Top 66 Julien Baker Quotes

I don’t like to believe in canon.

Some songs just fall out of you. And some you have to wrestle out like an abscess.

My dad took me to the skate park every single weekend to see alternative bands.

Ultimately, I feel like there is just a pervasive evidence of God. Though I know that is maybe a controversial thing to say.

I adopted this idea whether I was going to end up making music for three people in a bar or Wembley Stadium, I was always going to do music.

I’m always nervous.

There are people who are explicit and people who are implicit, right? Like I say, ‘I think there is a God,’ but I’ve seen Christian metalcore bands do altar calls at their shows and be like, ‘Come get saved right now.’ I think there’s a subtler way, which is to say I’m being honest with my beliefs.

My parents were always playing records: My mom was really into the Beatles and Fleetwood Mac, and my dad was more Billy Squire, Whitesnake, ’80s hair metal. But I think there’s that crucial point where you become an adolescent and you don’t want to listen to your parents’ music.

We think empathy is innate, but it’s not. It’s a muscle you’re working.

I was a very emotional teenager. But I wish that I could tell myself that I matter more than I think. Things are a bigger deal than I think they are, but they’re also not as big a deal as I think they are. My mistakes are not the end of the world.

The thing about music is that it gives voice and names to anguish and also addresses how to comfort it.

The midterms are a chance for people to vote out those they believe are failing to address the concerns of citizens.

It’s not like a choice to have an identity politics discussion when you’re living it all the time. And if it’s uncomfortable, well then maybe the way that we need to deal with that is by letting things be uncomfortable.

I like Telecasters because they are so versatile.

I played with a band, and the lead singer would always introduce me as ‘the 13-year-old lead guitarist.’ I didn’t want to be a novelty, like ‘Oh, she has three arms! Check her out.’ But I’ve learned to accept it as more of a compliment.

I am voting in the midterm elections because I believe that when people engage with their local government, it reminds those placed in power that they are public servants who will be held accountable for their decisions.

Sometimes you want to complain and be like, ‘Why? Life is so horrible.’ But it doesn’t change that there are redeeming qualities and a universal capacity for redemption and grace. There are still things that make it worth it and bearable.

I don’t think that you can just walk through life without all of your experiences informing your perspective on the world.

Those parts of myself that are too ugly or dangerous are precisely the things I feel convicted to share.

There is something familial about punk. There is something positive. Even though some punk is destructive, nihilistic, explosive.

Painting with broad strokes, I feel like a lot of journalism makes it out to be like the collective consciousness has a finite imagination for multiple women at one time in a similar genre.

Some shows feel very reverent – when you’re in a seated theater, no one really sings. I love it when people sing! I wish people would sing all the time. Because one of my favorite things when I get to do as a musician is step away from the microphone and listen to everyone sing together.

I feel like I’ve had bad nights or destructive nights or nights where I don’t remember anything or nights where I was seriously injured or seriously in danger. And I remained nihilistic and unconcerned because it felt like there was no alternative.

All of my favorite hymns are admissions of faults, and finding redemption even in those.

It’s like a cosmic joke that people dream to perform in front of a huge crowd. But it is a welcomed challenge. I hope I always have that positive apprehension.

There are so many people in Memphis who have real reasons to be angsty, but I was just a suburban white kid with all this misplaced rage.

Spotify stresses me the hell out.

Tolerance exists.

It used to be you would need a couple grand to make a record at a studio. Now, you can do it on freaking GarageBand.

A lot of artists I like end up being queer. Or maybe it’s a subconscious thing that you can identify of, like, ‘Oh this person understands the nuances of the romantic narrative of a queer person, or the social narrative of a queer person.’ And then you discover, lo and behold that they are a queer person.

The thing that is comforting about being a touring musician is whenever I say bye to my friends, I’m like, ‘I don’t know when I’ll see you again but it’ll be sooner than I think and if it’s not soon then it won’t matter.’

I think what kids who like heavy music are really looking for is the honesty and candour of it.

Especially in the sphere of social activism, I think we tend to unwittingly conceptualize progress or revolution as black and white and having a clear beginning and end.

When I was in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, Green Day was my formative entry to punk. I wish I could say I was listening to Minor Threat and Black Flag, but I wasn’t. Bay Area punk bands were doing it right.

One thing I’m super aware of in my music when I’m writing is: ‘Am I overcomplicating this?’ I’ll write a song about some deep existential quandary and explore all these dumb thought waves, and then think ‘Is it effective to say that? Or is it effective to say one simple thing that communicates the feeling better?’

Music and musical instruments were proximal to my life from very early on – I took piano lessons for a brief time, but then my dad had a guitar and when he was not playing it, I would pick it up and mess with it. He jokes that I used to complain that it hurt my fingers.

I had a hot-pink mohawk in high school, and when I came out everyone was like, ‘We don’t care.’

The more we can personalise, the more the market can fragment, because of all the availability that streaming presents. Things become old sooner. That’s terrifying.

I think it’s possible for Tennessee to be flipped to a Democratic majority, which would be beneficial to enacting policies that I would like to see, but beyond party allegiance, we have an opportunity to involve ourselves in change that will empower us not just now but in the future.

It’s super cool to me when my manager screencapped Sharon Van Etten saying my album is great on Twitter and I about cried ’cause she’s a hero. And that led to… I got to have lunch with her! I got to meet a hero!

My parents wouldn’t let me listen to ‘American Idiot.’ So it felt very rebellious to go over to my friend’s house after school and listen to it in secrecy.

With my own music, I’m much more reluctant to say, you know, ‘This record slaps!’

I hope we can dismantle the idea that the entire south is sitting on our porches spitting tobacco and hating gay people.

I hate those articles – this is a pet peeve of mine – like move over X, here’s the new Y. And it’s just like, X didn’t become obsolete because there’s a person doing a similar thing. You also don’t have to be like the new old-thing, you’re just the current you-thing.

Connecting with people who are able to maintain a sense of humility is really useful.

My harmonies on ‘Me & My Dog’ are a little extra.

I love ‘Exit West’ by Mohsin Hamid. It’s a magical realism retelling of the refugee experience, where people find these magical doors that transport them to another country.

There are people I haven’t seen for a year and we will do a show or something and when we hang out it’ll be this instant endearment. I’m like, ‘Our lives, the cosmos, are intersecting, and this will bring us closer together again. I have no doubt.’

Me at parties: ‘Like, do you want to know the historical context of the prophet Jeremiah?’

I think people learn best and are more engaged when it’s just normal relatable situations that illustrate the principles they’re discussing.

We always have a great time touring Germany, but one of my favourite museums in the world is Museum Ludwig, an incredible contemporary art museum in Cologne. I could spend all day in it.

I do not want to make art and then try to dictate how people use it, or how people interact with it.

I do have a little bit of trouble with candor around the things that I used to do. I think it’s probably just resultant of shame and embarrassment and not wanting to be defined by the life that I used to live.

I didn’t grow up on country and blues, I was just a kid listening to VH1 and then I realized I needed to expand my musical horizons. Now I have a deep appreciation for southern heritage music.

All my heroes are teachers.

There are still men in the professional or behind the scenes world that are controlling women to build credibility.

I feel like it’s a necessary part of musical development to go through that phase where you think that your favorite style of music is the only style of music, and I thought that for a while.

Writing songs has always been a process where I divulge a lot, just because music is a tool for me to sift through and process intense emotions. But having music be my primary occupation has changed how I interact with art.