I think the pressure gets to me when I play shows and there’s more people in the audience than I’m used to.
MITSKII think it’s our responsibility as artists to not only fight for our art but fight for the communities that are the reason we’re able to continue making art, especially since, in Brooklyn’s case, we as artists somehow made it ‘cool’ enough for the bigger money-making industries to start taking over.
More Mitski Quotes
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I remember I took a music course in junior year of high school, and some girl brought in ‘Teardrops On My Guitar,’ and she was like, ‘Isn’t this song great?’ And everyone was like, ‘Who’s Taylor Swift?’ And now, every time I listen to Taylor Swift, I remember that moment.
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I discovered I was an Asian American when I arrived in the U.S. I didn’t identify as that before I came here.
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It’s nice to know there’s a big world with many perspectives. I tend to get so stuck in my own small world easily, and going out into the world reminds me that I’m not the center of the world – in a good way.
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What I have a problem with is when it becomes another form of tokenization, of shrinking me into a symbol instead of a multilayered, female Asian artist.
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I think people don’t realize how little of being an artist is making art.
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I don’t think ‘bleak’ is a bad thing.
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I hate that my opinions are gonna be on record… that my opinions of other artists are going to be on record.
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I don’t really listen to pop-country, but I like really, really old country that’s closer to folk. Like Johnny Cash, who is considered country.
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I don’t care about making anything new. I make music to express an emotion, and if the emotion is nostalgic, so be it.
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My father was obsessed with folk music from around the world, and I think the countless artists who performed them are my biggest influences.
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I’ve been asked whether I have a hobby, and have felt strangely offended that anyone would assume I have the time.
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When someone is a musician – trying to make a living off being a public figure – it’s really easy for people to see me as a face on a screen that doesn’t have a personal life.
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I know for a fact that I’m problematic. I shouldn’t be looked to for any kind of guidance.
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I think it’s our responsibility as artists to not only fight for our art but fight for the communities that are the reason we’re able to continue making art, especially since, in Brooklyn’s case, we as artists somehow made it ‘cool’ enough for the bigger money-making industries to start taking over.
MITSKI -
I try to be regimented and try to stay healthy and work out and eat properly and go to sleep. And not get too caught up in the industry in my regular life, so I can save all my expression and energy for my art.
MITSKI