Forgiveness is the needle that knows how to mend.
Jewel
I'm a Gemini and I have a lot of different moods. Sometimes I'm very serious and introspective and pensive, but other times I'm completely goofy and girlie. So, I like my songs to cover all my moods.
Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous, there's really nothing to lose. There's no wrong you can't make right again, so be kinder to yourself, you know, have fun, take chances. There's no bounds.
You have a different crowd every night, so you should do a different show to suit them. I tailor the show to their mood.
The things you fear are undefeatable, not by their nature, but by your approach.
I'm half alive but I feel mostly dead.
I was Renee Zellweger's fat doppelganger. If she ever played in a movie where she needed to be fat, apparently I could be her stunt double.
If you write a hit song for Britney Spears, it's worth several million dollars. Just one song! And it might have taken you two hours to do it. It's like mining for gold. It takes a lot of skill and a lot of technique.
I've had mentors who were kind of the troubadour singer-songwriters, like Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and that's just what I've always liked - people who would talk real honestly about their lives and their circumstance.
I was turning 20 during my first record. Those decade birthdays always kind of cause me, it seems, to reflect, look back, and then look forward. I just was closing this period of my life where I was living in a car and scrambling my whole life to then signing a six-record deal with Atlantic.
I consider myself a product of Alaska. The love and the debt that I feel to my home state, you always want your hometown to be the proudest of you.
I love playing big rooms. There's nothing like it. It's a power trip.
I have this theory- that if we're told we're bad, then that's the only ideal we'll ever have.
I would always encourage people of any age not to be so quick to follow other people's truths but to search and follow your own moral code and live by your own integrity, and mostly just be brave.
I've always toured solo acoustic.
Lots of people have gone from public housing to do great things in the world and have a tremendous sense of duty to their fellow man because of it.
I'm the classic absent-minded professor: I'm very focused on something, and meanwhile, I've left the refrigerator door open for hours.
Once you are successful, there's a very seductive rhythm at work that keeps you wanting to outdo yourself. By the end of 'Spirit' I felt like I didn't want to get into that trap. It almost makes you cartoon-like.
Hard times make you bitter or make you more compassionate.
On my own I generally have very messy hair, wear jeans and sneakers.
I've been writing lullabies since the beginning. I kind of did it for myself to help myself fall asleep when I really worried, like when I was homeless and I'd fall asleep in my car.
I've always had a love for poetry and when I got signed to a record label I thought, 'How odd that I'm doing a record before a book of poetry,'
I wrote the song 'Angels Standing By'... to try and soothe myself - rock myself to sleep, basically - because I was so scared and stressed.
Some people want fame, popularity and huge sales. I've always hoped to have a really long career. So I've tried to make each of my creative decisions and business decisions to allow for longevity. As a side effect I got really famous and really big. I didn't realize the two could go together.
I think when kids just see well-crafted poetry, it's just obtuse to them. It's hard to relate to.
Like every girl, I felt amazing pressure to look like the popular girls, but no one told me the popular girls were all air brushed in magazines.
I was homeless and I was in San Diego and I started singing in a local coffee shop and people started coming to hear me sing.
I think being raised spending so much time outdoors was really important - while you're in it, you might not know, but now I think of the things I was thankful for.
So what are we given? We're also given, my generation, the disillusionment of our parents.
Writing is a really good first step toward that goal of knowing yourself.
I'm somebody who, as a child, had a lot of insecurity about stable housing, where I was going to be living, if I was going to have a roof over my head, all those types of things. And I know the impact it can have on you psychologically and emotionally.
If someone is willing to help you understand your own worth when you're vulnerable, that's a very touching thing. It makes you want to help other people.
I have a life that I enjoy; I try and value the things that I think are worth valuing and everything else is icing. You know, it is a kick to go down the red carpet in that dress and then you go back home.
I love shows about creating and cooking. Sometimes they're so extraordinary, you end up setting yourself to fail.
Amazingly, I've been sort of an anomaly in the music industry. I feel like I've been able to exist as kind of a throwback artist.
I consider myself a product of Alaska. The love and the debt that I feel to my home state - you always want your hometown to be the proudest of you, and so it's heartbreaking to hear people say snarky things.
Records have never really been my strong suit. I've always been a much better live act. I didn't understand the language of the studio. You sing differently in a studio. The language, the craft - it's just a whole different deal. I avoided the problem on my first record by doing a live album.
I have hundreds and hundreds of songs waiting to get on albums, but I don't know about the three-month radio tours and if I'll be interested in that. I haven't figured it out, but I will definitely be doing music, whether it is independent or with a major record label.
Some of my favorite poets had a tremendous sense of whimsy, so it's a writing style I guess I admire.
I've been performing on stage since I was six years old.
My husband and I have kept a good balance between the work and the rest. I feel so lucky having a job, and I know so may people who focus too much on work, and their home lives suffer.
When we're children we're told love is going to be great: Just fall in love, the rest will take care of itself - and then we fall in love and we realize, Okay, this is actually really, really hard work. This guy doesn't just tell me I'm great every day, you know?
I love touring - I don't do it as often as I should.
It's really fun to see young kids trying to find excellence in themselves.
I'm not a partygoer.
I guess I'm a Gemini through and through, but I'm mercurial. I get bored doing the same things.
It's like a garden: Whatever you water the most will do the best. At some point, you decide whether you'll water your career or your relationship more.
I'm fairly specific about what I like to wear and looks are important to me, just like they are to everybody.
There's no wrong you can't make right again, so be kinder to yourself; you know, have fun, take chances. Those bounds.
I didn't mean to be a songwriter; I just was writing for fun, you have all day to do it. I was homeless so that's all I had to do.
