Dan Smith Quotes

I've purposely made my music to be challenging and different. There's some electronics, R&B, blues, Motown, country, jazz and lots of soul.

I've been compared to hundreds of artists, which just goes to show you that I'm not any one thing at all.

To some degree, yeah, because I have to play a certain number of originals that might be considered avant-garde material. I realize though, that only a few people in the audience actually know what that music is, or understand it.

A lot of people think that there has to be extreme continuity in an album, but if you look at my background, it's variety! I want to see some variety in an artist, I want to be entertained, I want some depth. Show me some different styles!

Every director is so different from every other one.

I'm so happy people are seeing the eclectic side of me. I'm really honored to be able to push my voice into different sounds. Otherwise it all gets a bit samey same.

I'm glad there are a lot of guitar players pursuing technique as diligently as they possibly can, because it leaves this whole other area open to people like me.

I like to think of my style as pretty versatile. And I'd like whatever I record to reflect that to be mostly genre - to be just something that people want to listen on to see what I'm going to come up with next. That's the kind of music I'm into.

Because my musical background is so diverse, it lends me to have very much my own style and it helps me to relate to the music as I'm going to play it. I just write. And if it comes out country, it's a country song. The funny thing is, I write all across the board. I just write what hits me at the time.

My favorite band of all time is The Clash. The thing I love about The Clash is they started out as guys who could barely play three chords. They dabbled in reggae, punk, rap, jazz. They came to a sound that could only be defined as The Clash. It was impossible to say what it was. I admire them for that.

I don't think that there's much that sets me apart from other musicians, but I think there are definitely things that set me apart from other kinds of artists. I feel that musicians do it their own way, write their own songs and put on a great live shows.

It's what I've trained for, from the first sketch to the fabric. Making dresses that are different from the usual style, and a lot of fun to wear.

There is no pop category, let alone any infinitely gene-sliced genre name, to contain the lead in Rihanna's voice in 'Needed Me.'

I've always been drawn to all sorts of genres and all sorts of voices.

I like what Dumbfoundead and Awkwafina are doing, but I think I'm just trying to do something different.

Whatever my singing aspirations are, you'll hear them in 'Aap Ka Suroor.' It's no run-of-the-mill album.

I've tried to do every album in a different style, which is why I tend to leave a fair bit of time between each one.

I feel like with '2.5,' I created another style that nobody else is coming with.

I used to like Lady Gaga. I still love her. But what I like about LMFAO is that they're completely outside of the box; they're completely different. They're not ridiculous, but they are not afraid of it. And also, it's a certain type of artistry.

When you say, 'Man, what kind of music does Outkast make?' You be like, 'They make Outkast music.' What kind of music does N.E.R.D. make? They make N.E.R.D. music. I want to be one of those people, because there's so many layers to the music I create that I don't want people to expect me to do one thing.

My core is grime. But I make all kinds of music. Take Picasso. He could paint whatever way he liked. He could do a little ting with a felt tip if he wanted to - it's still going to be a bad boy Picasso at the end.

I hate when bands make beige, middle-of-the-road music. I guess you can say 'Lonerism' is the war on beige music.

The 'Aldous Harding' record isn't easily placed because it wasn't trying to sound like anything. It was quite organic.

You can put the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the same category, but the types of music, the colors each band evokes, are completely different. It's the same with Mozart and Beethoven - they express two very different aspects of music.

As an artist, I try not to sound the same as others. Or even as myself.