Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" My dad used to do a lot of music when he was young, so he had an 8-track MiniDisc recorder, and when he realized that I was getting on with it, he brought it upstairs to my room and showed me how to record and how, once you finished eight tracks, you can cut it down to two and have another six tracks to play with. "

Shura

You

Music

Play

Related Quotes:

" I'm massively inspired by Janet Jackson, and I adore Whitney Houston and Madonna. "

" I made the decision that I could either go outside in the freezing cold in the wind and rain and get muddy or just stay inside and be a rock star. "

" If I fancy someone but can't tell them because I'm shy, I'll think, 'It's fine. You're not going to die. Maybe just tell them or whatever.' "

" I suffer from imposter syndrome all the time. Even if I'm just at a party, I'm thinking people are going to find out that I'm really boring. "

" I didn't really want anyone to know that I wanted to write music or make songs because, in a way, I didn't necessarily know if I wanted to do it for a profession. I wanted to do it to express myself. "

" I love being in the studio. "

" The first time I shared music was on Myspace. Then SoundCloud came along. The difference with SoundCloud is that people can comment on stuff, which was more frightening but also way more fun - especially if they liked it. "

" Pop music for introverts is an idea I wanted to explore. "

" I don't hate my voice. I'm just not an Adele. "

" I'm massively inspired by 'True Blue'-era Madonna, but she is absolutely confident and in control of the situation. "

" There's a part of me that's ambitious. "

Shura

Part

Ambitious

" Perhaps a young boy or girl, after watching my video, can go, 'Maybe I don't have to be embarrassed. Maybe I can come out at school, maybe I can tell my best friend... and maybe I don't have to be afraid anymore.' "

" Is the mainstream becoming more queer? Or is it the opposite? That artists like me are mainstreaming queer music? "

Shura

Opposite

Music

" People like Prince or Madonna, they're kind of superhuman. You can't imagine them burning their toast, and there's something really exciting about that. "

" When you have a lot of gay friends, you don't think of that as being different or divisive or weird; that's just your reality. "

" I found my own voice slowly. I don't do big tricks like Mariah Carey, so I've found this weird way of singing that works for me. "

Shura

My Own

Voice

" A lot of people start by learning other people's songs, but the idea of singing someone else's music didn't excite me. I just wanted to write my own. It was really bad to begin with. It's improved slightly since. "

Shura

People

Learning

" 'What's It Gonna Be?' is about having a massive crush on someone, so it made sense to go back where - to school, where it all began. But it was important for us to explore those archetypal characters - The Jock, The Nerd, The Dork, The Popular Kid - and then flip expectations. "

" From collaborating with other people, you make concessions, and those concessions are great because sometimes you are definitely wrong. "

" I know I don't suck at being me. I'm really good at being me. "

" Pop should be weird, and I realize as I say this that I'm not the weirdest person in the world. But if that means a girl sounding like Kylie Minogue and looking like Kurt Cobain, then so be it. "

" Some of the best songs are love songs. They're things that we all go through, and when we're going through it, we think that we're the only person in the world going through that. Having that music there sort of reminds you that you're not alone. It happens to me, too, as a music fan. "

" You have to challenge yourself about the choices you make as an artist. "

" There are two ways of dealing with being odd. One is to really try and conform, and the other is to do the opposite and really make a thing out of it. At school, it wasn't that I was bullied, but everyone was very aware that I was different. I was kind of the token weird person that people accepted into their group, almost like an accessory. "

" Being part of a crowd and not standing out is way more frightening than being the person that stands out. "

" To go from someone who would put something on SoundCloud and maybe get 15,000 plays in a year to getting 100,000 plays in one day felt very weird. I thought I was dying. "

" I take inspiration from so many places. I think, more than anything, it would have to be the music made by others that I've then fallen in love with, whether it's Madonna, Blood Orange, Fleetwood Mac, or Pink Floyd! "

" I love PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Pixies, Portishead, and Massive Attack: a lot of what I would describe as alternative and indie music. "

" I'm not one of those artists that can go away for six months and tour America and have 20 producers back in London or L.A. doing everything for me and I just come home and sing on it. It would be really useful, in terms of speed, to work like that. I just wouldn't find it creatively satisfying. I have to have my hand on the remote control. "

" When I wasn't working, I was learning how to use production software on YouTube and making music. "