Trent Reznor Quotes

The way that I've always gone about making music, the rule of thumb, has just been to make what I love.

I try to make my music interesting to me first, then hopefully other people will find it interesting, too.

I like to make the music that I really love. You're supposed to make your favorite music that no one else played, and I'd like to just keep it at that and not really change it at all.

I know what my sound is. I'm just trying to get it out there how I can explain it. I'm not trying to write or put out some music that doesn't represent me.

You get a lot of who you are as a musician across through the music you write. If you're writing your own music, then it's important to be really honest.

My biggest challenge was to make sure that the songs I did were who I am.

I'm totally open to exploring different types of music. I just have to always remember to be true to who I am.

The most important thing is that you honor that musical integrity, whether you make music that sounds like ABBA or you make music that sounds like Void.

I never do anything to strictly satisfy a fickle, ever-changing commercial world. I do the music I like to play. It's the only way I feel comfortable existing in the industry.

Everything I record, I just try to sound like me and come up with songs that suit what I do, and then just go for it.

The whole process of music for me is something absolutely honest and really naked and bare, so I never forced myself to write in French.

I make the kind of music I like.

I always make music that is true to my spirit.

What most people know about me, they know through my music. This time, I've tried to open that door as wide as possible. These songs are a giant step closer to who I really am and what my music is all about. Hence the title.

I don't feel like I'm on a mission. I'm trying to play music that I like to play and like to listen to.

I'm only worried about what I'm doing or how I present music. I just try to do things I want to listen to, and I think that's what everybody else is try doing, too.

I don't want people to just hand me music and be like, 'Here, you sound good on this. Sing it.' I want to be able to say, 'This is me.'

As an artist, you need to be true to yourself and free and not put yourself in a box that contradicts with what you feel is needed for a song.

As a composer, I'm basically trying to represent myself through my music in an honest way.

It's very important to me to stay true to who I am as a musician and the songs that I love.

The more people do hear my music, they do realize that I'm being true to myself. So there is that conflict, but I think more and more, people are realizing I'm just being me.

I think you just have to be yourself instead of catering your sound to a specific audience, make the music you want to make, and the audience will find you.

I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. I'm just writing songs that I like, and that's where I've always come from.

You don't try to get influenced by everything that's going on with all the other music around you. You don't listen to the radio - I mean, I don't. When I get ready to do an album, I don't listen to anybody else; I don't wanna be influenced.

I urge younger artists to know that you don't have to be anything you don't want. You can do whatever's comfortable for you. From the music I make, to the things I do in my life, I'm true to my R&B core. I have the capability to make pop records and crossover, but that's not my aim.