When I saw Courtney Love in 1994, I knew what I wanted to do. The minute I saw a female-fronted rock n' roll band, that changed my life.

In some ways, it's more rewarding to hear someone interpret a piece of music that you're a part of.

A man in high heels is the most dangerous thing in the world.

I'm fortunate that I have a female publisher, and her boss is a man of color. My world is a little more diverse, but the majority of the business is not diverse at all.

'World Is Our Playground' is a big room banger that makes you wanna check into a hostel and call Mike Taylor.

I didn't want a day job anymore, so I somehow made the jewelry line work. Now that I look back on it, it was, like, the dumbest idea ever. Everyone and their mother has a jewelry line, so in retrospect, maybe not the smartest fallback plan. But it ended up working out great!

Beyonce, Stevie Nicks, Ani DiFranco, Cardi B - Women tell awesome stories.

The one time I shot a gun, the feelings I felt, I was guilty for feeling them. There is an exhilaration and a glamour, and I felt awful for feeling that.

I'm not famous. I work with famous people.

I want to make sure in every song we write that women are given power.

I've had the experience of going through homophobia in my work, and I can share my experiences so future generations don't have to deal with what I've dealt with.

Pop just means popular - it can be any genre, and if it becomes popular, then it's pop music.

The only thing that's serious to me about music is making sure marginalized people are included in the story.

It's interesting to see the more femme that you present yourself, the more people sort of dehumanize you.

For me, as a performer or a songwriter, Stevie Nicks is always a huge inspiration as well as Iggy Pop.

The fans that fall in love with you at the show are always the most passionate.

My fashion is inspired by Tina Turner and Sharon Stone.

Young women should be telling stories of other young women. And if the superstar who is an amazing storyteller isn't a writer, that's totally fine, but we should get a young female writer in the room to work on that song with us.

Music spoke to me when I was young in such an intimate, empowering, magical way, and I think that music is already doing that for young queer kids.

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.

My choice of shoe upsets people a lot more than my filthy mouth.

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.

For me personally, I'm anti-gun and always have been and always will be. But I'm definitely not someone who is looking to abolish the Second Amendment. I think we're definitely interpreting it wrong.

Good art should be polarizing.

I don't like labels.

I am a genderless sea creature who has been writing and studying music since I was 12.

I love songs, Patty Larkin, Sharon Stone, Mae West, and Marilyn Monroe.

Most of my friends are my friends because they inspire me.

I think that because we have these big female pop stars, people forget that women and marginalized people are so underrepresented in this business.

For the most part, it's straight white men running these labels and publishing companies.

Once I got into pop songwriting, I was kind of just ready to help other people tell their stories... I'm here to facilitate and structure and grow and make things a little more fabulous and a little more urgent.

I just want to make music that people hear, and I'm not ashamed of that.

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.

When you are born gay, you are born into a rich culture of politics, music, and art, but you are also a minority in your own home.

I'm so connected to the community that I was lucky enough to be born into.

My goal is that my makeup and style will inspire Midwestern housewives. I want there to be a breakdown of 'Justin's smoky eye' in Cosmo.

This is the dream: to make money off of what you love.

I was born into the most amazing family an underdog could be born into, and I was born into the LGBTQ community. And what a beautiful community we are. The art, the music, the fashion, the brains, the fight, the survival skills, the diversity, male, female, non-binary, Gender Non Conforming, cis, trans, femme, and all races.

I feel like there is a lot of homophobia and misogyny in the music business, and I feel like I've gotten to a place where I've broken down a lot of those doors.

I won't do press anymore unless I can talk about the homophobia and let queer people know our ideas are mainstream.

I'm using the success I've had to help other people shine.

I like to play this game where I ask people to count gay pop writers and producers they know. Everyone's always like, 'Oh, there are plenty!' But we always end up counting them on one hand.

I really want queer kids to know that our experience is universal.

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.

I know that it's my queer perspective that's helping people make songs that the world is listening to.

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.

I really loved Kygo and Selena Gomez's 'It Ain't Me.'

If I'm hanging out with my friends or I'm working out, I'll listen to female singer-songwriters from the '90s because that's where my heart lies.

If a song I'm lucky enough to be a part of comes on the radio, it's definitely really cool and exciting, but I can't focus on anything but the song. Same if one of my songs comes on in a restaurant. I can't just carry on a conversation.

I worked at a jewelry store to pay the bills when I first moved to N.Y.C., and I always loved the phrase 'Semi Precious.' So I wanted to just call the band Semi Precious, but my dad told it was kinda sissy, so I added Weapons.