“Conforming is not cool. Embracing who you are and what makes you different is actually what’s really cool.”

We don’t have a lot of men on stage doing flamboyant or theatrical. We have a lot of female pop stars doing it, but where are the guys? Where’s the classic pop-rock showman?

All these songs honestly explore the ups and downs of my reality.

Nowadays in pop, there’s not a lot of men that are singing big and loud and high – it’s not as common as it once was.

Be who you want to be – be free in your own skin, be liberated and feel beautiful, and do what you want to do without judgement

I was a big fan of Middle Eastern elements of music and experimental electronic and tribal sounds.

In middle school, I really didn’t have music, but in high school, I remember taking a lot of choir and drama.

I like adding little elements into the final mix. I’m more fond of the ’70s glam than ’80s. I have that style of vocals… there are a lot of pop artists who are using the glam vibe in their music. I’m part of that wave.

Love overcomes hate. Love has no color. Love has no orientation. All is love.

I think the responsibility of pop stars is to liberate the masses. In that everyone can be whatever they wanna be.

My mother was always supportive.

I need to be able to explain myself in context.

I’ve been kind of toying around with the bi thing in my head. I wouldn’t ever give myself the label ‘bisexual,’ but bi-curious? Yea.

I think, for the majority of my twenties, I was always so concerned with what I didn’t have, or what I still wanted.

I knew that it was my only shot to be taken seriously in the recording industry, because it’s fast and broad.

I started to realize I wasn’t like every other boy.

Pop is a little bit theatrical. That’s the whole vibe. That’s the point – is that it’s great music, great melodies, great hooks. But, on top of it, it’s a presentation. There’s a showmanship about it. And that’s why I wanted to be a pop star.

To take what there is in life and use it, without waiting forever in vain for the preconceived, to dig deep into the actual and get something out of that; this, doubtless, is the right way to live.

There’s a reason why there’s a problem with bodies, and it’s because you never actually get to see any normal versions of them.

We say that the sun is behind the clouds, but actually it is not the sun but the city from which we view it that is behind the clouds. If we realized that the sun is never behind the clouds we might have a different attitude toward the whole thing.

There are moments when the inner life actually ‘pays,’ when years of self-scrutiny, conducted for no ulterior motive, are suddenly of practical use.

We actually did perform it in front of all those thousands of people. And just beforehand, we had a little dress rehearsal, and there were all these famous wrestlers going around and watching as well. Terrifying.

When I was in college, I actually had them change the starting lineup to say ‘from Robbins, Illinois’ instead of ‘Chicago, Illinois.’

Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.

That, for me, actually is the most important thing about doing a period film is trying to make these people as lovable as they are back then.