Zitat des Tages von St. Lucia:
The '80s definitely influence my music in a big way.
I'm kind of a little allergic to that whole, 'Let's go to L.A. and write a bunch of hits.'
In the past, I never wrote any love songs. That was not my thing.
St. Lucia in South Africa is this exotic place where you might go on vacation, and it evokes this nostalgic, hazy vibe.
It is funny to me that people think of St. Lucia as this, like, feel-good band.
My lyrics are quite train of thought, and they are all over the place, but they evoke something.
When I'm making the music, the songs that I get most excited about definitely make me feel good, but often, it's a really good feeling combined with some kind of melancholy element.
My favorite pieces that I've written, either for St. Lucia or for myself, have always had a transporting quality to them, where they take you out of the moment and somewhere positive that feels nostalgic and happy but sad at the same time.
A short story can be really interesting and enriching and powerful, but a novel just contains so much more information and richness and depth. That's what I strive for in my music. I want to create something that's like a longform statement.
At a festival, some people are just there because they're waiting for, like, Calvin Harris to come on later.
The album that really got me interested in how to create weird sounds, and pretty much changed my life, was 'OK Computer.' Funnily enough, my parents bought it for me because it was recommended to them, and the first 2 times I heard it, I absolutely hated it.
It sounds kind of cliche, and a lot of people say it about our music, but I think a good place to hear our music for the first time is on vacation, or somewhere warm, on the beach or something like that.
I guess you could say it's one of the great equalizers: that it just feels good to be bad.
I was in this boys' choir for five years, when I was 10 until 15.
I feel like, for me as an artist, it takes me a while of living with the tracks and living with the body of work to realize what it's all about.
Images and music are very connected.
I basically work all the time.
The music I used to make was a lot more rock, so I come from this background of head banging a lot, and it took me a while to figure out how to do it in the context of our music.
I love so many songs from the '80s, but I'm obliged to the big ones.
You can't be 100 percent selfish when you're working with somebody else.
The first city I ever came to in the states was Des Moines. I was 12 and was in a boys' choir.
We've always enjoyed touring, which is fortunate because we're always on the road. The most difficult part is that time passes by so quickly. It's hard to pay attention to your normal life because shows are all-encompassing.
I like to make bombueti, which is basically the South African national dish. It's basically a South African curry shepherd's pie kind of thing.
I just believe that you have to allow each other to grow in the way you're meant to grow and not be afraid of losing that person, because if you grow apart, then you grow apart, and that's the way it was meant to be.
We love the idea of having a really great lighting production.
One of the secrets of having a long-term relationship is realizing that even if you think the other person's great, at some point, they're going to mess up and annoy you.
I try to not be self-conscious in my writing process. I think it's important to just be in your subconscious mind - at least when you're starting an idea.
It's pretty rare that something I've written is close to something that's pre-existed.
We don't put limits on ourselves.
I was really into Radiohead and Live.
You can hear 'Human Nature' all over our song 'Elevate.' It's an amazing song. That hooky arpeggio in the beginning is great. Unlike most Michael Jackson ballads, even though I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan, this song is kind of restrained. It's not a huge, crazy song you can dance to - it's just this beautiful piece of music.
On the first recording, I wasn't singing out that much; I was shy with my singing.
The reason I decided to become a solo artist in the first place was because I always felt that the results that I got from working as a team where everyone had equal say... ended up with compromised, watered-down results.
One of my favorite things is producing other artists because, in many ways, it's a lot more freeing than working on your own music.
My secret talent is doing the chipmunk voice.
When you work together in a creative way, you have to be less selfish about your ideas and learn to let both parties feel valued. Of course, that's also a really great quality to have in a relationship, too.