Michael Kiwanuka Quotes

• With writing music and writing songs and recording music and coming up with stuff, you need to kind of reengage that kind of inner child to come up with interesting perceptions.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Song, Children, Writing

  "Michael Kiwanuka: For Those Who Think Young". Interview With Scott Simon, www.npr.org. July 28, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• My idea of home is not necessarily a place.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Home, Ideas

  4 Copy quote

• Finding out that Ray Charles sang country songs but it sounded as soulful as any rhythm and blues record that kind of opened up my horizons for what songwriting was and what singers I could listen to.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Country, Song, Kind

  "Michael Kiwanuka: For Those Who Think Young". Interview With Scott Simon, www.npr.org. July 28, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• You always have in the back of your mind that would be cool if you get recognized. But you can't concentrate on any of those things. You've got to just keep playing and doing your music and the rest is just a bonus.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Mind, Would Be, Bonus

  5 Copy quote

• The main thing in making your own music is that it's an expression of someone's personality and being. That's what people want to hear, and you can't really teach that - that's just something that comes out. Teaching just hones that.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Teaching, Expression, People

  "Michael Kiwanuka, Far From Home". Interview with Dan Hyman, www.interviewmagazine.com. July 30, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• Bill Withers, Van Morrison and Marvin Gaye are pioneers in popular music for the last century, and these are people who have influenced me as well, so it's pretty flattering. I've got a long way to go to reach anywhere near what those guys have done. But it's a good encouragement.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Encouragement, Long, People

  Source: www.wbur.org

  4 Copy quote

• Listening to a lot of guitar rock and roll music and feeling quite eccentric because everyone expected me to learn and develop like R&B. This kind of made me feel a little bit better, because I realized it was all the same, you know. There's no difference. It's just music.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Feelings, Listening, Kind

  4 Copy quote

• I love grooves and dance music, but I like the feeling behind songs too.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Song, Feelings, Groove

  4 Copy quote

• Ive been more single than not in my short life.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Short Life

  4 Copy quote

• I had a lovely time growing up.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Growing Up, Lovely, Growing

  4 Copy quote

• It's annoying when you've got a guitar and you're working on music and then you have to go and do the shopping or someone calls your mobile and you get distracted or you have to go out and do something. So it's nice to just concentrate on it one hundred percent and give your all to it.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Nice, Shopping, Guitar

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  10 Copy quote

• Jimi Hendrix came on TV on this documentary and it was this African-American soulful black guy, playing an electric guitar, which I'd just started. And it just blew my head off. I had like an afro at the time, too. It was a bit all over the place. And it wasn't a thing to have an afro. No, that's kind of quite old school. You're supposed to have like a neatly cut shaped up haircut.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  School, Cutting, Guy

  4 Copy quote

• By that point, I was about 12, 13 years old. I was this young black kid into rock music, which was kind of strange. People would always assume I'd be into like more modern R&B, which is a stereotype, but that was kind of what was expected. And I had all these guitar magazines of all these musicians that didn't look like me. So I assumed Jimmi Hendrix was one of those.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Kids, People, Black

  "Michael Kiwanuka: For Those Who Think Young". "Weekend Edition" with Scott Simon, www.npr.org. July 28, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• I remember listening to like gospel-y blues tunes. I'd just listen to the rhythm and the music was upbeat. Always upbeat if you get like a good rhythm you can nod your head. You just feel good. But then when you listen to the lyrics it was quite sad.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Feel Good, Listening, Remember

  "Michael Kiwanuka: For Those Who Think Young". Interview With Scott Simon, www.npr.org. July 28, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• I like a lot of soul, but I also put a lot of folk into what I do.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Soul, Folks

  4 Copy quote

• I think I skipped a lot of music, like when I was 17 or 18. I didnt know about a lot of new bands because I was so immersed in older music.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Thinking, Band, Knows

  4 Copy quote

• The worst thing for a singer/songwriter is to run out of songs.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Running, Song, Singers

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  8 Copy quote

• It's quite hard not to cringe at your own music; you're always a bit annoyed at some parts of it.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Annoyed, Bits, Hard

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I love making music so its important for me to keep doing that even if the schedule is busy.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Important, Schedules, Busy

  4 Copy quote

• I had an opportunity to make an album - that was a dream come true. I had to make sure that I could do it the best way I could, and at least at the end of it be very pleased with it and not regret anything. So that took a lot of concentration. Being isolated really helps with that.

  Michael Kiwanuka

  Dream, Regret, Opportunity

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Jack White

Dan Auerbach

Laura Mvula

Leon Bridges

Lianne La Havas

Jake Bugg

Bill Withers

Jessie Ware