Max von Essen Quotes

The most important thing for me as an artist is having an identity.

I kind of always wanted my own music to just sound like, like me, I suppose, like if I was music it would be the music I make, I think.

People choose whatever projects they've seen that I've done over the years, and whichever one is their favorite is the only one they care about. But I realized that none of those were my voice or representative of what my thoughts and feelings were.

My job is to express myself.

I express myself through my art.

I think it's really important to make things your own in your voice. I started when I was 23, and in the beginning of my career, there was this expectation of a young designer being edgier, cooler, more downtown. But I was never that person.

You, quote, find your voice, unquote, when you are able to invent this one character who resembles you, obviously, and probably is more like you than anyone else on earth, but is not the equivalent to you.

I do not know anything about Art with a capital A. What I do know about is my art. Because it concerns me. I do not speak for others. So I do not speak for things which profess to speak for others. My art, however, speaks for me. It lights my way.

My music is the most 'me' thing about me. Everything is in my music.

When you're an artist, all you're trying to do is self-express.

I feel, as an artist, I should be able to express who I am and the things I come from, and the places I want to also be.

If you copy then it is not self-expression.

To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way.

The whole point in developing your own style is to find your own voice.

An album is such a personal thing. It's something I always wanted to do. It's me doing me, singing as me.

Every art expression is rooted fundamentally in the personality and temperament of the artist.

I think it's an okay thing to express yourself.

A musician should only sound like what they do, and no two musicians sound the same. It's an individual-feel thing, you know?

What I voice, I voice though my art, if that's not too vainglorious a word. But I don't think it is.

I don't know if there is any one secret to successful writing, but one important step is to move beyond imitation and discover what you can write that no one else can - that is, find out who you are and write that in an appropriate narrative and style.

When you make a solo record, it's you. It's your name. It has to be the right songs for how you feel.

I have to be able to be the artist that I am.

If people want to know who I am, it is all in the work.

I think this, I think basically I'm not interested in people following my work or making work like my work.

To me, what makes an artist is a unique personality that they're not afraid to let show.