“I heard Q-Tip on the Jungle Brothers' song 'The Promo.' It was very exciting. It was very new. The music and the culture around hip-hop was evolving. I think there's an emotional quality to their music and there's a vulnerability to the music. For me, A Tribe Called Quest was my Beatles.” ThinkingSongCultureQualityHeardEmotionalBrotherExcitingHip HopHipsEvolveVulnerabilityHopsQuestsTribesJungleTribe Called Quest Author:Michael Rapaport
“A song has a life of its own. It's an autonomous thing, separate from your own experience, almost. And the mere repetition of it means it's subject to change; it means approaching it differently, expressing different emotional aspects of it. It doesn't feel like wallowing.” FeelsMeanDifferentSongSubjectsEmotionalAspectMereRepetitionAutonomousWallowing Author:St. Vincent
“You can go crazy and play solos in the right place, and that's great because it can intensify and bring an emotional lift. But the thing is you don't want to get in the way of the song.” WayWantPlaySongCrazyEmotionalLiftsSoloRight Place Author:Benmont Tench
“The first thing about a song is that it has to be real, be lived; it has to be emotional, and melancholic. I don't mean sad. Melancholy is sort of a comfort. Melancholy has a sort of beauty to it. This attracts me to every other form of art.” FirstsMeanArtRealFormSongEmotionEmotionalComfortMelancholyBeing Real Author:Keren Ann
“Laughter, song, and dance create emotional and spiritual connection; they remind us of the one thing that truly matters when we are searching for comfort, celebration, inspiration, or healing: We are not alone.” MatterInspirationMotivationalSpiritualSongHealingOne ThingEmotionalComfortLaughterConnectionsCelebrationNot AloneSpiritual ConnectionSong And Dance Author:Brené Brown
“The whole basis of the music is that people have these emotional attachments to these songs - whether they love it or hate it. Being able to manipulate that is a really easy way to connect with people.” PeopleWayWholeAbleHateSongEasyEmotionalMusic IsBasesAttachmentManipulateEasy Way Author:Girl Talk
“I tend to like songs that are very emotional, that strike a chord with me emotionally.” SongEmotionalStrikesChords Author:Martin Gore
“Claudia Rankine's Citizen comes at you like doom. It's the best note in the wrong song that is America. Its various realities-'mistaken' identity, social racism, the whole fabric of urban and suburban life-are almost too much to bear, but you bear them, because it's the truth. Citizen is Rankine's Spoon River Anthology, an epic as large and frightening and beautiful as the country and various emotional states that produced it.” CountryStatesWholeRealityAmericaBeautifulSongSocialToo MuchIdentityEmotionalBearsCitizensRacismRiversNotesVariousFrighteningFabricUrbanEpicMistakenDoomSpoonsAnthologyClaudiaMistaken Identity Author:Hilton Als
“I try not to think the song to death. The main criteria is if it's working on an emotional level.” IfsThinkingTryingSongLevelsEmotionalCriteria Author:Robbie Robertson
“I think the more emotional you are, the better. I'm sort of writing [songs] as I go and I can never tell how it's going to be or how it's going to feel until I get into the studio. But I definitely think it will. I probably can't help but have the emotions in my voice.” ThinkingFeelsWritingI CanHelpingSongVoiceEmotionEmotionalStudiosWriting Songs Author:Miranda Lambert
“I've always been fascinated with the strong emotional ties that music can have. A song can bring you back to a place or a season of life like no other art form can.” ArtFormSongStrongEmotionalSeasonsTiesFascinatedSeasons Of LifeStrong Emotional Author:Jon Foreman
“Someone curating songs for you through your computer or being able to hold 10,000 songs on your watch - that convenience is pretty incredible, but so is the emotional impact of holding a Beatles record in your hand and listening to Let It Be.” HandsAbleSongWatchesRecordsEmotionalListeningComputerImpactIncrediblesConvenience Author:Dave Grohl
“I've always been a fan of melody and emotional melancholy, whether it was Rites of Spring or Tears for Fears or Neil Young. If I hear a song that has a sweet melody, I'm a sucker for it, whether it's Linkin Park or Little Richard.” IfsLittlesYoungSongFansTearsEmotionalSweetSpringParksMelodyMelancholySuckerRiteLinkin Park Author:Dave Grohl
