I always had a great appreciation for jazz, but I'm a very pedestrian musician. I get by. I like to think that my main instrument is vocabulary.
Tom WaitsRead
When I was growing up, there weren't that many queer girls of colour making music. So I just wanted to be able to exist, just to be that, without putting too much emphasis on it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the desire for representation and authenticity in the music industry.
Arlo Parks expresses the challenges faced by queer girls of color in the music industry, highlighting a lack of representation during her upbringing. She emphasizes the importance of simply existing as one’s true self without the pressure to conform to expectations or to make her identity the focal point of her artistry.
Themes
QueerMusicRepresentationIdentityAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote during a panel on diversity in the arts.
Similar quotes
Everyone who gave me food, who took away my hunger, inspired me to compose. They told me their stories, and I had no other way to console them than with a piece of music, and that is how I learned. I did not resolve their problems with my songs, but I created a moment of release.
Juan GabrielRead
What a strange vanity painting is; it attracts admiration by resembling the original, we do not admire.
Blaise PascalRead
It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it through his or her life experience, prejudices, worldview and thoughts.
Annie ProulxRead
I thought I could capture the stories of the city on paper. I thought I could write about the horrors of the city. Horror stories you see. I tell you I didn't have to look far for material. Everywhere I looked, there were stories hidden there in the dark corners. . . . I wrote and still there were more. . . . No one would publish them. 'Too horrible,' they said. 'Sick mind,' they said. I thought I could write about the horrors of the city but the horror is too big and it goes on forever.
Grant MorrisonRead
The days of the painter at the Bauhaus appear to be truly over. They are estranged from the actual core of present activities, and their influence is more restricting than inspiring.
Walter GropiusRead