I made a decision as a child that I would never let anyone tell me that I was invalid or inauthentic, or that my experiences were.
If music was made by some kind of critical theorist, it would sound like my music.
I try to make myself, and subsequently the audience, as uncomfortable as possible, whether it's completely desecrating a song they thought was one thing, or getting too drunk to really do a very good job.
People used to see things that disgusted them and say, 'I never want to see that again.' Now we've reached the point where we see things that are disturbing and revolting to us, but we want to see more and more of it.
I've never taken the steps to be 'successful': I've never had a manager or signed to a publishing house.
J. Tillman was kind of an alter ego. There was a lot I didn't want people to know about my real life. With Father John Misty, I leave everything in: so much so that I lose sleep before these albums come out because there is always a line or two in there where I'm just like, 'This is not going to go down very well.'
