Amanda Shires Quotes

I don't necessarily love all the collaborations that I've done; the more I work with other people, the more I realize that I want to work with myself.

Every now and then, as a composer and producer, it's important to write music for yourself.

I somehow sensed when I was a teenager that I wanted to do my own work. I was quite clear that I didn't want to be an interpretative kind of artist. I had an intuition about wanting to create my own form, in one way or another, whatever that would be.

I paint and I draw and I write and I do other things too, and recently some people at school were asking if I'd ever publish any of my work. But I almost feel like I would have to publish it under another name because there's a definition of me out there that feels kind of stuck in the moment when it was formed.

I want to be a prime creator - as every self-regarding artist should do.

'Nanette' has been a journey. She went from being something of a personal little blast to the world from me, that I expected would seal me off into the margins as far as my career is concerned, and into an idiosyncratic sort of life beyond all of that.

There's nothing that compares with the time spent all by myself on a creation that is all my own. I still think of my solo work as my 'home planet' in comics, though I've learned to listen much more to editors and trusted friends for feedback.

I don't want to be all over the place with my style and my music, but I am experimenting.

I am not really interested in only showcasing my life or work but plan to produce, write and create work that is solely my vision.

I want to be my own artist and reflect my creativity.. I don't want to be turned into a pop princess; that's not who I am.

I don't know, I really try not to pay attention to comparisons, 'cause I'm my own artist. I try to build my own sound.

I'm a grown-up and I'm a creative person so I should try to give something to that and see what I can make with that. And not sit around listening to people be like, 'You really should be on an HBO show. You'd be great on an Amazon series.' You're like, 'Thank you, okay. I don't have any offers.'

My life and career is defined by the constant pursuit of new forms of culture and self-expression.

Oftentimes, it feels like we spend so much of our life waiting to make art, waiting for somebody to let us do something. You don't really have to do that. You can make it all the time. And 99 percent of the time, it's not going to be a big deal on a global scale. But 100 percent of the time, it's going to make you feel amazing.

But then as I got older, I got to know all these amazing artists like Alanis Morissette, Stevie Nicks, Debbie Harry, all these women who are really the creators behind who they are.

I feel like I'm a creative, and I want to take advantage of that.

The playwright, along with any writer, composer, painter in this society, has got to have a terribly private view of his own value, of his own work. He's got to listen to his own voice primarily. He's got to watch out for fads, for what might be called the critical aesthetics.

I want to make decisions as to where I want to go as an artist, and to get to it in my own way

I had to learn to do stuff only for myself, and stop thinking about pleasing some imaginary client or boss. It's a habit that many artists get into that have worked in commercial ventures.

It's so easy to get into the same routine. A novel every two years; perhaps, improving technique. But I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in doing something fundamentally important--and therefore, it needs time. And what I've been doing, really, is avoiding this pressure to get into the habit of one novel a year. This is what is expected of novelists. And I have never been really too much concerned with doing what is expected of novelists, or writers, or artists. I want to do what I believe is important.

Destiny's Child was a part of me; I was blessed to even have that experience, but this is me doing my thing and that's all I can do.

I used to tell everyone I met to be an artist..... I don't do that any more.

When I did TV shows and my other movies, I never try to do it for anybody. I just do what I think is good no matter what the genre is.

Your greatest creation is your creative life. It's all in your hands. Rejection can't take it away; reviews can't take it away. The life you create for yourself as an artist, may be the only thing that's really yours. Create a life you can center yourself in calmly as you wait for your work to grow.

My greatest accomplishment is the freedom for doing what I want to do with my music...I love my freedom so I'm happy I am a free artist.