Neneh Cherry Quotes
-
I found my place when I moved to London, where I chose to live, making my own tribe who were all from different backgrounds and places. The class thing is very dominant there, but in the cultural cross-fertilization, I felt a sense of belonging.
-
Rip Rig & Panic was a milestone for me, and I've always been really thankful that I did that when I was 16. It saved me for when I suddenly became really successful later on. So even when my head's been spinning like a banshee, my feet still feel held down to the ground.
-
I've always worked with my partner, my husband, Cameron, since 'Raw Like Sushi,' and in a way, I feel very free with what I do, but he also has an amazing insight in having intuitions that tend to be right a lot of the time, about where we should go next.
-
Rhythm, that's an essential part of cooking. The sound of a lovely song and the smell of some dish in the oven are equally evocative.
-
I've never really spent too much or put too much gravity or placed too much importance on being a pop star. It's like, OK, great, does that mean I don't have to do anything anymore except walk around and be a pop star?
-
When I found out I was pregnant, my mother said, 'Don't separate your life, the life that you're going to make with this child, from the things that you are and what you want to do.'
-
I'm a bit of a rebel, and I always will be.
-
The race is your face. Obviously, I come from a mixed background. Who I am and how I look and being black.
-
I admire someone like Beyonce. She has amazing commitment. I needed to accept that I probably did not fit into that forum. Doing that 'The Cherry Thing' record was a big part of finding that place where I belong, where I may shine, but I never doubted it was there.
-
I'm allergic to doing the obvious thing.
-
I like Kelela. I like Twigs. I love the more old school; I hate to say old school, but I love Peaches; I love Peaches, I love Cat Power. And there's constantly new things coming up. But there's something so beautifully powerful - for me being a woman, when there's a woman doing something, it really strikes a chord.
-
When I was going to school, I just wanted to be like everybody else. I would pull at my hair to try and get it to lie straight. America was where I would consume and absorb black culture, buy Ultra Sheen and watch 'Soul Train,' but I still had that weird in-between thing.
-
I always found very strong images for my songwriting in New York.
-
I love Robyn, not just because we've worked together. I mean, that's why we've worked together - because I love her.
-
I am not super-ambitious. I am not a classically amazing singer or anything.
-
I'm quite a particular singer, and I need to feel like I can bite into the song, in a way, to make it my own. You want the challenge of the songs having some attitude.
-
I don't live my life through my kids, nor do I expect them to live theirs through mine. But of course, they're everything.
-
When you lose a parent, you realize how vital they are to the foundation of your life. It's impossible to understand what it means until that curtain is pulled. You're an orphan. But then I think that life is kind of remarkable, and the thing that causes the biggest pain can also bring amazing energy.
-
I think I've always been slightly addicted to not repeating myself. When you're doing something the first time around, it's often the best time. I think 'Blank Project' is about carrying on. Its that thing where you're making something because you have to, but you don't know how or why.
-
My kids love Ibiza and we feel committed to it because we keep coming back to the same area. People recognise us in shops now and we have a social life here. We cook at home and have friends around.
-
I think I've grown up in a mixed environment, and maybe a lot of the time I haven't really belonged anywhere in the way I've dreamt of belonging to, you know, living on the street and playing to all the kids on the street, growing up together. I suppose 'Raw Like Sushi' was a place where all of those things could come together.
-
I have absorbed my life now. I am ready for my music to unfold. I know time flies, but before the end of this year, the album will be out. Even if it kills me.
-
When 'Raw Like Sushi' came out in the U.S., I wasn't considered to be black enough. They didn't really know where to put me. The music wasn't 'black black' sounding. It wasn't R&B; it wasn't straight up hip-hop, although obviously in that dimension and world.
-
I'm not an amazingly trained soul singer, so with me it's about feeling and energy and spontaneity - that's a really big part of who I am.