A biography for Justin Tranterhasn’t been written yet.
“I want to make sure in every song we write that women are given power.”
“I'm really proud of 'Kissing Strangers.'”
“Obviously, Gaga's one of the greatest music visionaries of our time, and Beyonce is one of the greatest visions of our time. She is a music visionary, too.”
“Being a songwriter, you are accepting that this isn't about you. If you do want it to be about you, you're going to be really miserable.”
“If you listen to Semi-Precious Weapons' last single, 'Aviation High,' you can definitely hear that even in my old band, even in the songs I was writing then, the pop influence really started to take over.”
“I wouldn't want to write a song in a pair of sneakers. I think it would be a horrible song.”
“I really loved Kygo and Selena Gomez's 'It Ain't Me.'”
“'World Is Our Playground' is a big room banger that makes you wanna check into a hostel and call Mike Taylor.”
“My choice of shoe upsets people a lot more than my filthy mouth.”
“When I'm in a session with an artist, my job is to help execute their vision - so it's whatever story they're telling, and the news doesn't specifically affect that.”
“All songwriters are known as 'topliners' because the vocal goes on top of the track.”
“I shot a gun one time in New Zealand. An entertainment news program there thought, since the band was called Semi Precious Weapons, they would bring us to a gun range.”
“Great music is just very clear. Sonically and lyrically, you understand the point of view, you understand the melodies, you understand the vibe, and you understand the lyric pretty damn quickly. To me, that doesn't make it 'less than' - it makes it 'more than.'”
“I just didn't really relate to Kurt Cobain. There was nothing very glamorous about him.”
“For the most part, it's straight white men running these labels and publishing companies.”
“My success happened pretty late in life. I can't even believe it happened.”
“The beauty of letting marginalized people tell their own stories is it isn't only the right thing to do socially, but it's also the right thing to do financially. People love the truth, and people like to spend money on the truth.”
“The Knife can't stop cloaking brilliant pop songs in voodoo jam blankets.”
“The thing is, if you tell your story specifically enough, it becomes so universal. Just because you're a gay man singing an honest love song, people should know that it's about men and that they can still relate to it.”
“Pop just means popular - it can be any genre, and if it becomes popular, then it's pop music.”