Top 136 Quotes & Sayings by Sharon Van Etten - Page 2

I used to hyperventilate, but I don't do that anymore.

Relationships. Ugh. You have to laugh sometimes.

Time is very weird.

Most musicians are normal people who want to hang out and are really down to earth.

I'm attracted to music made by people who let themselves be emotional. They really care about what they do, and we believe in what they say.

I wanna grow and develop as an artist, and I feel like different kinds of collaborations can only help me in that way.

I was so broken when I did the first record. I was living in my parents' basement, I didn't know anyone. I was broken-hearted and writing this really dark record. I was at the bottom of a well.

I will entertain things that are entertaining and sound interesting and challenge me. But acting just doesn't come second-nature to me.

I think leading up to the tour is the most stressful part because you barely have any time home.

I definitely wouldn't consider myself a professional, but I like to dress up like one.

My mom is a history teacher, so we'd go on all these historic trips as kids around Halloween, because it was kind of creepy.

When I first started making music, it was where I went when I couldn't express myself, when I wasn't able to connect with other people, when I couldn't talk about what I was going through.

I've always liked to learn how to do things - I'm a hobby person. So I'll learn something at a beginner's level, then usually move on to the next thing.

I don't know how to get a crowd singing along. That's not what my music does.

I used to work at a label. I used to be a publicist. I used to be at a management company.

I'm a total goofball.

People always ask me, 'Why do you only write about heartbreak?' I think I only write when I'm broken, so that's just what happens. It makes me feel better, but having some distance helps.

I didn't start writing with band arrangements until I was working on 'Tramp.'

I hit 'record' whenever I'm going through a really hard time. I don't listen to it for a couple of days, so I have some perspective. If it's too personal to share, and I feel like would alienate the listeners, then I usually don't share that stuff.

I go back to things all the time. It's really nice, too, like when I'm going through some kind of a writer's block, and I'm feeling uninspired, I go to some of my oldest songs from over the years and sift through them, and one thing that's very nice is to see how I've grown up a little bit. A little bit.

If I make assumptions about the audience and start overthinking things, I can drive myself crazy about how the audience perceives me. I try not to do that anymore.

I moved to New York to pursue music.

I was in musicals. and I was in the choir when I was younger. Before I started writing my own songs, I thought I wanted to be on Broadway, but it was nothing I ever really pursued.

You write these vulnerable songs as a sort of therapy, but if you don't confront people on a daily basis, it's not reality. There's still a bit of separation there.

Everyone has their down days. Unfortunately, that's when I am the most prolific.

Music is still my main thing, but I will explore anything that's interesting and challenging.

It's not onstage as often anymore, but whenever I got anxious, I used to talk a lot more, and I wouldn't even know what I was saying... it was so bad. If I just talk myself through something, even if it's just talking about nothing, it usually gets me out of it.

I think, in general, I find writing to be very therapeutic and singing in itself to be really therapeutic.

I didn't think I was helping other people. But I think that comes hand in hand with trying to be able to connect with people, and if you make things too personal, then it's harder for people to relate to you. Otherwise, it's just them listening to you read your diary.

Hopefully, the stuff that is way too personal that I record and keep - people won't hear it because it's way too personal.

I'm not the sad sack that people might think I am. But I think that if I didn't write and perform, I probably would be.

I only write when I'm in a dark place. I hit 'record' and get it out, writing and playing my guitar at the same time.

Brit Marling is very positive, very professional, very encouraging.

I get things out of my system through my songs, but, because they can be about so many different things, it takes me a while to get through them emotionally.

I am my therapist, and I analyze what's happening and if I'm being hurt in the process. The result is songs that are very emotional, very deep, although I try to write them generally so they won't alienate the listener.

Noveller make soundscapes that are creepy, ethereal, really beautiful and all over the place. They can be intense, dark, and groovy but also dreamlike and happy.

If I start panicking a little bit, I just talk through it with somebody.

All the records I keep are like friends I visit.

I feel like, as a female, I am maybe hyper-sensitive to feeling pushed into a corner or somebody taking a song a different way.

I can't read notes well, but I can hear something and sing a harmony to it automatically.

In my teenage years, there was a lot of angst going on.

I'm still friends with most of my exes. There are only one or two people that I'll never talk to again.

Sometimes music should just be about you sitting on your bedroom floor, or in the back of the car, singing along stupidly. Evan Dando's music was all about that for me.

I only work with people that are mysteries.

It's really hard to watch yourself.

I believe my songs are strong enough to stand on their own - even way back then when they were recorded badly and minimally.

I always had a hard time communicating my emotions. I'd retreat into my bedroom and listen to music. And when you're a teenager, you're dealing with all these hormones. It's like, 'What are these?'

I'm pursuing a degree in mental health counseling. It'll be a long journey, and I still want to do music and other creative projects.

Whatever your writing is about, you're really connected with it, and you can always go back to when that was. I remember everything, and time and place are like a center for me.

I feel like I'm getting better at being a writer.

I have a lot of alter-egos: I would love to be a back-up singer for someone someday. I have an electronic side-project. I have a '90s grunge side project; I have a piano project... I have this industrial, goth-electronic song, super creepy sounding, just really dark and dreary.

There's something to writing a hook and something to writing a memorable melody. That's what I liked about musicals. Then I realized I could write my own songs, and I didn't have to sing other people's.

As a kid, you put musicians on a pedestal - well, I did. The more you meet bands, and the more you hang around them, you can have normal conversations.

Performing a song is intense. When I see people connecting, it makes it all worthwhile.

I would love to work with PJ Harvey some day.

Both my brothers are drummers.

I like having a home. I like having a place to return to.

People relate to songs so differently. No matter what it's about in reality, people create their own meaning behind it and connect with it on their own terms.

In some ways, being on the road is like summer camp. There's a camaraderie, but I'm also learning how to be more of a leader.

I'm very democratic about stuff. I know what I want, but I also like getting opinions and people sharing ideas.