"Janis Joplin is definitely one of my biggest influences. She taught me how to feel music, and I don't think there's anyone like her that could bring such pain and emotion to a song"
About this Quote
The sharpest line is the one that sounds like praise but carries a thesis: “pain and emotion” aren’t just ingredients, they’re the proof of authenticity. Rimes implicitly elevates Joplin’s rasp, rawness, and volatility as the gold standard, even though they’re inseparable from the biography we’ve been trained to mythologize: the doomed genius, the voice that burns out because it burns so hot. That’s the subtextual bargain embedded in “I don’t think there’s anyone like her” - uniqueness becomes a moral category, and suffering becomes part of the credential.
Context matters: Rimes came up young, scrutinized, and frequently boxed in by genre expectations and tabloid narratives. Invoking Joplin is a way to widen the emotional bandwidth allowed to a female vocalist, especially one often read as “too perfect.” It’s also a careful act of alignment: Rimes borrows Joplin’s cultural capital to argue that precision isn’t the same as truth, and that the most unforgettable voices don’t just hit notes - they transmit damage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Rimes, LeAnn. (2026, January 15). Janis Joplin is definitely one of my biggest influences. She taught me how to feel music, and I don't think there's anyone like her that could bring such pain and emotion to a song. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/janis-joplin-is-definitely-one-of-my-biggest-155281/
Chicago Style
Rimes, LeAnn. "Janis Joplin is definitely one of my biggest influences. She taught me how to feel music, and I don't think there's anyone like her that could bring such pain and emotion to a song." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/janis-joplin-is-definitely-one-of-my-biggest-155281/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Janis Joplin is definitely one of my biggest influences. She taught me how to feel music, and I don't think there's anyone like her that could bring such pain and emotion to a song." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/janis-joplin-is-definitely-one-of-my-biggest-155281/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.


