Top 8 Quotes & Sayings by Conor O'Brien

If you're writing a song about a relationship ending, what you're really doing is honoring how much that person meant to you.

There's no way anyone's going to understand my own personal experiences, where the songs came from, because they're mine. But I was very conscious of leaving loads of space in the songs so that people could interpret them with their own memories, feelings, and emotions. I love the process of taking stuff away so that people could finish the songs themselves. I was hoping it'd end up being as universal as possible, even though it comes from the most personal place.

When I am recording on my own, it's like an oil painting: I can put that on top of that and build up layers. But with the band, it turned out more watercolor: you're leaving white bits of paper exposed, so that nothing is too overworked.

I think for me, the only depressing music is music that doesn't give credence to those kinds of feelings, music that's just written for money or commercial reasons. Sad music can be the most uplifting thing in the world.

America's a funny place. Every time I've come over it just feels absolutely gigantic and massive. I've always had good shows there, but I just go and come back, feeling like another singer/songwriter in a sea of thousands of singer/songwriters. I don't really know what "breaking it in America" is or means. I just focus on touring day-by-day, and show-by-show, and see where it goes.

It took a little time to get where I wanted. It took a little time to get free. It took a little time to be honest. It took a little time to be me.

I think the trick is that you have to change how you take stuff in. Maybe the early beginnings of a song come out in a subconscious way, but then you might have to crack it to a certain degree, where you might use parts of your brain that you don't normally use.

I just think I'm a narcissist, really! I guess when I write albums, they take a huge amount of time out of my life and I'm aware of not using the same processes as I did with the last one, or else I'd get really bored and wouldn't feel inspired.