Like I have to pretend like I'm a male rapper, that I got stacks and we're in the club, and what do I want to say. And then, when writing Rare I could just be PJ.

PJ Harvey

Categorized in : Writing Rapper Pjs

I feel like the actual, the most beautiful thing about a song is that it is something that goes out there in the universe and people use it in the way that they need it in their lives.

song beautiful people

You know, two people can say exactly the same words, saying the same story, and it would mean something entirely different.

two mean people

If you want to be good at anything, you have to work hard at it. It doesn't just fall from the sky. I work every day at trying to improve my writing, and I really enjoy it. Nothing fascinates me more than putting words together, and seeing how a collection of words can produce quite a profound effect.

hard-work writing fall

You know if I see a work that really I am very affected by and inspired by then it makes me want to try things with my work that maybe I hadn't considered trying before and I think that is the biggest complement that you can pay somebody.

want trying thinking

Shame is the shadow of love. by PJ Harvey

Shame is the shadow of love.

shadow-of-love shame shadow

I enjoy looking like a tart and thinking like a politician. by PJ Harvey

I enjoy looking like a tart and thinking like a politician.

music politician thinking

I see men come and go, but there'll be one who'll collect my soul... by PJ Harvey

I see men come and go, but there'll be one who'll collect my soul.

soul men sex

I would never feel confident enough to express my views and opinions as the right ones because I just don't think that's possible. There are so many sides to everything that nobody is right or wrong.

views sides thinking

I work on words quite separately to music. They're both ongoing, and I don't ever feel like I'm working in a cycle in that respect, because it's every day anyway, no matter what I'm doing. Then I get to a point when I've collected together enough words that seem like they want to be songs rather than poems, or sometimes not.

ongoing together song

I've always felt that I'm affected by the world, by the way we treat each other, by the way different countries treat each other. I've always been very affected by politics, society, but I never got to a place as a writer where I felt like I could begin to deal with such things and do it well.

different country world

If anything, I hope being an artist opens up more opportunities 'cause I feel there's a lot of things I could do, like musically and stylistic-wise that I can write, but I don't really have an avenue to show it 'cause most of the things I'm writing are in Hip Hop.

artist wise writing

I try to see as much dance, theatre and films as I can because all of it feeds me in a way that I need feeding for what I do.

theatre trying needs

It's good to feel excited by the environment you're in. by PJ Harvey

It's good to feel excited by the environment you're in.

excited environment feels

I think of myself as a songwriter, a weaver of story and imagination in a way that a novelist might write a book.

writing book thinking

People have this idea of me being some kind of monster, and that's the complete opposite of who I am.

who-i-am opposites ideas

I'm not an autobiographical writer, but I am a writer who deals w... by PJ Harvey

I'm not an autobiographical writer, but I am a writer who deals with human emotion on all levels.

deals levels emotion

Making me into a role model is placing too much importance on wha... by PJ Harvey

Making me into a role model is placing too much importance on what I see as a work in progress.

progress role-models roles

I feel like I'm being put inside a box, and I'm not necessarily getting a chance. Like I'm not getting the shot that I deserve. So that's what Rare is about 'cause I feel because I am the way that I am, and I don't necessarily fit the mold of a lot of different artists that's out, it's like I'm not getting the chance to show what I can do. So, that's basically all the frustration of that, and everything is pretty much Rare for me anyway.

mold frustration artist

Ever since time began: What song is not about love? Whether it's about love from man to woman or parent to child, or grandmother to granddaughter... It just goes on and on. Or whether it's the love of one's country.

song country children

I think that's always very valuable: to keep the mind open to receiving all sorts of information, which can then be used in my work, but also just as a human being.

information mind thinking