Charli XCX Quotes

I've had offers to sign a record deal, but the people I've talked to have wanted to package me and have me meet with songwriters who've written stuff for Whitney Houston, that sort of thing. That's not at all my style.

The music industry is such a different world from the acting world. Everything is really last minute, but I love the challenge, and I love owning my material and being able to put out what I want.

In general, I don't feel artists should need producers.

To me, Def Jam put my career on hold. I was used to making 13-14 songs a year, and they trickled that down to nothing.

When I got my first publishing deal, I felt some responsibility to try to write with the people that they were asking me to write with.

I mean there are tons of reasons. Well first of all. I write my own record. I don't take other people's materials. And I have a job which is being Willa Ford on top of getting back in the studio and writing and recording.

One thing, when you're an actor, you finish something and then you have to worry about what the next gig is. When you're a musician, you can always write your own stuff, and I'm working on new stuff for a new album right now.

Even at my biggest, I want to be writing for other artists. Even at my peak - the highest I can be as an artist - I always want to be keeping my creative juices flowing, keeping money in the bank, putting my intellectual property out there.

I basically was in charge of the Jackson 5 - all their creative, when it came down to the studio, and all their musical endeavors.

Mostly I've never let record companies become involved with my music, which was a very smart thing that my first manager Dave Robinson did, to keep them out of it.

I've wanted to be Mick Jagger since I was 18. One of the things I love about music is that you don't have to be dependent on other people like you are in the film business. I hate being dependent on anyone. With my music, I can do whatever I want. I also think it's made me more relaxed as an actress.

Do not let any record company disturb your creative flow. You are not writing for the record company. You're writing for the public.

I have been with the record company and Tommy was there doing records with other people.

The reason I never wanted to sign with a big label was because I didn't want no one telling me how to make my music.

I have just enough people paying attention that I have the freedom to be in charge. And I have a great record company - Nonesuch understands what I'm about.

A lot of big whoever producers, they come with a song and they say, 'Sing this,' and I'm not that girl.

I didn't need to borrow money from the record company, because if I had my own publishing company, and I had my own writers, I'd have enough to get and do whatever I wanted to do.

It is great to have your own label; you can cultivate your own artists... I've worked with pretty much everyone I wanted to.

My producer, Michael Knox, he's kind of my eyes and ears on Music Row. While I'm out on the road, he's looking for songs, and then he and I will get together and go over songs.

Then l learned to play guitar and l started writing songs and my mother formed for me a publishing business, so we started publishing and managing artists.

They told me that they are starting a classic label, and wanted me to be the first artist. So I signed, and am producing myself, and writing my own music, but I'm their first artist on their classic label. And I have creative control.

But I'm a rock 'n' roll singer; that's my livelihood, my occupation.

Most of the time when people work with an artist, they don't give them what they need for the future, they give them what their last album sounded like. So it's like, 'Oh, One Republic needs a song, why don't we send them 10 that sound like 'Apologize?'

The business today is completely different and it's very producer driven, so that a songwriter needs to have producing chops, be a singer/songwriter, or find a singer to develop.

They told me I should be making my own records. So I figured, 'why not?