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" I went in reverse with this whole thing. People I've toured with were kids who consumed as much hip-hop as they could. I didn't do that until I started rapping. "

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" I think, on the rap side of life, I've always been inspired by and respected Missy Elliott for a long time. She's funny and created an image for herself that was non-sexualized but was really interesting and really cool and really kind of avant-garde in a lot of ways. "

K. Flay

Funny

Long

Time

" I think it's more important than ever to be as vocal as I can be about things I believe in outside of music. "

" When I was growing up, I wasn't in bands, and had really no intention of ever doing music. I went out to California for college, and kind of on a whim started making music really as a joke, and over the course of the next five years started playing a lot of shows, and music became this really integral part of my identity. "

" I was totally sober in college and really, really focused. I just took the time when other people might be partying and just made music and played at the party instead. "

" I studied psychology and sociology. I think my assumption was that I would go to graduate school, and I don't know what I was going to do after that. "

K. Flay

Psychology

School

" I've always had a duck personality. Calm above water, feet going crazy below. "

" There are people who are profoundly mentally ill. But we now have a very weird perspective on mental illness and what it means. I do think that people are overmedicated. "

" I think, initially, working on your own is really great because it allows you to just be really free and not worry about how things are perceived or if people are going to think you're an idiot. And once that becomes ingrained, at least for me, I think I'll feel really comfortable to work with other people and still feel that same freedom. "

K. Flay

Think

Work

" The more I talk to people who are at a place I'd like to be at, whether its music or writing, or being a doctor or entrepreneur, sometimes you get lucky, and right away something happens. But for most people, the common denominator of success is just working really hard. "

" I think, no matter what, when you're writing songs, most people write about the extremes of their experiences. "

" I've always had a complicated relationship with sleep. Even as a little kid, I never wanted to go to bed - it always seemed unfair in some way. "

" 'Life as a Dog' is when I really started to feel comfortable, like I had the due north on my compass. "

" My dad played guitar, and he taught me enough to play some Beatles' songs. But primarily, I was a bookworm. I loved reading and still do. My whole family does. It was part of the family culture. Accomplished literacy was a value. "

" When I first started making music, I was all about wordplay and how fast I could rap, but over the years, I've really gained an appreciation for melody. What's cool is that when you're singing, you have to be concise, and when you're rapping, you have the opportunity to be really detailed with your lyrics. "

" A constant goal of mine is to try to put myself back in the place when I wrote something - not just to perform it on a surface level, but to re-enter that headspace, that emotion. That's the point of a live show - for it to feel immediate and present and a little bit unpredictable. "

" Even the dark places are places. You're still somewhere. "

" I think the key for any kind of artist - and this transcends music - is a certain degree of authenticity and sincerity. "

" I hope people describe my music as lyrically driven, cross genre. Kind of alternative, kind of indie, kind of rap, kind of everything. "

" When I first signed to RCA, I was sort of excited and shocked that it was happening. But over the next couple of years, it really started to feel like that game you play when you're a little kid - the one where you put your nose on a bat and then spin around and try to walk. "

" Mainly, I hope to inspire honesty. We live in a space where so much can be manipulated, and so much is expected to be manipulated - curated, contrived, edited. I think that's a real detriment to self expression and happiness in a lot of ways. In my mind, honesty and vulnerability is the way forward. "

" I liked that music was a window into a world with a lot of unpredictability and chaos; it was almost diametrically opposed to my very regimented day-to-day living. "

" I'm intrigued by people who are super adept at manipulating their own image. We all do it to a certain extent. "

" As an independent artist, you control the means of production, which is the ultimate form of empowerment. "

" The more time passes in your life, I think the greater you understand perspective. So I'm happy that I've had experiences that have reminded me that most exciting things might not feel so exciting later, and the most disappointing things might not be so disappointing later, either. "

" I feel like, for me, different environments are very important to me creatively. I think it's my norm to be on the move. "

K. Flay

Feel

Move

" I don't put a ton of time into my on-stage style, largely because I'm dumb about clothes. But I have friends who are very smart about clothes, and they teach me things. For the show, I'm mainly concerned with feeling comfortable, being able to jump around and get wild. "

K. Flay

Friends

Style

" I'm a big advocate of revisions, of living with something for a month and then realizing what needs changing, what was lazy, what could be better. "

" My default is e-40 because there's no one else in the world who raps like him. I've always loved e-40. "

K. Flay

Because

Always

" There's only so many variations on the basics of human relationships. To me, it's all about the detail and how you tell the story. How you say, 'I love you.' "

K. Flay

Story

You

" Even successful musicians have had periods where people say they suck and no one likes them, even after they've had periods of great success. So I think it's like you just gotta do you and try to stay motivated. Until, you know, you decide to stay home and make spaghetti all day. "