Courtney Barnett
Courtney Barnett
Courtney Melba Barnett is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Melbourne, Australia. Known for her witty, rambling lyrics and deadpan singing style, she attracted attention with the release of her debut EP, I've Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris. International interest from the UK and North American music press came with the release of The Double EP: A Sea Split Peas in October 2013. At her well-received performances at the CMJ Music Marathon, Barnett was mentioned by both Rolling Stone and...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth3 November 1987
CountryAustralia
I keep a journal and just kind of take notes. I don't really so much sit down and write songs - I just take a lot of notes, and sometimes I sit down and put them all together.
Everyone writes in whatever way feels comfortable to them. People write songs because maybe they don't feel so comfortable talking about whatever matters.
The first song I wrote was called "You" and it was a love song about somebody who didn't even exist. I remember them all because I used to always write terrible poetry. I keep all my notebooks.
Every time I write a song it feels like it could be the last one I do, or it always feels like a fluke.
I try to write a lot and my process is kind of back and forth. I procrastinate a lot so when I do sit down to write, I'm pretty lazy at it. And it's such a frustrating thing sometimes - writing - when you don't do it all the time, you get that thing in your head that you have nothing to talk about and you can't write songs.
The music, I think, is just as important as the lyrics; it portrays the emotion of the song. I play the kind of music that I want to listen to.
People should be free to take whatever they want from music and I think that over time I realized that different people always find different things in my songs, which is really good.
I think that a good song is catchy, and a great song is not catchy - but it has a deeper meaning.
I started writing songs when I started learning guitar.
I don't like to overcook songs.
I like reading biographies because most of them are slightly similar, and it's voyeuristic, looking into someone's life.
I just want to be self-sustainable so that I can continue to just do what I like to do and not make a million dollars. Nobody needs a million dollars.
I'm just not very comfortable talking about my emotions on a normal, day-to-day basis.
I'm self-deprecating - I spend a lot of time telling myself that things are OK, as opposed to having to tell myself to get over things.