Creativity Quote by Christine McVie

McVie is quietly drawing a line between two religions of modern pop: the cult of texture and the discipline of songwriting. When she says she can’t “get excited by just a sound,” it’s not a dismissal of studio craft so much as a refusal to mistake novelty for meaning. In an era that often treats a timbre, a synth patch, or a clever production trick as the whole point, she’s insisting that sound has to earn its keep. The thrill comes later, once there’s a structure sturdy enough to carry it.

The phrasing matters: “I have to have a song there” is a songwriter’s baseline, almost stubborn in its simplicity. It suggests melody, narrative, and emotional trajectory first; the sonics are supporting actors, not the star. Then she pivots to pragmatism - “what use I can make of that sound” - revealing a craftsperson’s mindset. Sound is a tool, not an identity. She isn’t hunting for the most interesting noise; she’s hunting for the right noise to sharpen a lyric, underline a chord change, or tilt a chorus into inevitability.

In context, that’s Fleetwood Mac DNA: immaculate production that never feels like production for its own sake. Their records are full of ear candy, but the hook is still the hook. McVie’s subtext is also a quiet rebuke to auteur mythmaking around gear and genius: the real magic is restraint, and the song is where the drama lives.