“Starting in music, where I get a chance to connect with the lyrics of a song, I learned so much about performing on stage and connecting to your audience and to what you're singing about. Singing is very emotional. Every song has its own purpose.” PurposeSongChanceAudienceStageEmotionalSingingStartingPerformingConnectingPerforming On Stage Author:Naturi Naughton
“Lack of feeling in an emotional sense is responsible for the way some singers do our songs. They don't understand and are too old to grasp the feeling. Beatles are really the only people who can play Beatle music.” PeopleWayPlayFeelingsSongMusicEmotionalMusic IsResponsibleSingers Author:John Lennon
“I have always felt compassion for the planet. Sometime I just start to get emotional. I cry because I can almost feel the pain in the air. I put it in words and in song and in dance I think that is what artistry is.” ThinkingFeelsI CanPainSongFeltCompassionAirCryEmotionalPlanetsBecause I CanArtistry Author:Michael Jackson
“Songs are like a form of chaos that you can control. It's a form of intelligence that maybe you only understand and you hope that someone else can understand. And you can be anyone you want: you can be as grandiose as you want or you can be as down in the gutter as you want. It's just sort of whatever emotional freeway you're on at the time.” WantFormSongEmotionalChaosGuttersFreewaysGrandiose Author:Billie Joe Armstrong
“I write songs on a course of time that's comfortable for me. I would probably never write a song from start to finish in the course of a day, hell probably not even a week. My mind is always going to change and my emotional state will also change on a daily basis.” WritingMindStatesSongCoursesHellWeekEmotionalComfortableBases Author:James Vincent McMorrow
“I can listen to the same song back-to-back for two to three hours straight. I'm not psycho; I swear. There are some songs I won't listen to any more because they are songs that helped me get to emotional places. Even if I hear it, I'll have to walk out of the room or turn it down. It sounds so strange but those things affect me in a certain way.” IfsWayI CanTwoCertainSongTurnsThreeSoundHoursWalksRoomsEmotionalStrangeSwearPsycho Author:Rami Malek
“It's just for some reason I've got just as many fans that only like me when I'm yelling or being funny or whatnot, and jumping up and down on a pogo stick while playing a fancy lead guitar. And they get mad when I sing a heartfelt emotional song and if there's an album full of them.” IfsReasonSongFansEmotionalMadSticksGuitarAlbumsLike MeFancyJumpingUp And DownHeartfeltYellingBeing FunnyPogo Sticks Author:Butch Walker
“People are part of my music. A lot of my songs are the result of emotional experiences, sadness, pain, joy, and exultation in nature and sunshine and so on...like 'California Girls' which was a hymn to youth.” PeoplePainJoySongGirlResultsSadnessYouthEmotionalCaliforniaSunshineHymnsCalifornia Girls Author:Brian Wilson
“I think the emotion that song carries makes it good. Because you have to produce around something - an emotional attachment and a feeling. The melody itself has a feeling in it. The keys, the tones, frequency, sonics, all of those have feelings in it. Like, it's the ghost within, the music itself. That's what makes the song even have a possibility of being great. The emotional connection. Because if you don't have that, I don't think you really have a song.” IfsThinkingFeelingsSongEmotionPossibilityProduceEmotionalKeysConnectionsGhostToneCarrieAttachmentMelodyFrequencyEmotional Connection Author:The-Dream
“I've never really been a big fan of comedy songs, frankly. I think I enjoy the emotional payoff that the best music achieves to want to waste too much time turning good music into a joke.” ThinkingWantBigsSongEnjoyComedyToo MuchFansAchieveEmotionalWasteJokesPayoff Author:Keith Murray
“I've seen people that get onstage and sing while they have tears running down their face - I can't do that. When I cry, it starts like in my throat, so when I have something that's really emotional, sometimes if I access that too much, I can't finish the song.” PeopleIfsI CanSometimesRunningFacesSongToo MuchCryTearsEmotionalAccessThroat Author:Carrie Underwood
“Certain songs I feel different people should be on different tracks, you know it's emotional. I put myself into characters for certain records.” PeopleKnowsFeelsShouldDifferentCharacterCertainSongRecordsEmotionalTrackDifferent Peoples Author:Kool Keith
