Jenny Lewis Quotes

Sometimes things feel hopeless. Not always within my own life - but looking outward, it seems like rough times lie ahead of us. The world seems to be kind of caving in on itself in a lot of ways. But I try to look on the bright side.

- Jenny Lewis

Sometimes, Ahead, Rough, My Own

My hair looks so good out in the desert, it's unbelievable. It's, like, perfectly not frizzy.

- Jenny Lewis

Hair, Looks, Perfectly, Unbelievable

When I was 18, I took a trip to Thailand with a friend. We stayed for a month. Bangkok was very raw for a teenager: there were no cellphones, no Internet, and the only music I had with me was this cassette by Liz Phair. I was writing a lot of poetry, and she embodied a talky style of songwriting that I found very accessible.

- Jenny Lewis

Very, Had, Accessible, Bangkok

I can parallel park pretty well - I'm a great driver.

- Jenny Lewis

Driver, Well, Pretty, Parallel

I didn't know anything about music when I started a band. I barely knew how to play a guitar. I didn't know how to produce records. I learned how to play bass guitar and keyboards in Rilo Kiley. I picked up a lot from my collaborators.

- Jenny Lewis

Play, Records, About, Keyboards

When I'm sick of myself, and when I don't know what to say as a solo artist, I can write a song for a movie. When I don't know where to turn musically, being in a band - Rilo Kiley or Jenny & Johnny - the collaborative nature is really exciting.

- Jenny Lewis

Artist, Sick, Movie, Johnny

I've always felt lonely, even if I'm in a great relationship or surrounded by my friends and family.

- Jenny Lewis

Always, Surrounded, Felt, Great Relationship

I come from a duo, actually, quite literally. My parents are Linda and Eddie, and they had an act in Vegas called 'Love's Way.'

- Jenny Lewis

Love, Vegas, Literally, Linda

I had a huge Lisa Frank sticker collection. I traded them.

- Jenny Lewis

Traded, Frank, Had, Sticker

I'm a late bloomer. It's taken me a long time to find my voice, and I think all the records I've made over the years, I was finding my voice, and that's part of the process.

- Jenny Lewis

Voice, Records, I Think, Bloomer

My mother had a great vinyl collection, and she was constantly playing female singer-songwriters. I first learned about classic song structures by listening to them, and Laura Nyro particularly stood out. Her voice was outside what you'd usually hear on the radio; that really appealed to me.

- Jenny Lewis

Voice, About, Stood, Laura

When I sit down to write a song, there is no filter. I'm not trying to write for anyone or anything specifically. It's just trying to capture a little piece of your soul - even if it's a really ugly part.

- Jenny Lewis

Soul, Part, Your, Filter

I felt like onstage I have to have a certain amount of anonymity, like, personal anonymity, to feel loose and free. When you're up there with people who've known you for a decade, and you make a bad joke and you hear the cackling behind the drums, it's hard to get lost in the moment.

- Jenny Lewis

Behind, Bad, Decade, Anonymity

After Rilo Kiley broke up and a few really intense personal things happened, I completely melted down. It nearly destroyed me. I had such severe insomnia that, at one point, I didn't sleep for five straight nights.

- Jenny Lewis

Down, Had, Nearly, Personal Things

I felt like hip-hop was my music, it was like my outsider music... but then my mom started answering our phone, 'Yo, what's up.' She was hearing me talk to my friends. I was like, 'No, mom, don't cop the hip-hop talk.'

- Jenny Lewis

Cop, Like, Felt, Answering

My parents divorced when I was 3 years old. They had a lounge act in Las Vegas, where I was born. The band broke up and the marriage dissolved, and my mother, my sister and I moved to Southern California. And I didn't see my dad a lot growing up; he was on the road a lot. I'd see him every couple years.

- Jenny Lewis

Southern, Couple, Las Vegas, Divorced

I demo all of my songs on Garage Band, where I pretty much play everything - not very well, but I manage to hammer out a drum beat and a bass idea.

- Jenny Lewis

Play, Pretty, Very, Manage

When I first started touring, we had a crappy van, and we would all share rooms. So for many years as a grown adult woman, I would share a bed with a bandmate, whether it would be Jimmy Tamborello from the Postal Service or Pierre De Reeder from Rilo Kiley, just a pillow barrier between us sleeping on the same bed.

- Jenny Lewis

Bed, Rooms, Crappy, Postal Service

I wouldn't call it a faux pas, but I have about 12 tracksuits. I always travel in a tracksuit. I feel it makes people happy when they see me.

- Jenny Lewis

Happy, Always, About, Faux

I'm more in the Stones camp than the Beatles camp.

- Jenny Lewis

More, Stones, Than, Camp

I am in a constant cycle of selling my clothes at Wasteland and buying from Goodwill. Once or twice a year, I go through my closet and donate everything to Goodwill. It feels like I am recycling my fashion.

