Top 55 Quotes & Sayings by Tom Odell

It's like there's the rest of the world, and then there's America. Part of the reason I would really love continue to making music over here because so much of American music has inspired me, whether it's Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen.

I don't think I'll ever be able to grow a beard.

Songs are about just being totally honest and putting those words to music.

I don't really have loads of friends - three or four who are close. The thing that I love the most is playing with my band, and with everything else I feel kind of uncomfortable. I don't think I'm socially awkward. I just prefer being behind a piano.

I grew up in the suburbs of a small town on the south coast where the only opportunity I ever got to wear anything smart was a funeral, so I had never owned a piece of clothing worth more than £40.

I'm a big Arcade Fire fan. I love the way they make records - 'Funeral' being my favorite.

The first song I ever wrote was when I was 12, and it had, like, four lines in it. You progress and get better.

I would consider myself a perfectionist, yeah. I don't think that is always that helpful, either. Sometimes it's good to be a little more open-minded; you can overthink things when things are actually fine, and it's that moment that you lose it. Looking back, sometimes I've made mistakes from being a perfectionist.

One month I'll be completely obsessed with Bob Dylan and the next Arcade Fire. I like early Elton John and David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. I listen to a lot of American bands. But I like listening to new bands, too.

Singing didn't really come naturally to me, I don't think. I had to really work at it. I just kept singing. I never was really worried about it, though, because I was writing songs, and that was the most important thing to me.

I want people to hear the honesty in my singing, and that I'm not hiding behind anything. It's raw. It's not for any arrogance or ego. It's just pure feelings.

I tend to write and record things quite quickly. You can tamper with things for years, and it's artistic laziness sometimes.

There's always a part of my brain saying: 'Stop getting comfortable. Don't relax.' Because I find it difficult to write when I'm happy. I have to go out there and get battered up and bruised to write anything. I have to feel something.

The strongest feelings I've had in my life are when love has gone right and when love has gone bad. And I think strong feelings make good songs.

I genuinely find the most meaningful thing I do is to make music, but also to absorb some sort of creativity.

There are a lot of women at my gigs. The first show I headlined was a sea of women, which I can't complain about. I'm pleased these 18-year-old girls like my music.

I've only ever had one doubt about music. It came when I was 11. I hated playing scales.

When I'm at home, I like to put records on, but because I travel a lot, I listen to a lot of music on my iPhone.

Everyone in England knows about Burberry, and it kind of represents a standard of being well-dressed... But the nice thing is, they have a lot of clothes, so I still feel like myself whenever I'm wearing their clothes.

I'm not saying you have to be totally despondent or anything, but... in New York, it's cold sometimes; it rains sometimes; even if everything in your life is great, bad weather can set the mood. You can write songs in New York because it's not always perfect. To write a good song, things can't be perfect.

What's nice about Twitter is that you've got that point of contact with your fans that artists have never had before. I think it's good for musicians. Just as long as you don't start tweeting things about your girlfriends or boyfriends - there's got to be a line.

The dominant male is history. Could you see a male Lady Gaga? The closest we've got is Justin Bieber, who'd be locked up if he tried the stuff Gaga gets away with. Women are the only rock stars now. Adele is brutally honest. I want to be like her.

I wouldn't mind being the male Adele. She came along, and people were like, 'Damn, we haven't heard anyone this real for years.'

When I'm in London, it feels like I am that character who is 'Tom Odell.'

My aspirations aren't to sell millions of records, but to write really good songs.

If people stop being interested, it's because you haven't written a good enough album. Music will always be the most powerful thing. It doesn't matter what record labels or journalists say. It's the song.

Every musician writes about past relationships. And other than that, I can promise you, I have very little in common with Taylor Swift.

I find myself more affected by music the more I do it. Particularly when you're touring, and you're in the bus, and you're listening to loads of music. Life becomes far more dramatic, I guess - you're never in the same place; you're constantly meeting new people. You almost become more sensitized to music.

I have always liked clothes and fashion. And really, being a British male, I am automatically the best dressed person in any room - especially in America.