“I always choose songs that I have an emotional connection to, and I often feel myself getting very emotional when I sing.” FeelsSongEmotionalConnectionsEmotional Connection Author:Katherine Jenkins
“There are other kinds of emotional pain that emerge from our own mistaken thinking. As we surrender that pain, we are inviting into our thought system a guide who will lead us to different thoughts. It’s like the song “Amazing Grace”: I was blind and now I see.” ThinkingKindDifferentPainSongGraceEmotionalBlindGuidesSurrenderOur ThoughtsMistakenEmotional PainInvitingAmazing Grace Author:Marianne Williamson
“I do experience something pretty commonly with every song; there's some moment where it clicks into its own life with its own emotional impact that I feel, and even though technically I'm the one writing the song, it's like watching a storm come in.” FeelsWritingMomentsSongEmotionalImpactStormClicks Author:Mirah
“I started dealing with my emotional pain by writing. I always had been a writer, but just not songs. Saying things on paper that I would never, ever say, and saying things to myself, admitting things to myself, about myself and my personality, just putting it on paper, is how I deal with emotional pain.” WritingPainSongDealsEmotionalPersonalityPaperEmotional PainAdmitting Author:India.Arie
“I do all the things that singer-songwriters do. I introduce the songs, I have a story to tell about everything all the time - I cannot be on stage and have something on my mind without telling the audience. I'm super emotional and expressive and vulnerable in that moment.” MindMomentsStoriesSongAudienceStageEmotionalSingersVulnerableThat MomentIntroducingSongwritersSinger SongwritersExpressive Author:India.Arie
“Not that I play guitar anywhere near as well as she sings, but I think I have always had a tendency to play solos the same way, in emotional relation to the structure of the song. I choose simple lines, and only play what seems emotionally relevant, and often express that emotion in time, that is in play or resistance to the set time of the song.” ThinkingWayWellsPlaySeemsSongLinesSimpleEmotionEmotionalRelationStructureGuitarResistanceTendenciesRelevantSolo Author:Matthew Zapruder
“A good mixtape didn't just gather together a bunch of love songs, but instead created an emotional narrative specific to your affection. The stories in most of my favorite collections are collected more like songs on a mixtape than, say, collected like spare change. By which I mean they are in conversation with each other and work to become larger than their parts.” MeanStoriesTogetherSongEmotionalConversationMy FavoriteAffectionBunchNarrativeCollectionsSparesMixtapesSpare Change Author:Anthony Marra
“In a way it's the emotional feeling that you get in a good rock song or folk song, there's just nothing that rivals that.” WayFeelingsSongRocksEmotionalFolksRivalsFolk SongsRock Song Author:Bryce Dessner
“A great song awakens something in your body / mind / spirit or history that you had forgotten about. It ignites some emotional kindling that you didn't even know you had stored. It awakens you to a possibility for the future - be it hope or excitement - that you never knew was possible.” KnowsMindBodySpiritSongPossibilityEmotionalForgottenYour BodyExcitementMind Body SpiritIgniteKindling Author:Greta Salpeter
“I write songs to handle emotional pain. I guess what they say is true: with every heartache comes a great song. I also pray and have great friends.” WritingPainSongEmotionalPrayingHandleHeartacheEmotional PainGreat Friend Author:Matt Sorum
“I'm still trying to find the perfect Nirvana song that's an example of that, but you do hear a lot of their songs start with an extremely emotional death grunts.” TryingStillsSongPerfectExampleEmotionalGrunt Author:Ian Christe
“I never want to listen to the songs in front of people close to me. There's an emotional honesty in that place where it's not earnest but it's vulnerable.” PeopleWantSongFrontsHonestyEmotionalVulnerableEarnestEmotional Honesty Author:Yannis Philippakis
“As a writer, I never paid much attention to the length of titles. I've just wanted them to communicate the emotional overtones of the content of a record or song that they are describing” WantedSongAttentionRecordsEmotionalPaidCommunicateTitlesLengthDescribing Author:Jacob Bannon
