Jay-Z Quotes

If you write songs and if you write music that's very sincere and very honest, it's pop music, but it is pop music with a lot of honesty and a lot of heart.

An actress must be a woman whose emotional perceptions are true, and to make them so, she must have a fine contempt for any art or thought that betrays them for something false.

Music's supposed to come from the heart. I felt like that if it ever got mechanical, I was going to back away from it.

Somehow you can tell the difference when a song is written just to get on the radio and when what someone does is their whole life. That comes through in Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson. There is no separating their life from their music.

That's what I like about Frank Ocean or Bon Iver - they try to capture a feeling in the most sincere way.

I always make music that is true to my spirit.

Real music to me is real; it's what you feel.

It's not like if I play in big places I won't be happy. But I don't want to start adapting to what's in style to make my music. I want to stay true to my roots, to keep making the music I love, that comes from my soul. And if there are people who want to listen to it, I'm happy.

I've always made music from the heart, and that's what I do.

Our music comes from our hearts - and it always has.

That's the most important part of all the music I produce: making sure the artist is bringing themselves out in the music.

The people I admire are Tim Buckley and John Martyn - singers that grew into themselves and were honest. John Martyn is one of the great soul singers because soul is not a genre; it's a feeling.

I just try to sing every song with sincerity.

I'm not just making rhymes and making melodies. I'm expressing my true life force, energy.

Emotional sounds don't lie.

Kenny Loggins pours his heart and soul into the music he makes. He'll take you with him through everything he's going through, which is not easy.

My idols are singers like Billie Holiday and Erykah Badu because there's no gloss on what they do.

I feel like I can't write something that has a real emotion in it if I can't connect to that emotion.

Self-expression is my goal, I want to be real with my feelings. Singing and dancing and all the joy that goes with performing come from my heart. If I can't feel it, I won't do it.

I try to be genuine. I try to be real. It's such a subjective thing, but I try to convey an emotion.

Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.

I only record songs that I really like and believe in and can sing with conviction.

Music's supposed to be real. When it really touches you, it's supposed to be real.

I think most of my songs are based on an emotion and in every song I write, there's at least a partial truth.

True feeling justifies whatever it may cost.