.

God, I'm such a lazy writer - I can't even think up new names.

I feel the same way I did when I was in school. I'm having the same insecurities.

After 'Real Live Woman,' I wasn't sure I'd ever want to make another record.

I think one of the pitfalls of doing your own music is that sometimes you can never be satisfied with it: you're afraid to say that it's done, and you keep reworking it or re-recording it or re-writing it.

I was scared of failure, of being a one-hit wonder, never being able to write another song again, never being able to sing again. Maybe everything that I think I am and who I want to be never will happen.

By the time I was 12, I had memorised hundreds of couplets. I could recite for hours poems written by others. I knew I could write a line in metre. But I never dared to do it till I was 33 years old.

A lot of the fear about being a first-time director is just starting with a completely blank slate and thinking: 'Is this going to connect with anybody?'

I think I'm a good joke writer. I'm also very scared that the last joke I wrote is the last joke I'll ever write.

My worst fear is to not able to understand what my director wants me to do. I might not be able to reciprocate to his idea or vision. I may not be able to perform before the camera. Those are my worst fears.

There was this moment, particularly after I had my first child, where I felt like, 'I don't know if I'll ever make a record, or if this is always going to be something just floating around in my head.'

Somewhere my dad gave up. He was really so successful at his level that after a point he could not handle failure.

When I leave a recording session, there is usually a lot of paranoia or superstition on my part, like I'm afraid to hear what we've done.

It's tough for me to draw myself - usually way too self-critical.

I suffered a lot from social anxiety, and being on set was really scary to me. That fear can cause limits in your art and your performance because you're not going all in because there is this little thing in your head.

Blur' is about feeling lost, and on a personal level I would be lying if I didn't mention that this song, for me, was about feeling creatively and artistically lost in the city of all great opportunities, Los Angeles.

After the first album, I spent a lot of time being like, 'I'm not really a singer.' That kind of mentality doesn't help.

I am always in self-doubt... every moment of my filmmaking. I am supremely confident when the story is being written and everything is in our head. But the moment we get into the filmmaking, I start doubting myself - from the camera angle to the re-recording to getting the actors to do their shots.

For some reason, I think that I'm not doing enough work. People are like, 'You're on a series right now,' but I'm always like, 'Yeah, but I can do more!'

I don't know about the totally happy album, though. I don't know if that will ever come from me.

The fact is that blank pages inspire me with terror. What will I put on them? Will it be good enough? Will I have to throw it out?

There’s no better guarantee of failure than convincing yourself that success is impossible, and therefore never even trying.

Perfectionism has nothing to do with getting it right. It has nothing to do with fixing things. It has nothing to do with standards. Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move forward. It is a loop-an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are writing or painting or making and to lose sight of the whole.

But it is the fear, not the writing that defeats me. Everything is not a masterpiece.