Shamir

“I had always been a really peculiar child. My mom would tell you I grew up roughing it with the boys and playing with action figures and toy cars and stuff, but I also had an Easy Bake Oven... I find it amazing that in a really weird way, people are mad that they can't figure out my gender.”

“When you're from a boring town, you have to find things to do. It's funny: I always knew I wanted to make music, so I was always kind of ahead of my peers. I had an MP3 player by the time I was in the fourth grade.”

“I always find it amazing that people get mad because they can't figure out my gender. Even though my only job here is to create art, I think being a genderless figure... it shakes people. And when that happens, it makes me feel like I'm doing my job.”

“I never felt like a boy or a girl, never felt I should wear this or dress like that. I think that's where that confidence comes from because I never felt I had to play a part in my life. I just always come as Shamir.”

“I have absolutely no ambition. My goal has already been exceeded.”

“My grandma has a picture of Louis Farrakhan playing violin in her house.”

“I can hit baritone notes, and I can sing in the soprano range if I wanted to. I did this thing a long time ago where I did a duet with myself. I sound like two different people.”

“I'm not in a certain type of genre, and I can't be categorized or pigeonholed. That leaves a wide range of what I can do for myself, for other people, and with other people.”

“My favourite singer ever in the world is Ari Up from The Slits. Her voice is amazing to me. It's carefree, but it's also really amazing.”

“I wear menswear all the time. I don't do anything to make myself look more feminine. I naturally look and am more feminine.”

“I always say I never felt 'latched' to a gender. I just kind of always felt like myself, and I never felt like I had to do certain things or be a certain way to fit into a certain mold.”

“I wrote all my songs on my main instruments, and the songs I would record in my bedroom were just acoustic guitar, mandolin, and sometimes bass. I really like the texture the mandolin added to my music, but my fingers were too big to play it... I could only do little riffs and whatever.”

“I was inspired to make music since I was 7 because my aunt is a songwriter.”

“I think as long as you wear your imperfections on your sleeve, people respect it more.”

“If I were really being myself. I'd just curl up in the corner and knit.”

“My friends freaked out when I posted 'I'll Never Be Able To Love' on Facebook.”

“I always surprise myself with my voice. A lot of people don't get it, and they're like, 'You can't sing. Stop. What are you doing?' And it's funny to hear a lot people say I sing in falsetto because it's not falsetto - that's my voice.”