I created this ‘ideal America.’ Finally I came to the U.S. and realised, ‘Oh, I don’t belong here, either.’
MITSKIGrowing up, I never really felt like anything was my own. I moved a lot, and I never belonged anywhere.
More Mitski Quotes
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Then you start to realise, ‘Oh, I’m bending a lot,’ and they’re just standing there existing, and I’m bending around them. But you can’t blame them: they don’t realise it; that’s just how they already existed. It’s hard.
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I tend to not want to do that anymore. It’s not even that I don’t like it anymore: it’s that I keep trying to find ways for people to dislike me.
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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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On tour, people know that if they ever ask me what I want to eat, I will always say Asian food. I’m becoming a stereotype, but it’s what I want to eat. I want to eat rice.
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I understand that, because there are so many musicians, you have to make artists into brands, but I sometimes feel like I have to be some kind of non-human icon in order for people to listen to my music.
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If I have a song where I hit some really high notes, I want to try to bring in equivalently low notes somewhere in there.
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I’ve stopped wanting a home, I think, because I’ve been on tour all my life, basically.
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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 think my real influences are out of my control, which are the things that entered my brain when I was a kid growing up.
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I would love for Rivers Cuomo to listen to my music and see what he thinks.
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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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Often I’ve had problems automatically bending to a lover’s will, becoming what I know they want me to be. Immediately, I learn all the music they love, listen to it, study it, instead of being like, ‘This is what I love!’
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When I record, it’s this very precious and insular thing.
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I don’t want to be a musician’s musician. I want to be an everyone’s musician.
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I really like The Cars. They’re just so over the top and super pop, but I don’t feel guilty. I’m proud of all the music I listen to.
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