Meaningful Music Quotes

Music is wonderful. Especially if there's some kind of content to it.

I don't go in the studio to make music that won't matter. I go in every night to try to make a point and make the best music that I can make.

I only make records when I feel I have something to say. I'm not interested in releasing music just for the sake of selling something. Sade is not a brand.

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'm just excited that I get to put out the music I love versus music just for the sake of it.

The most powerful music is music with purpose.

Fine music without devotion is but a splendid garment upon a corpse.

The society that produced The Who, The Stones, Dylan, Paul McCartney and later on people, like myself, is over. The materialistic society that produces these kinds of bombastic performances that don't have any value or musical meaning, is very conspicuous, look at me, I'm rich, dig my brand. That's what missing, Bob Dylan made us feel worthy, I try to do the same thing. Respect for the audience with music that is meaningful and soulful. Go for what moves you and not necessarily what you think will be commercial.

Well, I make every song I sing personal. I've never chosen a song that wasn't.

Because of 'Wasn't Expecting That,' I've had a lot of people come up to me and say how I've written their lives or their grandparents' lives. It means the world to me that I helped in the tiniest way.

He [Johnny Cash] always wanted to use his music to lift other people up, to say no matter how much trouble, there's hope. That was always his message in his songs. That's why he and [Bob] Dylan bonded so much, because they were both trying to do something meaningful.

Having a daughter made my music, I guess, more meaningful. It made me see more of life when I had my daughter.

I don't do filler songs. I don't get them. They don't make any sense to me. Why would I literally waste my time on a song that doesn't hold up to the same standards as the other songs on the album? I won't play it live.

The kind of music I'm trying to make is conscious, to make people think and feel and get inspired.

When I make music, I always try to do more than make a song that makes people dance and have fun. I try to send a message or give a reason for people to discuss it further.

My album is called 'Zero to Infinity' and none of my songs are going to have cheap, dirty lyrics. Every song, in a way, is a women empowerment song. Every song, even if it's a dance track, you'll be dancing on it, but it's the right thing.

It's just that a lot of songs that are popular right now, they don't have any meaning.

I think the best music is honest music.

I make grown-folks music, and I'm cool with that. I accept that. I try to be witty while also delivering a message.

I look for songs that the listener, when they hear it, they believe what I'm singing about, that I know what I'm singing about. That's my whole deal. I try to choose songs that a male or a female can perform and relate to.

I'm inspired by artists like Robyn, just because she writes amazing pop songs, and they're not throwaway. When I listen to a Robyn pop song, I don't feel like she's just kind of saying something and not thinking; I feel like it's really emotional.

I like to have songs with me that have substance. That's missing from a lot of today's music. You might hear a song with a catchy beat, but what's it about? It's not empowering or helping anyone.

All I try to do is to write music that feels meaningful to me, that has commitment and passion behind it.

As long as each song makes somebody feel something, I think that's the point of it all. I don't want it to just be background music, you know?

It's no accident that Op. 111 attracts literary attention. Though it's music, it doesn't quite behave like it. It seems to be charged with meaning, to communicate in symbols, ciphers, clues.