Sharon Van Etten

I'm not a down-in-the-dumps person. I think some people assume that I am because of the music I write.

My career is based off of me talking about my emotions.

I was pretty troubled for a long time. And I didn't know that. As a kid, I never talked about my emotions. My mom gave me a journal, but I didn't know what it meant. I just wrote all the time, not even thinking about it. But it also made me feel better.

I hate the term 'emo.' It turned into this genre of music, when all music, if you connect with it, is emotional.

My friends actually used to call me the 'Female Conor Oberst.' I got to open up with him once, and I told him about that, and he thought it was hilarious.

I started playing, and people responded to it and connected with it and now, I don't even know what I'm really connecting with anymore or if I'm helping people. Now it's more of a business.

I don't think I'll ever feel perfectly balanced, but I feel like I'm figuring it out, and I'm surrounded by really wonderful people that want to see me succeed and be happy. Life is wild.

My goal is to become a therapist by the time I'm 50.

I didn't have my first band until I was, like, 30.

Just getting older, you stop caring what other people think, but also, you know who you are, and you know what you want.

I wasn't a very good salesman.

I'm a late bloomer in music.

I'm trying to learn how to cook.

Honestly, live is my favorite way of performing. Every show is a completely different energy.

I think there are times in a lot of people's pasts where they've unintentionally fallen in love with really damaged people. You go out with someone who's a mess so you can feel less of a mess.

I'm really out of touch with myself emotionally. I've always had a hard time talking about how I feel.

I don't want to bury anything in poetry.

I hate putting negative energy out into the world. But it's either inside or out. I mean, it's either get an ulcer or have a fight.

The only thing that's helped me get through some really hard times was just being able to write and express - it's very cathartic for me. I'm hoping that, by writing and performing for other people, it affects them the same way.

I'm getting bored performing the same songs over and over. Songwriting comes and goes.