Syd Quotes

“I used to have long hair and get it done every two weeks, and it was never worth it to me. I would just walk out of the salon and put it in a ponytail anyway.”

― Syd

“I’m kind of shy when it comes to women, so I don’t really approach them. I’ll just admire them from afar, and if they happen to say something to me, then maybe I’ll find the courage to say something.”

― Syd

“I’m not ashamed in the least bit of being gay or being a lesbian. I just prefer to call myself gay for some reason.”

― Syd

“Most of my friends are straight dudes. I talk to them about girls. I don’t talk to girls about girls; I don’t talk to gay girls about girls.”

― Syd

“Feeling invisible definitely makes you want to become visible sometimes.”

― Syd

“Don’t overthink it, and don’t let technicalities stop you from creating.”

― Syd

“I lived in a pretty big house, and we had a guesthouse, so when I was 14, I built a studio in my bedroom, which was pretty big. It was two rooms connected, so I turned the second into a studio and ran the mic in my closet.”

― Syd

“I think too many people are offended by stuff that doesn’t matter.”

― Syd

“I think everybody goes through times where they’re vulnerable and then times where you’re confident and cocky.”

― Syd

“As far as open conversations with random people, no I don’t really enjoy them.”

― Syd

“I have stopped going out places just to avoid uncomfortable conversations.”

― Syd

“I think I see myself differently than most people see me.”

― Syd

“I get kinda nervous before every show.”

― Syd

“I sing every day, on a regular basis.”

― Syd

“I’m just a really shy person. I don’t gravitate towards attention, so for someone like me to have as much attention as I have is bizarre.”

― Syd

“I’ve always known I was a genius. But I never thought I was a star.”

― Syd

“If you ranked Odd Future, I was at the very bottom.”

― Syd

“I do want to inspire people – young girls who may like to wear boys’ clothes and who romanticize women and feel nothing wrong with it.”

― Syd

“I’ve always been comfortable with my gayness, but I was intimidated by the social anxiety.”

― Syd

“If you want to be a pioneer, you have to be intentional, at least a little bit.”

― Syd

“It’s weird: I don’t really know where I pull my inspiration from. I think it’s N.E.R.D.”

― Syd

“I think I see a lot of artists struggling to make their first album perfect, and I’ve been there.”

― Syd

“My parents have always been supportive of whatever I’ve wanted to do.”

― Syd

“I have really dope parents, and they happen to both really love, love music – they’re huge music fans.”

― Syd

“If I have a session with an artist who I’ve never worked with before, they don’t have to meet my parents, you know? Unless they want to.”

― Syd

“Fashion has always been influenced by hip-hop.”

― Syd

“I’m never a flashy type of person.”

― Syd

“I grew up in a house that was constantly under construction. It’s been under construction my whole life. My mom loves interior decor, and my dad loves construction – he loves demolition and building new walls.”

― Syd

“I used to get the most anxiety before shows because I really was never prepared.”

― Syd

“Performing live was something that I had to really work at.”

― Syd

“I knew that if I just came out as a singer, people would just be criticizing my voice.”

― Syd

“I hate the word ‘lesbian.’”

― Syd

“I was a loner; I spent the first half of high school alone.”

― Syd

“My mom wasn’t expecting me to end up how I ended up. When she wanted to have kids, she wanted to have two girls, and then she got my brother and me. Which is a disappointment to anybody. You can’t help it.”

― Syd

“I’m sure that, on some level of the major-label and old-establishment industry, there are execs and agents who think homosexuality is a liability.”

― Syd

“If you think I’m a young boy singing these songs, dope. Run with that.”

― Syd

“The gay community hated me for being part of Odd Future. They thought Odd Future was homophobic because they tend to use homophobic slang, and they were like: ‘How can you work for and support homophobes?’ But they aren’t homophobic; they just don’t really care whether you’re offended or not.”

― Syd

“At some point, I started listening to music a little differently. Rather than being like, ‘Yo, this is dope – who made this?’ it started being like, ‘I wish I made this.’”

― Syd

“Finding someone that trusted my vision helped me find certainty in who I was.”

― Syd

“Older people generally appreciate live music.”

― Syd

“It’s no secret that I love women. I think everyone loves women. And I like having beautiful women around me.”

― Syd

“I have an uncle in Jamaica who’s an OG producer/songwriter over there, Mikey Bennett.”

― Syd

“When I started making music, I just wanted to be the producer who sang the hooks. I wanted to be Pharrell, honestly, the one who made the beats and was in the music video with the girls.”

― Syd

“I want people to love me for my music.”

― Syd

“If everything happens for a reason, what’s the reason?”

― Syd

“As a child, I wanted to be a singer, but that was only because I thought I could sing. I’d sing along to Brandy and Usher and *NSYNC.”

― Syd

“Some people just need something to be mad about.”

― Syd

“Almost everything I’ve ever recorded, I recorded myself at the desk, in my house.”

― Syd

“I learned everything I knew about recording and engineering from my experience with Odd Future, so I was pretty comfortable with not having much.”

― Syd

“It was a nerve-wracking first few years having to tour and perform in front of people with the little bit of confidence I had.”

