Michael Angelakos quotes:

I became really creative around the time I started understanding that people could be creative with music and that that was allowed. I stated taking piano lessons at age five, but I never did what my piano teacher told me to do. I would just do whatever I wanted.

I've told people that I don't see myself living very long. That really upsets them, but I'm just being honest.

I don't think people talk about mental illness a lot, but they need to know it's OK to talk about how they are feeling. People are afraid of telling the truth because they think it's going to hurt everyone around them. I've kept so much inside that I've literally lost it. I wish more people would get help when they feel like they need it-- not just to look to medicine, but to the support of others.

I hated the blog hype and how fast everything was happening. It didn't feel natural to me. But at the same time, what's more natural than thousands of people sharing your music because they just really like it?

I just desperately wanted to be happy again in a way that wasn't forced. I wanted to feel like I accomplished something. I did this. I finished this record. I'm doing all the promo. I'm doing everything that I said I was going to do. I really wanted to be happy and normalized and I was tired of people saying I was volatile. I'm not. I'm a pretty normal person. I have problems like anyone else but I've worked so hard to be OK and I don't think that I gave myself enough credit for that.

I'm a perfectionist; there's always something we need to improve upon, and I think that's a really healthy model for artistic growth and progressing. I'm not ready for a masterpiece.

Music is one of the few things I'm relatively good at, one of the things I understand a little better than everything else.

The minute you feel like you've completed something you lose that momentum. I've learned how to avoid that. That's the bottom line.