“It's not hard to connect with the music on an emotional level and get inside the songs. It's odd, very vulnerable, and slightly embarrassing to be standing and singing and playing music in front of a bunch of strangers.” HardSongLevelsFrontsEmotionalSingingStandingStrangerBunchVulnerableOddEmbarrassingPlaying Music Author:Matt Berninger
“Just because I said lyrics are a sign of the inability to sing doesn't mean....A) I believe that, or B) I don't think they're cool. They are cool. Words are great. I sing along with my favorite songs, but when I am drumming and singing, the words become a note that for me. In the process of playing they have more emotional impact as notes then an actual word.” ThinkingBelieveMeanSaidSongI BelieveProcessEmotionalSingingImpactNotesMy FavoriteInabilityFavorite SongDrumming Author:Brian Chippendale
“I love rock ballads, and I'm kind of in emotional turmoil, being ill and high, so I start to sing to the song, I turn it up and start to sing.” KindSongTurnsRocksEmotionalIllTurmoilBalladsEmotional Turmoil Author:Nicolas Winding Refn
“I have insanely dorky taste. Basically, if you're a woman, and you're under any kind of emotional duress, and you sing a song, I will listen to it forever. It's odd being a 37-year-old heterosexual male who owns nothing but Sarah McLachlan and Tori Amos. But I'll go against that at first and play something boring like James Taylor.” IfsYearsFirstsKindPlaySongForeverEmotionalTasteMalesBoringOddDorkyDuress Author:Matthew Perry
“I can write a song in the back of the bus, where I am right now, or in my living room, and I can perform it that night and have an instant reciprocal exchange - an emotional, impactful exchange - and it's a less technical medium. It's a pure expression from my soul to other souls.” WritingI CanSoulNightSongRoomsEmotionalExpressionRight NowPureMediumsMy SoulInstantBusLiving RoomReciprocal Author:Juliette Lewis
“To be part of Kevin's [Drew] world, "Who Came First" is just kind of a magical symphony. If you're asking me what that emotional timbre what is my favorite, my favorite "why" is the question. The other songs also have a revealing quality, but it started with "Sister OK".” IfsWorldFirstsKindSongQualityEmotionalAskingMy FavoriteRevealingSymphonyKevinTimbre Author:Andy Kim
“If there is a blues song, it just goes in one ear and out the other. But other than that, if it stays with you and when we are all 90, we're going to look back at those songs, and it's going to be emotional. And when someone plays it, and you know it, and you're going to go, "I know that song and I love it."” IfsKnowsLooksPlaySongEmotionalEars Author:Fred Armisen
“There's that kind of song, "Whoah baby, I love you," which doesn't have a visual element, but a very strong emotional element, and these are the great songs to me - those ones that you put them on and they just make you feel great, or whatever.” FeelsKindSongStrongLove YouEmotionalBabyElementsVisualsVery StrongStrong EmotionalI Love You Baby Author:Nick Cave
“When it comes down to the song writing, I'm just very slow - very slow. Because the songs are about my life, so I'm doing emotional work on myself. As I'm writing these songs, I have to learn these lessons and dig real deep into my heart to write this stuff.” WritingHeartRealSongStuffEmotionalMy HeartLessonsReal Deep Author:India.Arie
“Where is the video of Kanye [West] telling me he was going to call me 'that b***h' in his song? It doesn't exist because it never happened. You don't get to control someone's emotional response to being called 'that b***h' in front of the entire world.” WorldSongHappenedFrontsEmotionalWestResponseVideoCall MeEmotional ResponseControl Someone Author:Taylor Swift
“When I go onstage, I'm going to work ...I feel like my performance is about an emotional connection. I want to connect with people, whether it's like a romantic song or a happy song.” PeopleWantFeelsSongEmotionalConnectionsPerformancesGoing To WorkEmotional Connection Author:Boy George
“I always listen to music when I write! I basically make a playlist for every essay; sometimes it's just one song, or three songs, over and over and over. I sort of find the emotional pitch of the piece, and then match music to it, and then the music becomes a shortcut to the feeling, so I can enter it and work anywhere: on planes, cafes, at work, the train.” WritingSometimesFeelingsSongEmotionalMusic IsTrainEssaysListening To Music Author:Melissa Febos