I think everyone mentions Bob Dylan, but he's someone I just admire so much as a songwriter. I think people write songs, and then there's Bob Dylan songs. He's one step ahead of just everybody else.

I don't really use Facebook, because I find it a bit intrusive on your personal life.

Throughout my entire life, I constantly tried to fight normality. I hate it. I hate the idea of it. I hate routine. I hate anything that feels remotely regular or right.

When I was around 13 or 14, I started getting really into songwriting. And one day, I was rooting through my mum's old tapes and records, and I found 'Grace' by Jeff Buckley. I remember so vividly the first time I put it on. It blew my mind: his voice, the way he could play the guitar. I must have listened to the album over and over for weeks.

I love the band Haim. I would love to do something with them.

Music is shared. It's a shared feeling; that's what music is all about. When you listen to a song with someone else, it becomes more than just a song. It defines relationships.

I think I subconsciously put myself in these situations where the girlfriend isn't pleased with me. I'm useless as a boyfriend. That's how I managed to write all these songs.

I just never really thought of not being involved, because when I write the songs I take them to a certain place and by that point I kinda know what I want them to sound like.

If people stop being interested it's because you haven't written a good enough album. Music will always be the most powerful thing. It doesn't matter what record labels or journalists say. It's the song.

The sound is very much always in my head, I have to get the sound out of my head onto the recording.

I don't really like over-explaining the songs. Everyone constantly asks what the songs are about, and I think the thing is that the songs definitely all have stories in them; it's just nice to let people decide what they are. I think it's important that people hear it themselves rather than having me annotate it.

I don't think competition is good in music. What is good, is the desire and the ambition to create your best work.

I just love to play music. I enjoy it more than anything. I enjoy it more than drinking with my friends in the pub. I'd much prefer to be playing live and playing the piano - playing is one of the most enjoyable things I do and I live for it. So it's very rare that I'd not be up for it. I'm very lucky to have something that I love so much; I don't know what I'd do without it.

What ever your doing right now, whatever your thinking, or worrying about. stop. take a huge breathe in, and just enjoy being alive.

When you create stuff, you're always going to be progressing and where you're at a year down the line, as the creator, it's always going to feel immature. You're going to notice the flaws and the things that you've learned in that year aren't going to be there. So, I think it's important to see stuff as a capture of time - that's what I was doing at that time - and not be ashamed of it. That's how I try to approach music.

I'm so used to it, I think I'd feel very naked on stage without a piano.

You don't have to be as good a writer to write a song; it's a very different process to writing straight prose. To learn how to write prose takes a lot of years of practice.

I think music moves me more than other people. I can hear a song and it can bring me to tears. It doesn't happen the whole time, but I find songwriting - songs - very, very moving. I always have and I don't think it's fading.

I find myself, the more I grow up the more I hang around creatives, musicians. I find them more inspiring to be around. I'd probably say that. The more creative you are - I get along with them better. There is more of an understanding.

I think particularly in music, popularity os a very fickle thing. You're only as good as your last song.

I really want to come back! I definitely want to come back. Some of my fondest memories are in New Zealand.

Playing live is very exhausting, which is partly why I feel so tired today. But I've always wanted to live like that. I'd rather feel the experience than to be sort of feeling something in between and dull and numb. I love feeling the highs and the lows, it makes life far more exciting.

I've never really not played the piano. I've played it since I was six or seven and it's something I've always done - I don't think I could ever really play anything else, I would be a bit out of it without a piano.

I like it when people are opinionated. I like an opinion. I like people that will fight for their opinion 'til an argument and through an argument. When they believe in something, they fight for it. I like those people that are perhaps sometimes too full of life - perhaps it's very difficult to be around them; they're not easy going. But I like being around people like that.

I find myself more affected by music the more I do it. Particularly when you're touring and you're in the bus and you're listening to loads of music. Life becomes far more dramatic, I guess - you're never in the same place, you're constantly meeting new people. You almost become more sensitized to music.

I think music is better listened to with other people. Music is better shared. It depends what situation you're in - if it's a song by Tom Waits, it can be nice to be on your own, but if it's something slightly more upbeat, it's amazing to be around people.