Connecting with Listeners Quotes

The average commercial radio listener in America is not looking for lofty, intellectual subjects. This isn't brain surgery. It's about striking the passion of the people.

The audience likes a speaker with the same weakness and the same virtues that they themselves have.

Anytime in radio that you can reach somebody on an emotional level, you're really connecting.

You just have to be yourself and make music you feel from your gut, and hopefully, your audience will respond.

When I was speaking about communicating, I meant that the listener - we have to reach the listener; otherwise, of course, you're writing the piece, as I say, only for the satisfaction of seeing it on the paper for yourself, and then it ends right there.

Everybody goes through a lot of the same things, and I talk about those, and that's the key. You have to connect with your audience, and I might take them on a trip with me, tell them I went here and I went there and they'll go with me, you know, to hear the stories.

My aim is for every song to have a purpose - for you to be able to say, 'This song is about this.' But love and heartbreak are some of the most abstract subjects.

Whenever you write music, you want it to touch people on a certain level. I mean, I've been reading tweets about 'Troublemaker' and people saying 'OMG, I can so relate to this - this is a guy that I fancy, or a girl that I fancy; it's exactly like this person.'

Nobody was listening when I learned how to play music. But there's something about being on stage, talking to the audience, looking at them and smiling, that's always been difficult for me. I'm a lot more comfortable now, but there are still moments of awkwardness.

There's certain songs that you're gonna record that you hope to touch people and change lives, and there's certain songs that you know that are not going to be that serious.

When I am singing, I believe that if I respect the public, then they will respect me, and I know it. It's noticeable.

And I get so nervous now when it's not my show, like I'm not the headliner, because I know that those fans are there for another artist. Many people might not know an upcoming artist, but I've grown to like those shows because if I can control a crowd that doesn't know me, I'm doing my job as an entertainer. I have to rise to the occasion.

My worst fear is my music won't connect with the public.

One of the most important things to me as a songwriter is to make music that's young and fresh but also soulful and real. I want people to feel like they know me once they listen to my songs.

I hope that just what I sing about and how I relate to my audience is as much of a political statement as I need to make.

When I start playing I'm just a rollercoaster of sound. I don't know what's coming next, I never do, and I sit and sign and talk to the people afterwards.

I've never really broken this down before, but, in movies, you almost have no connection to fans. And if you do TV, you're kind of connected, but they know you as the TV name not your real name. If you do radio, there's more of a bond there. And then if you do a podcast it's like you're literally inside of your fans.

If I can impact people with my music, that's what I want.

When I play a song for someone the first time, if I make 'em laugh, I think, 'Yes, I've succeeded.'

I don't like lyrics to be overbearing. I like them to say something. But I'm not trying to change the world overnight. Something simple and understandable that people can relate their own everyday experiences to.

When I'm performing, I'm not even thinking about the song. I'm thinking about the audience.

When I started writing songs, I was doing it for myself and a small circle of friends. And gradually, over the years, an audience became involved.

Early on, I had to structure my ideas of success around things like, 'Can I go back and listen to the record months or years after I made it and still get some enjoyment out of it?' Or 'Have I said what I wanted to say on this album? Did it connect with people on a personal level, even if it's a small number of people?'

I can't recall a bad review - maybe I'm due one. But the worst thing would be if somebody said I was inaudible. Reach your audience's ears - only then can you reach their hearts.

One reason I do the live shows - and the monthly speeches at public radio stations - is to remind myself that people hear the show, that it has an audience, that it exists in the world. It's so easy to forget that.