Laura Mvula Quotes

At the end of the day, I think that I'm making music for me as that 12-year-old kid in front of my boombox every day. I try to think about, if I'm that little kid, what would he like?

I'm spiritual, too, but 'Gitty Up' is a great song, know what I mean?

The day you open your mind to music, you're halfway to opening your mind to life.

I don't think any musician ever thinks about making a statement. I think everybody goes into music loving it.

Of all the music that reached farthest into heaven, it is the beating of a loving heart.

When you're young you don't think, 'This person is going to change your life.' But when you start recording your own songs, it comes back and reminds you.

My father has been a voice of encouragement in times of desperation for so many people. But he died when I was so young that, for me, his music has been a way for me to get to know him better.

My greatest influence is Jimi Hendrix, and if he's been reincarnated, or if he's looking down, sideways, or looking up, I just wanted to tell him that I love him and thank him for opening doors for me. I just wanted to make it beautiful for him.

As Erykah Badu, it has nothing to do with me, the way I look, my hair wrap, my style, it's about you and what you feel for my music. If I can make you feel like the way that people who influenced me made me feel, that's completion.

I love to listen to the music that first inspired me - I get that fresh feeling back.

Music bypasses the brain and goes straight to the heart. I wish my life had more of it.

Music is critical in our lives and culture. It's the inspiration that drives us. It's also the window to our souls. It's a reflection as to who we are, what we stand for and where we're going.

One of my heroes is a composer named James Bernard, and oh my God... I can still listen to his music today and be stirred and moved by it. But I think that you fall in love with... Well, again, when you're young, it really is more powerful. Much more terrifying.

The first time I had sat down to a meal I had grown on my own, along with a bottle of wine that we had made, I burst into tears. To be in touch and be in tune with that is an extraordinary gift.

I love what I do. I was given the most incredible gift that can be given to anyone. I could never imagine a world without music, and I feel grateful that I've been given the ability to share that.

My goal is really to continue to make music. I really don't make music to have platinum records and all that kind of stuff. I've been there. I do it because I love music, and I love uplifting people through my music. That's my real goal.

But when I hear a great song, I can't help but be inspired by it, regardless of whatever genre that song falls under.

My music is inspired by where I am and what I'm feeling at the time. Traveling and meeting new people is also incredibly inspiring to me.

I keep a diary because I love this writer, David Sedaris, and he writes a lot about his diary, and he inspired me to keep one.

My favorite kind of song is the most beautiful song that you love so much and it's so good it makes you want to cry a little bit. Any jam can sound like that on a certain day.

Music makes me love life, and without it, I don't know if I'd be happy.

I don't see any reason why young women shouldn't relate to me and have that connection with my music.

I've loved Patti LaBelle since I was a little girl. I love her so much because she's spontaneous. I love Shirley Murdock, Keyshia Cole, Jazmine Sullivan and Tweet and Faith Evans. Faith's songs got me through a lot.

I think when it came to music, it did feel quite natural because it was something that I was so passionate about.

I am not really into paintings, to be honest, but for me, the art I love is when I see singers putting their heart into their song, actors giving the performance of their lives, and books and movies that make me feel something I never thought I could; there's art in everything as long as it's made with soul.