I think most people get hit by the music first and you can be singing along and realize a song has this melancholy feel. As Swedes, I think we see a beauty in melancholy. You're heartbroken, you're looking out the window and you feel really at ease in the pain. I have so many memories as a teenager with music, sad music, but I was just so into it.
Yukimi NaganoKeep at something even when you don't feel inspired. Don't wait for inspiration! I write a lot of songs that are terrible, in the hopes that one song that has something special comes out of it. Just stay at something, and write every day if you're writing lyrics.
Yukimi NaganoI think it is really helpful to see the beauty in every situation. I guess it's being able to see it in unexpected places. If you're fed too much of an image of what beauty is then you might define it as a certain specific thing, but when you have your own idea of what it is, or your own feelings of what beauty is, then it becomes so wide and so indefinable.
Yukimi NaganoA tiny detail can make you feel completely different. I feel different if I wear something that I'm slightly uncomfortable in.
Yukimi NaganoIt's always a bit risky, when you put yourself out there with somebody in a collaboration, but I think we learn things every single time, and we come out of it with a new perspective on writing because everyone's process is different. Unfortunately we don't always get to spend time in the studio with those artists - oftentimes it's just sending files online. But both can be liberating and productive in their own way. Some of the best collaborations happen when you're all in a room together.
Yukimi NaganoIf you're just starting off as an artist, steal as much inspiration from everything you like, as much as you can. Take from books, from poets, from musicians. Just steal stuff from all over the place and then mix it up to make something of your own.
Yukimi NaganoThere are times when we in Little Dragon write from scratch together, but everyone has their own lives, so it just seems to make sense when everyone starts an idea on their own and we sort of meet somewhere along the way. I'm at the studio all the time because I live there, but the guys will have different schedules. It's easier to start an idea with your own thoughts, rather than having to compromise from the start.
Yukimi Nagano