Art & Creativity Quote by Juliana Hatfield

Hatfield’s line lands like a shrug that’s actually a dare. She’s not pitching “authenticity” as a lifestyle brand; she’s describing a survival tactic for anyone trying to make art in an industry built to sand people down. The phrasing matters: “I’d just like” signals modesty, a musician’s reflex against grand mission statements, but the goal she slips in is radical in practice. “Be themselves” isn’t a vague self-help poster here - it’s a refusal of market research.

The real bite is in “rigid guidelines.” That’s the tell that she’s talking about rules that masquerade as common sense: what a “radio single” should sound like, how a woman-fronted act should look, when to pivot, when to soften, when to sell the mess as “relatable.” Hatfield came up in the alternative rock ecosystem where “indie” was supposed to mean freedom, yet the scene had its own orthodoxy - who counts as credible, which emotions are allowed, how much polish is “selling out.” Her statement reads as a critique of both the mainstream machine and the subculture that claims to resist it while policing its borders.

“Do what they want” is also a quiet defense of creative inconsistency: the permission to change your sound, write an uncommercial song, disappear, come back, ignore the content treadmill. In the age of constant branding, her intent is pointed: the artist is not a product line, and the audience doesn’t need a perfectly managed version of you.