Top 35 Dawn Richard Quotes

‘Goldenheart’ is like a modern-day Joan of Arc. Think of it like medieval times-cum-2045 or Lancelot and Guinevere in 3025. It’s a new version of these battles – age-old stories for the now.

Be exactly who you are. You can fit in any space you see yourself in. Be fearless.

When I look half naked on stage, it’s not because I’m trying to be sexy but because I am dancing and want to be mobile enough to move.

To create and do something no one else has done before – that feeling beats anything else I’ve felt.

I got in the audition line called ‘Making the Band’ because I wanted to be in a band. If I didn’t, I would have done ‘American Idol.’

You have to put time into the art to do it, and you have to know that what you’ll get out of it is not a financial or a fame thing. It’ll just be the pleasure of being an artist. And I’m cool with that.

I always knew who I was, but everyone else wanted to me to be their ‘idea‘ of the ‘right‘ artist. At times, I even believed them.

My father‘s music is all I remember from my childhood.

I’m big on showing people versatility. I’m constantly trying to push myself to break barriers and the idea that we have to stay in one lane.

‘Redemption‘ is about understanding myself and not worrying about my relationship with the industry.

Songwriting was my own journey. I never fit in with structure in songwriting.

The black geeks of the world, we feel like we don’t have a home.

When I get inspired, I give out free music. If you look at my track record from the beginning, that’s always what I’ve done. I’ve never changed.

I’m not a very open person.

There’s a fine line between artist and product. I don’t think the industry purposely does it, but I think that’s just the way they maneuver. You have to be careful that doesn’t become your story, where you become a product, and your art is tarnished because you’re just seen as a tool to make money.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t be afraid to be who I was when I chose to do this music thing.

I write for myself. It’s therapy.

‘The Red Era’ is for everybody. Every gay, every fluid, every black, every white.

My uncle is in the hall of fame for creating by hand some of the most intricate Indian Mardi Gras garb.

I connect so much with Peter Gabriel‘s sound because, to me, he always had that South African vibe. His drums were always something to move to: it was almost like Calypso. I’m a big fan.

People want to peg you as alternative R&B when they hear soul or see the color of your skin. It’s comfortable when people see artists of color or artists that come from a different country to put that brand on us. It’s just not as linear as that.

I just want to be a storyteller, and I think the way to do that is by your lyrics, by your visuals, by your choreography, by your dance. It’s imperative as an artist.

I love what a women embodies. I love our bodies; I love the way we communicate with our bodies. I love the way dance creates movement. It’s art in motion.

I lived in the library with my grandmother as a child. I still love the smell of books; the library card is still my friend.

It’s a lot of work being an indie artist, but it’s worth it.

I like being in charge. I like being able to control my own destiny and ideas.

There’s always going to be a fight between mainstream and underground because the mainstream is a very small bubble, and the underground scene is a very small bubble, and they both see themselves as secret societies. But I never saw it that way. I always thought music was open to all things.

I did write more mainstream stuff with DK. But you could always tell the records that I wrote in contrast with everybody else‘s because the format was a bit different. The harmonies were used in a different type of way. Way more metaphors in the mix.

I couldn’t do a record without knowing I’ll translate it into something visual.

There is a thing about women that needs to be understood. We don’t sit well with being put in a certain place.

I started to write my own stories, like small novels, and those novels became poems, and after poems, they became lyrics, and song came from that.

Just as much as you need the people who love you, you need the people who doubt you – to prove them wrong.

My director, Monty Marsh, is really awesome – I’ve been working with him for years now.

I want to show that you can be just as amazing as labels and compete as a business and work as a business even though you’re an artist.

‘Blackheart’ was the moment for me to really open up and let people into the world that is me.