Emily Haines Quotes & Sayings

I just write what comes to me. I didn't sit down and say ok, here is my statement. It's just a song that has a shout out. — Emily Haines

I am really inspired by writers, and weirdly - respect music journalists, which I think makes me the exception amongst most musicians. I think it's a craft. I think it's been really neglected - sadly. I think about the days of the great legendary rock critics. Who's going to become that when magazines and newspapers don't pay anyone properly or don't seem to respect the history or research that is required? — Emily Haines

I think every musician is different, every artist is different, and in a perfect world people would be able to pursue their own path and have the inspiration and the drive to, and the energy and dedication to take their path to its fruition. I don't really believe in formulas. — Emily Haines

I have an identity crisis which is not resolved because I'm a dual citizen. My whole family is American, and I was born in India but I was raised in Canada. But all my extended family is American, I've held an American passport and I've spent my whole adult life in between New York and LA. So I feel like an American ... and I also feel like a Canadian! I wish more people were dual citizens and then I wouldn't feel like such a freak. — Emily Haines

I don't really write journals and stuff and then adapt them to music, it's completely within the form of the song. My great obsession and basically the bane of my existence is caring probably too much about every word, but it's too late to change my career path. — Emily Haines

It bothers me that no one has the patience to deal with someone who is just sad. — Emily Haines

Life is passing you by as you speak, you're on a path and you're all on the same path toward death. — Emily Haines

Oftentimes the most produced and synth-tastic songs are the ones that end up sounding the best acoustic. — Emily Haines

It's a strange life ... you really don't know how you will impact people or how things will play out. — Emily Haines

I love to read about music and about art, but I don't try and take things about mythology or guidelines as to how I'm to behave as an artist. It's the realm of intellectual debate. Actually, more and more my direction is trying to get further away from being self-conscious of what the parameters are of the mainstream, where it intersects with the underground. — Emily Haines

Until the day we die, our lives are unwritten, which is sometimes a terrifying thought. — Emily Haines

Sometimes it's better to live through someone's work than the person themselves, and to realise that every human being is flawed, but through art they can be perfect. — Emily Haines

For as long as I can remember, I have written songs because I wanted to, because I was experiencing something that couldn't be described except through a sound. — Emily Haines

The nature of making music and making art, what motivates me is that it's interesting. It's interesting to listen, to really listen to other people's point-of-view. Take in their work. Listen to the way they sing. Listen to the way they write lyrics. What they are trying to express. — Emily Haines

The architecture of the song, if it's built properly, can withstand all kinds of things. — Emily Haines

Being alive and understanding that and making the decision to acutally live take a lot of courage. — Emily Haines

[When] you're a writer, you know that a lot of times you have to sneak up on yourself in order to achieve what you want to achieve, and sometimes you don't even know what it is until you've done it. — Emily Haines

The writing process is very much like being in a dark tunnel, and you don't really know what you will end up with until you have created it. — Emily Haines

I think that every band is different, and in fact that's one of the biggest problems with the old-school music industry is that ... one band would be successful according to a certain approach, and then every other band in the label gets sent down the same tube. — Emily Haines

Lots of people take the option of not activating their own life, of really letting it happen. — Emily Haines

It's very hard to separate what is a conscious decision and what's not. — Emily Haines

Believe in the power of songs, — Emily Haines