Words matter. These are the best Justin Tranter Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
The one time I shot a gun, the feelings I felt, I was guilty for feeling them. There is an exhilaration and a glamour, and I felt awful for feeling that.
Before anything else, my favorite thing as a fan of music was to make up my own story as to what it means.
The fans that fall in love with you at the show are always the most passionate.
I like to make glamorously informed songs for glamorously intelligent people.
Even though L.A. can be kind of tacky, when a city’s big draws are The Roxy and the Viper Room, you know its pretty amazing.
I really do pride myself on being able to help other people tell their stories and bring out the best in them. But I still, every song I’m writing, I still need to relate to it. I still need to find my true self in it, or else it’ll feel dishonest. I mean, everything has a queer meaning as far as I’m concerned.
I know that it’s my queer perspective that’s helping people make songs that the world is listening to.
My existence is rock n’ roll.
Once I got into pop songwriting, I was kind of just ready to help other people tell their stories… I’m here to facilitate and structure and grow and make things a little more fabulous and a little more urgent.
I just didn’t really relate to Kurt Cobain. There was nothing very glamorous about him.
It’s interesting to see the more femme that you present yourself, the more people sort of dehumanize you.
I worked at a jewelry store to pay the bills when I first moved to N.Y.C., and I always loved the phrase ‘Semi Precious.’ So I wanted to just call the band Semi Precious, but my dad told it was kinda sissy, so I added Weapons.
For me, as a kid desperate to make music, I thought the only way I could do it was to try to be a superstar – which is a fun thing to be, but it can be exhausting and degrading.
If a song I’m lucky enough to be a part of comes on the radio, it’s definitely really cool and exciting, but I can’t focus on anything but the song. Same if one of my songs comes on in a restaurant. I can’t just carry on a conversation.
In every school, there’s always the kid who gets it the worst, and I was, for sure, that kid. Every time you had to get in a line that was boys and girls, it was like my worst nightmare. A lot of kids I know got made fun of for being gay; that was not my issue: I was just called a girl endlessly.
Beyonce, Stevie Nicks, Ani DiFranco, Cardi B – Women tell awesome stories.
The bullying was so bad that I got to go to the arts high school instead.
If you think of ‘Chandelier,’ Sia’s singing her heart out about all those moments before she got sober, and that’s one way to convey emotion and make people hear every word.
My mom has a big ol’ crush on Arne Duncan, so I hear about and see pics of him all the time. I think he could look great in heels!
A lot of writers don’t know what it feels like to get on stage. They don’t understand the weight that songs can carry. I got a chance to play all these shows. I got a chance to define myself through music, so when it comes to helping other people figure out what they should say, I’ve been through it.
I was very lucky that my family really supported me in exploring my femininity when I was young, and so it was a joyous thing.
I really loved Kygo and Selena Gomez’s ‘It Ain’t Me.’
When I’m in a session with an artist, my job is to help execute their vision – so it’s whatever story they’re telling, and the news doesn’t specifically affect that.
I’m so connected to the community that I was lucky enough to be born into.
I just want to make music that people hear, and I’m not ashamed of that.
My goal is that my makeup and style will inspire Midwestern housewives. I want there to be a breakdown of ‘Justin’s smoky eye’ in Cosmo.
Most of my friends are my friends because they inspire me.
You can tell if something feels special. But there are so many moving parts involved in making the song a hit. The radio has to deliver, the management has to deliver in terms of booking the right promotions… just being a good song isn’t enough.
I feel like there is a lot of homophobia and misogyny in the music business, and I feel like I’ve gotten to a place where I’ve broken down a lot of those doors.
For me personally, I’m anti-gun and always have been and always will be. But I’m definitely not someone who is looking to abolish the Second Amendment. I think we’re definitely interpreting it wrong.
Great music is just very clear. Sonically and lyrically, you understand the point of view, you understand the melodies, you understand the vibe, and you understand the lyric pretty damn quickly. To me, that doesn’t make it ‘less than’ – it makes it ‘more than.’
People are always quick to judge SPW because of the fact that I wear heels. For me, I just have no choice. This is just how I feel beautiful and how I feel awesome. I would just be so uncomfortable onstage if I was wearing something else.
I’m using the success I’ve had to help other people shine.
I’ve experienced some really very obvious, direct homophobia – when I was still trying to be an artist, behind the scenes, being told to be less gay, be less feminine.
A couple of days working with Joe Jonas, I thought, ‘This guy is a slayer of a singer; he’s really funny, goofy, and sexy. We need to write that.’ And that led to ‘Cake By The Ocean.’
I didn’t want a day job anymore, so I somehow made the jewelry line work. Now that I look back on it, it was, like, the dumbest idea ever. Everyone and their mother has a jewelry line, so in retrospect, maybe not the smartest fallback plan. But it ended up working out great!
If I’m hanging out with my friends or I’m working out, I’ll listen to female singer-songwriters from the ’90s because that’s where my heart lies.
If a song is being written for a woman, there should be a woman in the room collaborating.
I thought I was a superstar at 12.
I won’t do press anymore unless I can talk about the homophobia and let queer people know our ideas are mainstream.
A little makeover never hurt nobody.
The only thing that’s serious to me about music is making sure marginalized people are included in the story.
Young women should be telling stories of other young women. And if the superstar who is an amazing storyteller isn’t a writer, that’s totally fine, but we should get a young female writer in the room to work on that song with us.
My fashion is inspired by Tina Turner and Sharon Stone.
