Top 44 Michelle Zauner Quotes

I think growing up, I didn’t ever attempt to define my Koreanness. It was just this intrinsic part of me.

One of my more recent favorite memories is of traveling to Jeonju with my aunt and uncle. After my mother passed away, my aunt and I became a lot closer, and I’ve really grown to cherish the relationship we formed together as adults.

English was always my favorite subject in middle school and high school.

There are so many different things that lend themselves to what makes a song magical, that go beyond just the lyrics or the composition. But arrangement and production and performance have such huge stakes in what makes that sort of lightning-in-a-bottle moment.

I only wanted to play the guitar so I could write music. As soon as I learned my first three chords I wrote my first song. It was just a tool to get me to be able to do the thing that I wanted to do.

I’ve been lucky to come up when there’s such a huge explosion of women, and especially Asian women, in music.

I’ve never felt so physically and emotionally and mentally drained than I have on our shoots.

I can’t be into plants. I’m never at home.

I really love MFK Fisher’s food writing, and obviously Anthony Bourdain’s food writing is exceptional, in particular ‘A Cook’s Tour’. I really love the short story that he writes about revisiting the coastal town in France of his childhood and the memories that he has of his father.

When my mom was sick and in the hospital, I did for the first time feel really bad that a lot of men aren’t taught how to take care of other people very well. It’s not as important of a skill for them as other things, in the same way that I really resent not being given a toolbox when I was younger.

I feel like there are a number of indie artists… as they grow, it makes the most sense for them to pivot to pop, to become bigger artists. And I feel like that’s when people get really bad, you know? I didn’t want to fall into that pitfall.

Growing up, there were stereotypes being put onto me as an Asian person that I had no control over, and that made me extremely uncomfortable.

Being a caretaker for someone who’s dying was really, really hard at 25.

I don’t really listen to podcasts – I like one podcast and it’s called Song Exploder.

I think with any art making, there’s a sense of urgency that you have for people to understand you.

There’s this thing where Asian parents force you to play an instrument at an early age, but god forbid you like it and want to pursue it professionally! But, as a kid, I never did choir, and didn’t sing.

I don’t think a lot of Korean people even make kimchi. My mom certainly didn’t, so it’s a very extra thing to do in the same way that I guess baking bread can be an even longer process that you’re unsure about for a long time.

I love kitchenware. I’m very frugal and I don’t buy a lot of things, but I’m frivolous when it comes to buying groceries and kitchenware.

My mom always made me believe that people with only talent didn’t go very far. Hard work was what made things possible.

When I write a song, that process is sort of entwined with a lyric or a chord progression that suits the vibe, and that’ll work off each other.

The biggest takeaway from a memoir is that you have to play fair. Within the first draft, I was writing very angrily because I had a lot of resentment and a lot to process. Through revision is where a lot of learning happened and a lot of forgiveness happened.

I quit music and decided I was going to work a 9-to-5 job in advertising… which in New York City is more like, 8-to-7.

One thing that I really love about making records is that you can flow through fiction and non-fiction but, ultimately, everything’s a commentary on real life in some way.

My main memory of ‘Soft Sounds’ was that I was so convinced that ‘Psychopomp’ was this fluke – I had this real pressure of avoiding the sophomore slump.

I started going to chess clubs when I was in fourth grade. From fourth grade to seventh grade, I was in chess club.

I think something I explore a little bit in my music is how there’s this majestic, natural beauty in the Pacific Northwest, but also this kind of underlying eeriness.

I knew that I wanted my third album to be the most drama and the strongest foot forward – every muscle flexing and using all the tools that you have in the toolbox.

Then, in high school, I had a kind of mental breakdown; I didn’t want to go to school anymore. It felt pointless. It was around the same time that I became really interested in music.

Initially it was so important for me to be credited as a producer, play all these instruments and be the sole writer on everything. I think especially as a woman, you want to be taken seriously as a musician, as a producer.

Soft Sounds’ was really hard for me. I was petrified of the ‘sophomore slump’ so I created an environment to best combat that self-doubt and feelings that my first album was a real fluke.

When you’re looking back at your ancestral history or the cultural context of your identity, it’s natural to search for that in the food.

Sometimes I can really agonize over a creative project and forget that it’s essentially professional play, you know?

I was completely shocked – two Grammy nominations. I’ve said it out loud to myself about 100 times.

I grew up playing video games, since I was probably five years old.

With Jubilee I had a natural interest to write about something on the opposite end of human experience – a real celebration of release and joy, which is in some ways an unexpected theme for the indie rock genre in general.

I feel so overwhelmed by the kind of double hitter of a successful book and record. I just assumed at least one of them… would hopefully stick. So it’s nice that both did so well.

I would love to play an H Mart parking lot.

But for a song like ‘Paprika,’ I typically feel like I need to experience anguish a lot of the time to feel like I’ve put in enough hard work.

I never made kimchi before. I talk about my first time making it in the book, and I’m not a big baker, but I imagine it’s like a similar kind of feeling for a lot of people who are bakers where it’s just something that takes time. There’s so much space to be reflective and meditative.

I think that ‘Psychopomp’ is very much a Eugene, Oregon record.

When I started doing press after college, I never got asked about my racial identity; I was asked more about being a girl in music.

I do really love New York. I feel like there are more Asian restaurants. Philly has a sick food scene, I don’t want to diss it at all. But New York is so much bigger and there are more options.

I’ve been working with my stylist for a long time, Cece Liu. We’ve gone from buying and returning clothing, to this point where maybe finally a designer will dress me without me having to buy and return it.

I never thought I would be able to play in Seoul, the city where my mother was raised and I was born, and I was able to perform for my aunt.