Laura Mvula Quotes

I've found that in now having experienced what it's like to make records and just through growing up in general that you should be expressive about what's affecting you instead of trying to sing about a subject just for the sake of other people getting something from it.

I say what's in my heart, and I do it in my concerts.

You know when you hear a lyric and you can tell that the person means it? That is really hard; that is so much harder than it seems: to find the topics that you're passionate about and have it come across as like, 'Yeah, that guy needed to sing that song.'

I speak from the heart. Certain people follow lyricists and people that put words on a dictionary together, and this and that. I'm more of a rapper that speaks how I feel. I just tell it how it is.

I feel what I sing, and I sing what I feel. Really, that's all I can do.

I'm never going to be a flat-line guy. My heart is going to be on my sleeve with every shot.

If I write when I'm low, it will be a dark song, but I don't care. I want to be honest with myself at all times.

I'm a big emotional mess. I try to talk about things that people don't like to talk about, especially in music. Hopefully it reaches someone and lets them access their vulnerability. That's what I want it to accomplish.

Nobody can tell you you're wrong for writing a song about how you feel - even if you don't really feel that way.

I'm a heart-on-the-sleeves kind of person.

If Rihanna stripped it all down morally rather than with her clothes, perhaps we'd get closer to Nina Simone. She's talented, but all we want is to sing the truth. If Britney Spears was to sing closer to her heart, she might have been the new Bobby Gentry or Dolly Parton.

I don’t hide my emotions from people.

I'm not afraid to write my feelings in songs.

I'm not conventional. I try to be raw and vulnerable and gross.

'Crush' is probably the most honest project I've ever written. It's my voice.

I think what it was is that Tupac was extremely passionate, very honest and raw in his approach to communicating. He understood communicating. And I think he just did it from a deep place within.

I tend to lose myself in the moment. I’m not very good at holding back. I don’t know how to do this without feeling everything. My emotions are the tool I use to perform.

I certainly wear my heart on my sleeve, and I think that comes out in the characters that I play. There's a yearning, or something, that comes out of me that people relate to.

Growing up, I wasn't as comfortable expressing myself as I am now, and I think that's why I chose acting: because it's acceptable to have your feelings. It's a place that they want you to feel. Whereas in life, growing up, it was 'Be quiet!' and 'Keep it to yourself.'

What's the point of a song if you can't be honest?

I use myself for each part. Naturally, it's my body, it's my soul, it's my feelings. That's the only way I know how to work. I couldn't pretend.

I find the greatest songs in the world come out of pain, and I don't like it! Here's what it does: It strips away all of your facade. It makes you so honest. It's cleansing.

Anything I've ever said, I certainly was feeling at the time.

I think the best acting is when you allow yourself to be kind of vulnerable in the moment.

When I'm acting, I'm in a different place, singing is the last thing on my mind, and when I'm on stage, there's no acting at all involved, not even presentation, it's just who I am.