- Jenny Lewis

Through, Goodwill, Feels, Donate

When I was a teenager, I went to Europe on a backpacking trip by myself, and I met a woman who was following Sebadoh. It was the early 1990s, and that was my introduction to indie rock.

- Jenny Lewis

Myself, Woman, Indie, 1990s

I would never say anything's over forever. How could you possibly know how you feel? How could you shut the door on anything?

- Jenny Lewis

Door, Over, Shut, Possibly

I'm a huge reggae fan. I want to go to Jamaica and make, like, Bob Marley 'One Love' positive songs. That's what the world needs.

- Jenny Lewis

Love, Like, Needs, Jamaica

You can find me at three in the morning in my living room with a glass of wine and really bad '90s trip hop beats blaring from my headphones.

- Jenny Lewis

Living, Bad, Glass, Wine

It's pretty amazing to write under any circumstances when someone gives you an assignment to write a song, even if it doesn't get accepted. I've written songs a couple of times, some for Disney, that haven't actually ended up in their films, but then you're left with a song forever.

- Jenny Lewis

Amazing, Some, Couple, Any Circumstances

My mother's records were formative for me, but when I became a teenager, I wanted to find songs that she wasn't hip to. She was so hip, though, that I had to go outside rock n' roll - so for about 10 years, I only listened to hip-hop, house and techno.

- Jenny Lewis

Records, Roll, Became, Teenager

I don't write songs, play music and tour, really, for anyone else but myself. It's something that I have to do to stay alive.

- Jenny Lewis

Myself, Play, Alive, Play Music

For me personally, I just try to prove myself in my work. I'm just trying to get better at what I do, and hopefully that will impact women in music, and hopefully the girls in the crowd will see my up there as a bandleader and think, 'Wow, maybe I can do that one day.'

- Jenny Lewis

Crowd, Prove, Maybe, Wow

My true social media passion is making creepy short movies on Instagram.

- Jenny Lewis

Movies, Making, Social, Social Media

When you're talking about your own music every day, listening to bands, going to festivals, you can kind of lose sight of your initial connection with music. Instrumental music - especially jazz - helps me refocus.

- Jenny Lewis

Every Day, Jazz, Festivals, Instrumental

When something is coming off of a Neve board and being laid down on tape, it's like a warm blanket for the brain. When you're working in a digital form, it's so harsh; it's almost painful. Your ears get more fatigued if you're mixing all day.

- Jenny Lewis

Harsh, Almost, Mixing, Board

Certainly, we all wonder what is beyond, and when you lose a loved one, I think part of the grieving process includes where that person might have gone or if you'll ever see them again. I think it forces you to look up to the sky, to the cosmos.

- Jenny Lewis

Beyond, I Think, Part, Loved One

I find most modern country virtually unlistenable. I can't relate to the music or the lyrics.

- Jenny Lewis

Country, Most, Relate, Lyrics

I think Chris Martin is younger than I am, but when I met him, I felt like I was talking to my father. It's so strange, that feeling when someone is that famous - you assume that they are either older or better.

- Jenny Lewis

Father, Talking, I Think, Assume

I'm not trying to repeat myself or cater myself to one specific group of people.

- Jenny Lewis

Trying, Repeat, Cater, Group

That is the true joy of being a solo artist. I can do whatever I want. I can go wherever I want. I can show up with my guitar and my song, and it can sound a hundred different ways. That's the freedom of being on your own. The flipside is: That's you on the cover. If it sucks, it's your fault.

- Jenny Lewis

Artist, Sound, Hundred, Wherever

I am a huge hip-hop fan, and growing up, I only listened to hip-hop, so I dressed accordingly.

- Jenny Lewis

Dressed, Accordingly, Am, Hip-Hop

Sometimes people come to my shows and think I'm a Christian artist, and they put their hands up in the air, like they do. But first of all, I'm a Jewish girl from the Valley, and I'm from Los Angeles. It's funny to be misinterpreted.

- Jenny Lewis

Hands, Artist, Sometimes, First Of All

I learn lessons with every interview I give.

- Jenny Lewis

Learn, Give, Every, Interview

It's weird because I am accessible to people on Twitter, and I can choose to read good things or mean things, and people can reach out to me directly and tell me how much they hate me or love the song. It's a very strange new paradigm as an artist to find yourself among this kind of connectivity.

- Jenny Lewis

Love, Very, Accessible, Good Things

I like babies, but not in the front row. I don't want to sing directly to a baby.

- Jenny Lewis

Baby, Want, Like, Row

I can't imagine how people will react to my music. For me, it's a really fluid process from one record to the next, but it's really up to the listener.

