Artist Quotes
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I appreciate my city very much. When I go to America and Europe, and I tell everyone I'm from London, I'm proud.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Studying music involves a lot of mathematics and a lot of exercises of memory. Or you've got to be able to be like somebody, to play like somebody, to play Mozart's music the way he played it and how he intended it. You've got to make it perfect, and that's not what I want to do. Although it is beautiful.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
My parents always said that I would be a lawyer or pilot or doctor - and I always just thought that's what I would do.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
When I first started singing in Paris, I sounded horrible: I was just singing to get some money to eat. And I wasn't singing my own songs: it was Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix. Eventually, when I wrote my own music, my style just came out of my own place.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Because I didn't think anyone would actually listen to my music, I thought I could say whatever I wanted.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I personally wouldn't want my second album to sound like my first; it might sound very rocky or hard rock - and that wouldn't be melancholy. So if people think my music is melancholic, then so be it. It's meant to be uplifting, and I'm just basically saying what needs to be said.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I believe when the music is being sung or being played, at the end of it, there's some sort of grace and understanding. And that's all I want for humanity. I just want us to understand each other. That's the point of my music.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
The greatest in heroes in life are the anonymous. That's what I believe. Your neighbours are heroes. People who, when you walk down the street, you see them feeding their little baby - these people are heroes because they are living under difficult situations, but they're still trying to save a life.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I always see my music for its rewards rather than its awards. But I always thought if there was one award I'd want to win, it would be the Mercury.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Life is life. You have to learn how to forgive people and how to gain forgiveness for yourself.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Most people think a song is a song - three minutes, and you're done. I don't think this way. Songs are my wings. They're what I use to fly. It's very important for me to put everything in the right place.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Honestly, I still don't know a lot of artists, and I want to keep it that way for a while. I think that's why I might be quite original.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I found it quite pleasing to be alone from a very young age. The piano became my source of release.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
People say my world is dark. No, there's a lot of lightness in my world. But I know very well that I'm not normal when I'm performing.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Where I'm staying, near Lafayette Street, Bowery, and Houston, you get different people with different spirits, and that's what I like.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I know that New York is big - there are huge buildings - but, in fact, it's quite small and contained... I like it when cities are melancholic. When it started snowing, for example, I felt very lonely. I felt very comfortable and very relaxed. When that happens, I write. So I've been writing, not a lot, but I'm inspired every day.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Poetry itself is music. I'm just lucky that I can convert it into music. William Blake is my favorite poet of all time, and he said that he wasn't quite familiar with the sounds of music. If so, he would have been a musician. All of his poems are all like songs, and that's how I always try to start my thoughts.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
At home and in church - which I didn't go to a lot, I was very rebellious, but my family was strict Christians - they would ask us, 'What's the shortest verse in the Bible?' and I was the one who always said 'John 11:35' straightaway. It stayed with me: the Bible has stayed with me.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Why are there not cabs in Edmonton? Why are there cabs in central London but not here? And if they're going to be here, they should be cheaper. And travelcards, they're expensive.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
If you live in central London, that's probably fine for you, but in places like Edmonton, where you're almost out of sight of London, you've got to pay more and more to get into central London. How does that work?
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I was on the train; I did play, but I also played in bars, in the streets, at birthday parties for people who discovered me on the train.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
People want a beautiful story. Hopefully my life story is still beautiful, but that metro stuff doesn't make it much more pitiful.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I wanted to find people who were like me, and I did, in the people I was reading.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Where you're from shapes you, but you can actually do whatever you want.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Now I'm standing in front of a thousand people. They're all looking at me, but they're sitting down. They're surrendered, so I have to keep on proving myself to them and giving them all my passion.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I personally don't know what nerves are. I don't get scared when I'm going to play music. But I think something, maybe my fears, are buried into my songs. Because I'm singing them.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
When I was a kid, I remember seeing Michael Jackson. I thought he was an alien. You don't grow up to be like Michael Jackson. I'm not saying I'm Michael Jackson, but Mercury Prizes are for aliens, basically. So I was very chuffed that I got nominated, and then I won.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
There are things that need to be said... and I think it's my obligation to say them.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I clearly remember my father cutting our jumpers and our sports clothes with scissors - because he didn't want us to wear jogging bottoms and hoodies. He thought that would somehow set the police on us.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
The meaning of love is obviously huge - but for me, it means be nice to people, and people will be nice to you back. Love is a selfless place to be. There is no safer place to be than under the canopy of love.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
If you have parents who can't show you love, a kid can grow up to look arrogant. Because they need to create a fake self. Or they think they're more powerful than they really are.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
Music is the reason I started talking to people. When I started singing in bars and trains, I began to learn the behaviour of people. Music was the bait that helped me get something from them and give myself to them.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
The fact is, it wasn't enjoyable being in secondary school. I was a weird kid.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
With this sort of career, you need determination. You've got to sacrifice a lot of things: family, friends - not that I had any - but you sacrifice everything.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I dedicate all my time to music. And I'm glad that it's paying off in some ways.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
When I was very young, my brother and I, we used to go into charity shops to buy suits. The thing about clothes is that people judge you by what you wear, unfortunately. So when we wore suits, people gave us respect - we were very young, and it made them think we were older.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
When I lived in Paris, I would shop at antique shops and buy these huge coats because I was very cold. And then I started performing in them because I felt safe. I never stopped doing that.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I like black a lot because I can't really see colors - so I wear a lot of dark-colored clothes. You've got to be aware of what you're wearing because you might become that.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
People don't always realize that as a performer, you've got to relive those moments. Memories crash through your brains, and you've got to think about your past and the reason why you wrote the song. All that emotion comes back.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine
I got into a lot of trouble. Maybe that's why my parents didn't really like me and I didn't blend in with my family. I was always the naughty one.
Quote by -Benjamin Clementine