Top 33 Frankie Cosmos Quotes

My brother was 13 when people started telling me that he was a ‘hipster.’ I was 11 and thought it was so stressful, like, ‘How do you not be called that?’

I knew that ‘Next Thing’ was an angry album while I was making it. But I thought that it was angry the way that you get in a fight, not angry as a huge life change.

If I had to pick an artist that I look up to and am inspired by, it’s Matisse because of how many times he would paint the same idea until he felt like he maybe got it right, and I try to do the same thing with my writing.

My parents listened to a lot of James Taylor and Hall and Oates. My mom and I used to listen to Liz Phair and Indigo Girls a lot in the car, too.

I feel like touring is a man’s game. And I don’t think that’s sexist; I just think, on tour, you can’t really take care of yourself the way you want to.

I meet a lot of people after shows, and I have to say it’s pretty intense.

I’m not just going to hug every person that asks to hug me.

My parents have both done some music stuff. My family was very artist-friendly, so that was encouraging.

I realized I was trained my whole life to be an accommodating person, to make sure that everybody is comfortable before I’m comfortable. After giving so much of myself to strangers, I learned to care for myself a little more, especially on tour.

I feel like I can’t write something that has a real emotion in it if I can’t connect to that emotion.

I played my first show when I was 17, and that was a big moment. I realized it was something I could keep doing.

Once you’re in a position where you can choose to not be around toxic environments, just do that as much as you can.

The way my body is viewed in the world is different than a male body. People are going to write about the performance, but they’re probably also going to be writing about what I was wearing or my hair, which just doesn’t happen to men.

If I ever go back to college, I’d study art education.

I think part of the process of putting out a record is always looking back because, by the time a song comes out, it’s been a year since you wrote it.

I think that I’m definitely going to keep writing music forever. I can’t stop even if I tried.

I don’t even know how people managed without the Internet years ago. Having to mail a cassette tape of your music to strangers over the course of months… I just can’t imagine having to do that.

If I could have a record that represents every stage of my life, I’d be putting out one a month. Everything is always changing, and so is the way that I feel about stuff.

You meet a lot of people in New York who are different than you and have different stories, so I see everyone as super individual. I feel like I can be infinitely inspired because New York is huge.

When I was 16, I really decided that music was something I wanted to do.

I’ve definitely gotten to the point where we get to the venue, and people know that I’m in charge of the band.

I’m always the one sitting at the merch table and talking to everyone at the show – and I think it’s because I have this deep fear that if I’m not approachable or I’m not there, people are going to think I’m a brat.

I don’t actually have problems dealing with corporate situations. There are times I’ve railed against it, but there are other times when I’m like, ‘I’ll take your money, no problem.’

Those emotions that are really strong, the ones that inspire a song, you can hold onto that. You can let it marinate for years and keep writing about it even better than you did then.

When I was 18, I borrowed my parents’ car, and they are super supportive. They might give us snacks for the road, but it’s not like they are paying clubs to book us.

It’s even easier to write about the past now that I’m happy and have better stuff to write about. That’s why someone like Bob Dylan can make so many records over so long a time; it’s not like he’s been sad all this time. He’s really successful!

The only reason to do this job is because I love playing my music. And I love my bandmates.

It was a really long process, dropping out of college. I was there for a semester, then I would take a semester off and go on tour, then I would go back for a semester.

One of the cool things about traveling and being a musician is that you meet so many people who have studied different things and have different careers.

I think I’m always changing as a writer and trying new things.

I don’t really understand how to do bureaucratic things – school-system things.

I kind of like the idea of creating my own literature within my albums. I definitely thought about that when I started writing songs.

There’ve been times on tour when people have said to us, ‘Yeah, your band is really simple.’ But it’s really not.