Foster the People Quotes
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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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I wrote 'Don't Stop' just like I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks' - I didn't try to make either a hit. I just wanted to write a song I liked.
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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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I think my inner child wants to take over the world.
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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 thing about Foster the People is that it's taking pieces of a lot of different genres of music and kind of melding them together.
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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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There were times when I was terrified to go to school because it felt like a jail sentence.
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I didn't want to be a soul singer.
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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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Writing for other people is easier than writing for myself - it's not as personal.
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I love to honour people and to write positive songs about them.
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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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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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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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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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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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We need to do a better job of loving each other beyond race, beyond belief, beyond our difference.
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I started out with piano when I was little. That, for songwriting, is my favorite instrument.
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'Torches' opened a lot of doors. Ultimately, it turned into an experience to be reckoned with.
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If I'm with people who are really positive and go with the flow, that's when the best ideas come out for me.
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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 feel like kids are getting more and more used to communicating through a glass screen than they are face-to-face, and that worries me a little.