Musical Discovery Quotes

Maybe the biggest thing that I've learned musically is that anything is possible. Things can work when maybe they don't seem like they can.

I mostly listen to things that are so different because there's something so intriguing about trying to understand where someone is coming from.

When I'm in the studio with a writer, I don't mind for them to take the lead and show me something new.

I love 'Some Enchanted Evening', and 'If I Loved You'. And as I sing them more and more, I find new favorites.

I had maybe heard 'The Times Are A-Changing' on the radio, but I had no idea who Dylan was. No idea.

I got a guitar when I was six and, instead of learning other people's songs, started to try to write my own, even at that young age.

When we were starting out as a band in New York, we played a concert at a small club early on and asked Lady Gaga to open for us. We were big fans, and she had the same kind of approach to music as we did: not taking everything so seriously and just having fun.

I remember hearing people like Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac, and Elvis. My parents were big fans of them, and they were the early seeds. My brother was more into Slipknot, and I still listen to them, too, but it wasn't until I listened to Paolo Nutini that it really clicked.

When I came home my parents were listening to Pakistani Qawwali music, like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, they're listening to music from Mali, like Ali Farka Toure, they're listening to Brazilian songwriters, like Gilberto Gil, to opera, to Neil Young even, things you don't hear as a kid in Caracas. I love all the music they turned me onto.

You don't know what inspires you. You like to think you know what inspires you, but in the final analysis I don't think you really do. It's great to look at a blank sheet of paper, you know, and walk up to an instrument and not know what's gonna happen. It's the most challenging thing I do.

In high school, I would secretly play Joni Mitchell songs all the time. That's when I started singing and playing at the same time, and I got really into doing that.

Musically, I always allow myself to jump off of cliffs. At least that's what it feels like to me. Whether that's what it actually sounds like might depend on what the listener brings to the songs.

If you're always playing the correct notes, there's something wrong - you're not searching; you're not reaching for anything.

There is no formula to it. Writing every song is a little journey. The first note has to lift you.

Since I was a kid, music has been a huge part of my life. My parents had a pretty solid vinyl collection and exposed me to some amazing artists.

I think it's all about the music you listen to along the way. For me, my parents always played Motown music and The Beatles, so I was drawn to the soul.

I had been inspired by an organ player named Earl Grant, who played organ and piano together. My mom took me to see him. So I went home, put my piano and organ together, too.

I love writing with really experienced producers and co-writers who open my mind to things I never would have thought otherwise. We may think the same way about something, but they might say it in a way that I never would have thought to say it.

My dad raised me on metal, but my first serious love was hip-hop.

When I'm at home creating music, I usually wind up laughing. It's always, like, funny - like, what the hell did I just write?

What I do now is all my dad's fault, because he bought me a guitar as a boy, for no apparent reason.

Hearing the blues changed my life.

Soccer presented no challenge to me. Playing felt like breathing: I always had a magical connection to the ball. But it didn't feel like an adventure. Music was more of a challenge and, in the end, felt more interesting.

If you are playing repertoire material, you're stuck. There's not huge amounts you can do.

I'm not likely to forget where I've been and what I've done and learned. I think it's just as important to play new instruments as to play new pieces. The old ones are getting scarcer and the new ones more and more wonderful.