― Syd

“I’ve gotten used to not having all the responsibility on my shoulders.”

― Syd

“I feel like once you go with a band, it’s hard to go back. I just don’t see myself performing without a band.”

― Syd

“I think the audience is getting it right, you know what I mean? And that’s kind of rare when the artist feels like their audience understand them. But I feel like people are understanding exactly what I’m going for. And that’s awesome.”

― Syd

“I’ve written songs about women since I’ve been involved with women, but I do know a few gay female artists who, back in the day, would write songs about men.”

― Syd

“It kind of feels good to make something that you’re proud of and it’s also very real to you.”

― Syd

“I sing, but I’m not a singer. I’m just a producer who sings on her own songs because I can’t find anybody else who sounds like me.”

― Syd

“I remember my first albums: Brandy’s first album and Usher’s ‘My Way.’”

― Syd

“For me, I’m just trying to keep it fun, keep it interesting, not get stuck on the same sound, the same wave for too long.”

― Syd

“I think the selfie age is kind of making fame annoying.”

― Syd

“I feel like I’m real honest in my music. Even if it ends up being an exaggeration or a fantasy, it’s a fantasy that’s real to me.”

― Syd

“I’ve always been conscious not to take advantage of my sexual orientation because I don’t think it’s fair, and it shouldn’t matter.”

― Syd

“At the end of the day, I represent myself first and foremost, and I’m not going to ever purposely try and misrepresent myself.”

― Syd

“Everybody in Odd Future is their own artist – they have their own friends and their own ideas for things – so we all spent quite a lot of time separated.”

― Syd

“It took me a very long time to be comfortable in my own skin.”

― Syd

“My dad makes me breakfast every morning; he’s very worried about my nutrition.”

― Syd

“My dad’s a businessman, and I grew up looking up to him, how he dressed to go to work and, whenever I went to his office, how he spoke to people.”

― Syd

“I was 16 when I recorded ‘Flashlight.’ I produced it, made the beat, wrote it, recorded it.”

― Syd

“I know that Shia LaBeouf and Fiona Apple went to my alma mater, Hamilton High.”

― Syd

“I like that I’m an engineer – it sets me apart from a lot of other artists.”

― Syd

“I’ve realised that I actually like being by myself.”

― Syd

“Kaytranada’s a really cool dude.”

― Syd

“When I was 14 and I wanted to buy stuff, I didn’t like asking for stuff from my parents, so I started a couple companies, and the last one ended up being my studio.”

― Syd

“I want to be a great performer.”

― Syd

“I started taking vocal lessons steadily. I started taking it seriously.”

― Syd

“Justin Timberlake has a great live show.”

― Syd

“I want to say I hate my generation, but I don’t.”

― Syd

“I was really inspired, working with Odd Future.”

― Syd

“I used to feel like I wasn’t a good songwriter when I couldn’t finish a song by myself.”

― Syd

“I don’t even start singing anything until the mic is on and recording, because my first ideas are usually my best ones. So I’ll just press record; I’ll freestyle a whole three minutes.”

― Syd

“Studying James Fauntleroy, I learned it’s okay to write a bad song. Just write another one the next day and hope that it’s better.”

― Syd

“I, for one, am, like, the most ordinary person. Like, people look past me all the time because I’m just so blending in.”

― Syd

“I wish I could sing like Nelly.”

― Syd

“I never think I work hard enough, as much things I have on my plate.”

― Syd

“My conscience is really active. So I feel bad about spending excess amount of money on things.”

― Syd

“I love being part of a creative process, so having a band to work with is perfect for me.”

― Syd

“I use Logic or Reason and a midi keyboard for beats. If it’s gonna have all live instruments in it, I’ll probably use Pro Tools and have the band lay stuff down.”

― Syd

“Guitar Center hooks me up on a lot of stuff.”

― Syd

“For Odd Future, I only made beats for Mike G. With the Internet, I’m part of a production team making tracks for me to sing over.”

― Syd

“I think my first client other than my brother was this kid named Tallent. I was charging him eight dollars an hour to record in my room. He kept coming back, then I went up to ten dollars an hour.”

― Syd

“Once we got signed, I moved out of my house because I was having teenage issues with my mom. It really wasn’t my fault, looking back. You know, I’m gay; it’s weird. It was one of the things. She has no problem with me being gay, but she had a problem with me dressing the way I do at first.”

― Syd

“I grew up watching ‘American Idol.’”

― Syd

“I think that’s what I learned a lot from Odd Future. I learned a lot of great things from them, but one of the mistakes that they made was that we didn’t stay together, and we didn’t communicate. We never had meetings. Everybody had issues with everybody else and wouldn’t talk about it.”

― Syd

“I go through stages with all kinds of stuff. There’ll be a couple of months where I’m reading, you know, like, fiction mystery novels, and there’ll be a couple more where I’ll be redecorating a room in my house.”

― Syd

“I don’t really watch too many movies, but I try to watch inspirational pieces about other musicians. Musical documentaries truly inspire me.”

― Syd

“I think I’m influenced a lot by Drake in specific ways in my writing.”

― Syd

“I don’t watch TV.”

― Syd