When I started singing about my life and what I was going through, I felt more confident. It was my own life, I was being myself, I was telling people what was happening.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEWhen I started singing about my life and what I was going through, I felt more confident. It was my own life, I was being myself, I was telling people what was happening.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEThere’s a part in every person that has a fake self. We’ve had this since infancy due to our parents and our upbringing.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINESome people will never be able to get their real self, but that’s fine, because their fake self is also part of them.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEWe have the real self and the false self, there’s nothing wrong with them, and everyone has both of them.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI loved English literature – if didn’t it would have been hard – but I had to learn it myself. I remembered ways to repeat words, to put more emphasis on certain lines.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEThe real self is who you are when you’re at home, when you’re comfortable, and the false self is what you’re pretending – and the reason you pretend is because you want to create a character for the surroundings you’re within.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEIf I’m being forced to do something I don’t want to do, my real self comes out. But whether or not I’m aware of it, no matter what happens, I’m always going to have a fake self and I’m not going to judge my fake self.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEIn fact, I might be confident for the human race because of what the human race has given me. When I was in the street and bars, people always came up to me and said, “Don’t stop, keep going.”
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEIf you’ve got great parents, once you grow up and have to live by yourself, you’re going to create some fake self as you get comfortable wherever you are.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI felt like I was homeless anyway, so the change in environment wasn’t that much of a big deal. I felt pretty much the same. After six months of living on the streets [in Camden], I started singing, busking.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE[My music] is opposite to fashion.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI wasn’t quite used to writing a diary – I didn’t understand why people did it – but I wrote down notes and they went into a poem.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI was very rebellious, but my family was strict Christians – they would ask us, “What’s the shortest verse in the Bible?” and I was the one who always said “John 11:35” straightaway. It stayed with me, the Bible has stayed with me.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEObviously you live life for yourself and have your choice to believe what you want to believe in, but I know that the Bible can be used to appreciate life.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI was independent. There was no one there to talk to; I didn’t even want to talk to anyone. I started to write about what I was experiencing, and I had no choice, so I was never scared.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI think it is all about creating characters, mixing them up with the stars and the light-years, and coming back to Earth, because we’re from this universe. We’re not just New York or London; we’re stars.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE