Elvis Costello Quotes

I enjoy the collaboration. I always envied people in bands who got to have that interaction.

I know that the gift that God gave me isn't gonna just wither up and die unless I let it die, so it's a matter of me having the faith that it's gonna come out. Whether or not the public's gonna like it is another story. But I think as long as I keep changing and sticking to what I really love - and the same goes for Steven and the other guys in the band - then people are gonna like it.

I love getting into a studio with a bunch of friends. When the day's done, we've made something. We recognize that we're from different walks of the music industry, and there's no reason we shouldn't be collaborating. That's what I'm trying to create with thenewno2 - a sense of community.

It's like a cast of actors; you're all working together closely under pressure to produce something everyday. And when we put up an issue, it's like the curtains opening on a new play. I really like that daily sense of surprise.

I think that other people covering my work is really exciting... Im really open to that kind of thing because I think interpretation is an art form.

You think you've made something really great, but there's a reason why it's not resonating the way some previous work did. But it's not that easy to just replicate. Some people think, "Oh, just go do that thing you used to do before." But it just doesn't work like that. It's a lot more mysterious or slippery.

I love to create magic - to put something together that's so unusual, so unexpected that it blows people's heads off. Something ahead of the times. Five steps ahead of what people are thinking.

I just want to work with people, so I always try to find a way to collaborate in the best way for the music.

I definitely want to work with people who are artists and who are interested in being their best version of themselves.

I think half the point of painting a picture is that you don't know what will happen... that if painters did know what was going to happen they wouldn't bother to do it.

I prefer the band aspect of things. I feel comfortable. It feels good to look to my left and right and see three other people on stage with you that love music as much as you.

I don't like the fact that people are supposed to think horror movies have a way things should go. I always try to do the exact opposite of what people expect and want.

...when you collaborate with someone else on something creative, you get to places that you would never get to on your own. The way an idea builds as it careens back and forth between good writers is so unpredictable. Sometimes it depends on people misunderstanding each other, and that's why I don't think there's any such thing as a mistake in the creative process. You never know where it might lead.

A good poem has its own life. It's like bringing a child into the world. You, the poet, birthed the child, but the child will surprise you continually. I think a work of art has its own aliveness, its own future.

For me, self-gratification eventually took a backseat to trying to do something collaborative with other people, to trying to make something new.

It's always better to shock people and change people's expectations than to give them exactly what they think you can do.

Jazz, like leadership, combines the unpredictability of the future with the gifts of individuals.

I'm interested in what happens to music when other people use it. Whereas there are composers who don't like anyone to touch their music, I think people should because they do things I can't think of.

When I'm working on games I don't think necessarily about what the end benefit of the game is going to be. Typically I'm trying to think of: "What can I do that is going to find new ways to entertain and surprise people."

Because when you work with a different team, the expectations are different and then you deliver in a very different way. You look back at it and you're proud of yourself. And when the same people come in and you do the same thing, it's boring. You could re-envision it again and again but when the new chemistry of ideas comes in, something happens as a team.

When you're working on a creative thing, everyone has an idea, and they're pushing it. The first time you work with anybody, you have to get comfortable with the way another person pushes hard for what they want. Familiarity breeds contempt, people say. But I've found, for creative things, familiarity breeds peace of mind, because you realize you know someone better. You trust each other. You know not to take things a certain way, or a wrong way. You get to where you don't have to waste quite so much time with diplomacy. Things are a little more efficient.

You shouldn't strategize your career if you're in a creative realm. You can't either. I love the unknown. I love the element of surprise. I've always felt really inspired by it. I love the spontaneity of the job. I think you can't really fight against it.

Having everyone get exposed to brainstorming, prototyping, thinking about a problem, that's a best practice. One of the things I love seeing is how genius people are. You'll be thinking about some area that needs improving, and then someone just comes in and gives you that little bit of energy. Free online education doesn't solve everything, but you open the window and you build on each other.

The best and most talented directors - and I think it goes for people too - are the most confident in giving room to their actors and trusting them.

I'm always looking for talented people that I want to collaborate with.