A biography for Jon Bellionhasn’t been written yet.
“I always want to approach records from where it feels very graspable. You know what the song's about, but it's presented to you in a way that's like, 'I never heard something like this before,' but it doesn't push you away.”
“I was raised on 'TRL' and listened to every genre that sounded good to me, from Sum 41 to Jay Z to Band of Horses to J. Dilla to Deathcab for Cutie to Pharrell.”
“I came to the realization that I'm a child of God, and that's my identity. If this all goes tomorrow, I don't have the proverbial rug under me that can be pulled out. I'm taken care of, and there's someone who loves me.”
“I just never really though you could or couldn't listen to a certain type of music.”
“I'd watch Pixar movies for, like, six hours, back-to-back. I'd watch 'Finding Nemo' twice a week, back-to-back-to-back, three times in a row.”
“I grew up on Dilla, Timbaland, Pharrell, all these drums that are super pocketed, so all those influences come out on a song like 'Ungrateful Eyes,' with all the crazy drum swing.”
“The way Ben Gibbard paints a picture, you feel like, 'I was there that day with him.' You really feel the way he paints pictures and speaks and talks. It's almost like talk-singing. Paul Simon does that very well as well. He's a huge influence of mine.”
“If I can show people how vulnerable and how flawed I am, maybe others will relate.”
“People can relate more to being honest about your problems, your insecurities, and the things that you find wrong with yourself. Because that's how we really are.”
“When I want to get inspired, I'll put a Pixar movie on silent and listen to Nas.”
“Sometimes, people will fight over five, six percent, because if it's a smash record, that can mean a lot of money. I don't really care.”
“I wanna make music; that's all I wanna do.”
“I'm not afraid to have my music digestible by different ages.”
“When you get a song placed with two of the top stars in the world, like Rihanna and Eminem, especially as a new writer, they're gonna take a huge chunk of your publishing. That's just the way the business is. I'm not complaining.”
“You grow up listening to Eminem; your parents don't let you listen to it - you gotta sneak into a car to listen to this guy rap. He changed my whole life, my whole perspective on music, so to more or less co-sign something that I've done is the ultimate childhood goal.”
“At the end of the day, we want love, and we want to feel loved.”
“As far as the U.K. goes, The 1975 is one of my favourite groups in a very long time. I love the sonics. I love everything they do.”
“We're not as happy as our Instagrams and Twitters make us out to be.”
“I loved everything, but it was Kanye West who really changed everything for me.”
“I don't view any of the hits I've ever written as the climax of my career. They're just minor stepping stones.”