Jens Lekman Quotes
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I became paranoid for a long time: I thought that people were out to harm me.
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Every wedding is slightly different from the other. But you always get to meet the funny uncle and the weirdo relatives, and there's always someone trying to beat you up for not playing enough Beatles songs or something.
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There's so much nostalgia for music from the past.
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I struggled with a lot of doubts around my songwriting and around what I was and what my purpose and mission were.
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I wouldn't write about something that I haven't experienced myself.
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When I was working on 'Night Falls Over Kortedala,' I was listening a lot to 'Graceland,' the Paul Simon record. I really got into the lyrics on that album. The opening line is so brilliant, the way he sets the scene.
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I feel like it's my responsibility not to leave the listener in a pool of dread.
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I don't want music to be a museum.
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I've established a certain voice over my albums. It can be an obstacle, but in the end, I think it's a strength, because I can build upon that voice, which is ultimately very much mine.
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I need to write a sitcom, but something with warmth, not one where the dad comes home and he's treated like an idiot.
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It's weird talking about the album as a living being with its own thoughts and direction, especially if you're the one creating it.
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I've never felt at home in Kortedala, or in Gothenburg, so I always felt like I needed to go somewhere and find some kind of perspective on things.
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I actually have all these tapes, from when I was five, from when I was 10, and from when I was 15, that don't really have to do anything with each other, but they're sort of archeological in my musical history.
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The 'sent' folder of my email program is really my biggest inspiration and my biggest source of lyrics. That's where I go to pick up a lot of the lyrics that I'm writing.
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I went to Legoland in Denmark when I was five, I think, but I went to Germany when I was 17 to have a little adventure after graduation.
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The whole thing with playing on a stage with mics and all that has always been kind of uncomfortable to me.
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My aim is for every song to have a purpose - for you to be able to say, 'This song is about this.' But love and heartbreak are some of the most abstract subjects.
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I don't like irony and sarcasm very much. But I do like it when you think someone is telling you a joke, and then you discover it's serious.
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I feel like the few times in my life when I really felt like I love my own story is when I've been the happiest.
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I grew up in the '90s and remember the lyrics back then were so abstract and open to interpretation. That always drove me crazy.
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It was never part of how I imagined my music, and I watched in awe at how this ukulele troubadour image suddenly devoured the Jens Lekman I had planned so carefully.
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I really love the idea of stepping into another character and being able to sing maybe stuff that is not my thought and my own opinions, but be able to portray someone else and take a walk in their shoes for a while.
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For me, it's sort of like a cultural democracy or musical socialism to take a stand and get out of the major cities if you can.
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This is one of the reasons I'm so interested in stories. Because everyone has a story in their life, and when their story doesn't make sense, that's when we get depressed, I think.