Top 30 Ludwig Goransson Quotes

My starting point is always to read a script and have a conversation with the director about what their vision is, and then, after that, I love to do research.

I’ve produced all of Childish Gambino’s music.

I’d love to work with Frank Ocean. I really like his music.

Something I grew up with is John Williams, of course, with ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Star Wars.’

Every now and then, as a composer and producer, it’s important to write music for yourself.

Chance The Rapper is a person who really knows what he wants.

I work pretty fluidly across all genres.

When I’m by myself – composing or writing film scores – it’s very lonely. I’m just sitting by myself in the studio.

For the score of ‘Black Panther,’ the heart and soul came from immersing myself in the rich musical history of the griots in West Africa. I was following these brilliant musicians all over rural Senegal, learning their musical language.

Travelling is a key part of my life. It keeps me inspired, takes me to new places, introduces me to new sounds, and allows me to explore new environments and soundscapes.

It’s not lost on me that I’m a Swedish guy from one of the coldest countries in the world.

When I’m working with an artist, my job is to make their vision come to life.

One of the first things I want do when I start writing music for a film is to create its own sound world, its own music world.

I traveled to a library in South Africa called ILAM (International Library of African Music), which has a collection of about 500 different instruments that don’t really exist anymore.

I think, as a composer, pressure should be something that makes you better.

Growing up in Sweden, musical education is something really special. There are music schools everywhere, and the education is very advanced.

I think I’m a pretty good listener.

One of the instruments that really stuck out to me was the talking drum, which is basically the first type of communication device. It’s a drum you put on your shoulder, and you can pitch it with your arm, and you can ‘talk’ with it.

I haven’t really ever seen a big budget Hollywood film with African music. Most of the time, it’s just Hollywood’s perception of what African music is.

In western classical music with an orchestra, you focus the orchestra on melodies and harmony. In African music, the biggest focus is on rhythms and counter-rhythms – the complexity of rhythms.

I think the more you know people and the more you get to know artists, the better you can collaborate.

That’s important for me, to never just relax and be too comfortable with what you have.

I moved to L.A. in 2007 from Sweden.

The plan was just to make great art, and working with Donald Glover, who is such a renaissance man, we’ve been working together for ten years, and he is always pushing the envelope in a way – like, whenever we work together, I have no idea what it is going to turn out to be.

I never used to get calls from artists or labels, but once you have a top 20 hit, you start getting them.

Any time I get a chance to work with artists that make me inspired and learn new stuff about music – every chance I get, I’ll take.

I think with everything I do, I’m trying to just come up with new ways of creating music and mixing styles together. That’s just what’s fun for me to do, to try to make myself inspired.

Words fail to express how surreal and humbling it feels to be invited into the ‘Star Wars’ universe.

I think in ‘Rocky IV’ there are three montages with three five-minute songs, which is insane. You can’t do that today.

Any time you have the chance to celebrate something with your closest best friends, it’s very special.