- Jenny Lewis

Process, Next, Imagine, Fluid

If you're a songwriter, you have to do homework. You can exist for a while on the inspiration, but at some point, you have to sit down and have the discipline to write - to finish the poem, as they say.

- Jenny Lewis

Homework, Say, Some, Songwriter

I'm an American songwriter, and I write from a very American perspective, and so did the records I grew up listening to.

- Jenny Lewis

Listening, Very, I Write, Songwriter

Insomnia is a very prevalent issue. It's a women's health issue, and I chose to talk about it because so many people have experienced it to varying degrees. For me, I'm doing great now, but it took a lot of work to figure out how to get back to sleep. I had to change some of my habits. I developed some pretty bad sleep ritual habits.

- Jenny Lewis

Doing, Some, Very, Experienced

Being in a band is a really magical thing because you've got a family and you operate as this one entity. It's very democratic; everyone is involved in the output. But within that, there can be a lot of disagreements and strife.

- Jenny Lewis

Everyone, Very, Strife, Entity

I'm a pretty terrible rapper. I always have been.

- Jenny Lewis

Pretty, Always, Been, Terrible

I've gone through terrible periods of depression. But, at the core of my being, there's a strange, out-of-place optimist. Despite what I'm feeling, I'm always able to get up and do my job. Which means the world to me.

- Jenny Lewis

World, Through, Get, Terrible

I don't feel unlucky in love anymore, and it's not all emo. It's a scary place to be in when you're like: 'What am I supposed to write about now? I don't feel heartbroken, so now what?'

- Jenny Lewis

Love, Like, Heartbroken, Unlucky

I never intended to set out and be a singer-songwriter. I just sort of became one because I put out my own record.

- Jenny Lewis

My Own, Set, Became, Singer-Songwriter

It really helps me to get into the character of the record when I have a designated look. It just really simplifies things for me.

- Jenny Lewis

Character, Look, Really, Helps

I think art doesn't have to be created in a period of misery, but it certainly helps.

- Jenny Lewis

Art, Think, Certainly, Helps

It's funny how a song can start in your mind, and then when it goes through all the filters, it ends up in a totally different spot.

- Jenny Lewis

Mind, Song, Through, Filters

In the past, like for the last Rilo Kiley record, 'Under the Blacklight,' I wore exclusively hot pants because the themes in that record were the underbelly of Los Angeles.

- Jenny Lewis

In The Past, Last, Angeles, Los Angeles

I think a lot of musicians play for the playback. I mean, that's the joy of recording - you want to hear what you've done and what you've contributed - but never listening to that playback kind of removes the intellectual part of making music, and it removes the tendency to be revisionist.

- Jenny Lewis

Play, I Think, Tendency, Hear

Some shows suck, but I always - the show must go on. I learned it from my past as a child actor. The show must go on. You have to just keep on with it.

- Jenny Lewis

Some, Always, Learned, Suck

I think it's always an adjustment for me, but I do feel like, ultimately, I can kind of write anywhere. It just takes a second to get back in to the groove.

- Jenny Lewis

Think, Always, I Think, Adjustment

When you make a solo record, it's you. It's your name. It has to be the right songs for how you feel.

- Jenny Lewis

Right, Feel, Your, Solo

Rilo Kiley was a rock band, so I wanted my solo records to feel different.

- Jenny Lewis

Feel, Records, Rock Band, Solo

I never envisioned myself as a solo artist; I was always part of a band.

- Jenny Lewis

Never, Always, Envisioned, Solo

I've always just had sort of a dark take on life, I suppose, and hopefully, the music transcends that in a way.

- Jenny Lewis

Always, Had, Sort, Hopefully

I'm always pretty nervous when I do anything! I walk very slowly. I'm very careful.

- Jenny Lewis

Pretty, Always, Very, Slowly

I think the idea of opening up for a massive band is always better than actually doing it, and having your name on the ticket means more than the actual set.

- Jenny Lewis

Think, Always, Means, Opening

I grew up on Loretta Lynn and Dusty Springfield. I remember lying about it; it wasn't cool to listen to country when I was 12.

- Jenny Lewis

Cool, Country, I Remember, Lynn

I have a great work ethic - from watching Lucille Ball, not necessarily my own family.

- Jenny Lewis

Work, Own, My Own, Ethic

I used to be a huge collector, and my big thing was stickers.

- Jenny Lewis

Big, Used, Huge, Big Thing

If I'm not crying while writing a song, I'm not doing it right.

- Jenny Lewis

Writing, Song, Doing, Crying

It sounds cheesy, but music has saved me in a lot of ways. If I had just continued acting, I don't think I would be alive.

- Jenny Lewis

Think, Saved, Alive, Cheesy

I think regardless of where people are from, country music is a through line.

- Jenny Lewis

Think, Country, Through, Regardless

You wouldn't want to be in a rock band - trust me.

