Foster the People Quotes
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I didn't want to be a soul singer.
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I'm not in this to make money. I would not have sold my soul to be on 'American Idol.'
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My aunts and uncles were like, 'You've got such a great voice - why don't you try out for 'American Idol?'' I'd say, 'Because I'm a songwriter, not a puppet.' Even if I won and became really successful off a show like that, I'd be miserable.
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People worship anyone in the entertainment industry. You can be a used-car salesman and have a television commercial on the local station, and that makes you a celebrity.
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The jingles saved my life. When I got hired to do that, I was on top. I finally was making a living doing what I loved. Before that, it was so bleak; it got so dark in L.A. I was 25, been living there for seven years trying to make it, and getting really close to getting signed with different bands and as a solo artist only to have my hopes dashed.
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Music is the great equalizer.
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I wanted to be an attorney all the way up until I was 17.
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Art brings to life things that can seemingly be dead, and can put a fresh perspective on things that are living. It's so important we keep creating.
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We've grown up on the Beach Boys and the Beatles and Blur and Bowie and the Clash. Also E.L.O. and Hall and Oates. Those are all artists who write songs that are accessible but still left of center. It's intelligent pop. There's still something different and complex about it.
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One of the things with the second record, a word I held close to my chest was 'brave.' To take chances to go outside the box and explore. To continue to toss off any expectation that our fans or anyone else might have of us, to just tap into who I am as a writer and artist and really just operate within that freedom of creation.
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There were times when I was terrified to go to school because it felt like a jail sentence.
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We need to do a better job of loving each other beyond race, beyond belief, beyond our difference.
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I could have pigeonholed us and wrote a whole record like 'Pumped Up Kicks,' and we would have been this breezy, nostalgic West Coast Beach Boys recreation band. That's not the type of writer I am. Once I try one style, I move on.
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When you're underwater with goggles on, a couple of your senses are taken away, and it becomes this purely visual thing. It's just you and yourself.
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I'd rather be a poor singer/songwriter doing what I love than get rich from selling my soul.
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Through technology and social media, we're able to create an identity online that shows people the face that we want them to see and rather than who they really are.
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When I write a song, the music comes from my spirit, which is very playful and optimistic, but then the lyrics come from my head, which is in a different space.
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I love to honour people and to write positive songs about them.
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If I was 13 years old and Kurt Cobain tweeted me some advice or even just said hi, my whole world would be affected by that.
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Once I write something, I never try to write that same style again, because I get very schizophrenic musically.
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I had really bad grades in high school and didn't want to go to college, and my dad said, 'Why don't you move to L.A. or New York and pursue music? You've always been good at it.' It was the first thing that made sense to me and... It was the right move.
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It's the meanest thing to abuse your power as a songwriter. To write pointedly about someone... it's kind of unfair to use them. They can't answer you or have a rebuttal.
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I started out with piano when I was little. That, for songwriting, is my favorite instrument.
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At the end of the day, I use music to be able to communicate to people.