GRIZ

Piano was my first instrument, but it wasn't the instrument that I showed the most proficiency on.

There was so much pressure to fit in, I tried to force myself to be like everyone else. The last thing any teen wants is to be 'uncool.'

Stay in school and band, kids! It had its nerdy moments, and I always felt like I wanted to do something more with it.

I was surprised how supportive my family and friends were in my coming out, and it gave and still gives me hope.

There is so much energy when you work with other people. I'm working with friends and having a blast.

I love hip-hop, and I like the beats the most.

Fear comes from personal self-acceptance and not the self.

My parents took a fairly liberal approach at raising me, always encouraging me to be creative and free-thinking.

My brother has been, and will always be, my closest friend.

Zelda is the best solo game; Mario Cart is the best group game.

The most important thing, to me is the intention of where things come from, like, why did you use it? What were the intentions of what you did? And if the intention is good, the intention is pure, then everything will turn out good.

Being in the high-school band was some of the funnest years of my life.

I wanna take a step forward, and I also wanna make sure that step forward is the step that I want and that I'm not being pressured by life. You try and get better at doing something, and a lot of the time, it's because somebody told you that you needed to be better.

I love what I do, and I do it 24/7, and it hurts my relationships very often, but it's worth it.

My whole thing, to keep myself interested - and, you know, I'm a huge hip-hop head - I have tons and tons of a cappellas. So I do these live remix mash-ups with my tracks and just throw them in there.

It's all about the music. Everything else is just extra.

My life is my music, so how can I stop? I put 100 percent into my career. I keep this flow going, and that's important.

We just love Denver. The love and support from people here is amazing.

I have a top 10 list of my favorite movies of all time, and just for the sake of not having my top 5 be entirely Miyazaki films, I had to pick one. So, right now, my favorite Miyazaki film is probably 'Princess Mononoke.'

I like mixing things up. That makes it more interesting. I love mixing in slower funk with what I do. I'll add drum and bass and put my foot to the gas pedal and press it to the floor.

The environment of San Francisco has so much history to it that I really appreciate. Musically, socially, and culturally. There's this new culture of people; it's a crazy place to be.

I don't need more money. I don't need that to be happy.

There's no such thing as a bad Miyazaki film.

Computers are really patient. They can sit there all day. It's a totally different situation dealing with humans. They can be tired or overly excited.

I also think something that makes the whole live performance fun for me is that I love my music.