- Jenny Lewis

Trust, Rock, Want, Rock Band

When you're in your mid-thirties, the cult of people who have children around you all want you in their cult, and they constantly ask you, 'So when are you going to have a baby?'

- Jenny Lewis

Want, Going, Your, Cult

Songs are really interesting in that way. Sometimes, they grow with you. Sometimes, you outgrow them.

- Jenny Lewis

Interesting, Grow, Songs, Outgrow

I love 'Wowee Zowee.' That was the first Pavement record I bought.

- Jenny Lewis

Love, I Love, Bought, Pavement

I was a big fan of 'Days of Our Lives' growing up.

- Jenny Lewis

Growing, Big, Fan, Our Lives

Losing your parent is unlike anything.

- Jenny Lewis

Losing, Parent, Your, Unlike

In your mid-30s, you have to take inventory, or you'll stumble.

- Jenny Lewis

Stumble, Your, Take, Inventory

When you're in a band, inevitably, someone is siding with someone else, and you're fighting over something that happened in the band five years ago.

- Jenny Lewis

Fighting, Something, Over, Inevitably

I am a child of digital generation. I have done most of the records with Rilo Kiley on computers, on Pro Tools or other digital programs.

- Jenny Lewis

Generation, Digital, Other, Programs

I think I have a hard time expressing myself in my relationships. I use songs to tell people how I'm feeling. If I can't say 'I love you,' I'll write a song about it and hope that the person figures it out.

- Jenny Lewis

Love, I Think, Figures, Expressing

I've always tried to get around writing love songs, I guess because I've always had a hard time saying, 'I love you.'

- Jenny Lewis

Love, I Love You, Always, Love You

I'm constantly dodging people in L.A. There are some people I don't ever wanna see again, but if you live where you grew up, you're running into people constantly.

- Jenny Lewis

Some, Again, Constantly, Wanna

My favorite days off on the road are typically nowhere, like Bismarck, North Dakota, and you find yourself in a mall, and you're like, 'This is awesome!'

- Jenny Lewis

Like, North Dakota, North, Dakota

It would be nice to create something that's healing rather than slightly creepy and darkly judgmental!

- Jenny Lewis

Nice, Rather, Slightly, Judgmental

I come from a very uncool profession: being a washed up child actor.

- Jenny Lewis

Actor, Profession, Very, Washed

It's interesting how songs can evolve. Sometimes I'll write a song that feels relevant in the moment, but four years later, I don't want to sing it anymore. Then something will happen in my life, and the song becomes relevant again.

- Jenny Lewis

My Life, Sometimes, Feels, Anymore

I scored one film by myself, which was the hardest thing I think I've ever done.

- Jenny Lewis

Think, I Think, Which, Hardest Thing

When I'm not working is when I tend to freak out a bit. It's hard for me to just stay home.

- Jenny Lewis

Out, Stay, Bit, Freak

I'm typically not a heels person.

- Jenny Lewis

Person, Heels

I'm obsessed with old rotary phones.

- Jenny Lewis

Old, Phones, Obsessed, Rotary

As hard as I try to sound tough and dark, I still sound cute.

- Jenny Lewis

Dark, Sound, Still, Cute

I love kids, but there's always time for them later. You can always adopt; you can have a puppy. The songs are my children.

- Jenny Lewis

Love, Always, Them, Puppy

I have that working-class show-business blood coursing through my veins.

- Jenny Lewis

Through, Working-Class, Veins

I think you kind of lose the human aspect when you make things too perfect.

- Jenny Lewis

Think, Perfect, I Think, Aspect

You never know how things are going to turn out in a movie. You can imagine a scene one way, and it can turn out to be completely the polar opposite of what you expected. You just have to roll with the punches.

- Jenny Lewis

Movie, Imagine, Polar, Punches

The Rilo Kiley song 'A Better Son/Daughter' is my most requested song - especially for people who are at the age I was when I wrote it. It's sort of a mid-twenties lament.

- Jenny Lewis

Song, Sort, Wrote, Lament

Rock n' roll is a pretty fun job.

- Jenny Lewis

Rock, Pretty, Roll, Rock N Roll

I'm not always as disciplined as I should be. I don't sit down and write every day, but I should.

- Jenny Lewis

Every Day, Always, Should, Disciplined

There's always a bit of fiction in everything that I write.

- Jenny Lewis

Always, I Write, Bit, Fiction

When I think people like one record more than the other, then someone will surprise me.

- Jenny Lewis

Think, Other, I Think, Surprise

I write music, really, to make myself feel better.

- Jenny Lewis

Music, Myself, Better, I Write

I'm not a religious person by any means. But I'm curious.

- Jenny Lewis

Person, Religious, Means, Curious

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.

Powerful Jenny Lewis for Daily Growth