Anna Calvi was born as Anna Margaret Michelle Calvi. She is a composer and actress, known for Peaky Blinders (2014), The Souvenir: Part II (2021) and In the Woods (2009).
Something would take me over whenever I'd seen an electric guitar [as a child].
Something would take me over whenever I'd seen an electric guitar [as a child].
I want to go beyond gender. I don't want to have to choose between the male and female in me. I'm fi...Show more »
I want to go beyond gender. I don't want to have to choose between the male and female in me. I'm fighting against feeling an outsider and trying to find a place that feels like home. Show less «
[on a personal level, being creative] stops the annoying side of consciousness that's like, 'Nananan...Show more »
[on a personal level, being creative] stops the annoying side of consciousness that's like, 'Nanananana!' You know, all that crap that your mind is filled with, worrying about what you said yesterday, what you're going to do about this. All of that completely goes away. Without it I'd be a bit of a nervous wreck. Show less «
One person asked me how I felt playing a 'phallic instrument'. It might be phallic for you! Don't pr...Show more »
One person asked me how I felt playing a 'phallic instrument'. It might be phallic for you! Don't project that onto me! That's not how I see a guitar at all. Show less «
I wanted the record [Hunter] to feel really raw. I wanted the voice and guitar to really embody that...Show more »
I wanted the record [Hunter] to feel really raw. I wanted the voice and guitar to really embody that feeling of freedom. Show less «
One Breath is the moment before you've got to open yourself up, and it's about how terrifying that i...Show more »
One Breath is the moment before you've got to open yourself up, and it's about how terrifying that is. It's scary and it's thrilling. It's also full of hope, because whatever has to happen hasn't happened yet. Show less «
[on spending most of the first three years of her life in a hospital undergoing treatment and surger...Show more »
[on spending most of the first three years of her life in a hospital undergoing treatment and surgeries to correct congenital hip dysplasia] The way I dealt with that was to create my own world. And that's what my relationship with music is - a world of my own creation that I escape into. I was always a dreamer. The early things stick with you. Show less «
When I was a child I really wanted to be a boy. Not just in an 'Oh, I wish I could wear shorts and p...Show more »
When I was a child I really wanted to be a boy. Not just in an 'Oh, I wish I could wear shorts and play with cars' way, because I did that anyway, but in a deep-seated way where I felt wrong in myself. [...] I wouldn't go so far as saying I'm trans, because I've found a way of accepting this label that we're all made to say that we are. But as I've got older I've felt more and more that it's actually so ridiculous that we're given two options. If gender isn't to do with what bits you have on your body, which it obviously can't be because a woman can still feel like a woman if she doesn't have breasts, it just makes less and less sense to me. Show less «
The singers I love, that's what they have. Nina Simone is extremely vulnerable but her voice is powe...Show more »
The singers I love, that's what they have. Nina Simone is extremely vulnerable but her voice is powerful. This rawness, this complete fearlessness, in giving everything, and leaving nothing. It's a really inspiring quality. Show less «
I was trying to rebuild my sense of self after that massive change [when, at the end of 2014, her re...Show more »
I was trying to rebuild my sense of self after that massive change [when, at the end of 2014, her relationship of eight years ended]. It was like going from a full person to a seed and having to grow again. She [her new girlfriend] was encouraging me to explore myself a bit more, to explore what my sense of gender means to me, which is always something I've had a problem reconciling but I've always pushed it away. But when I was in this place where I didn't know anyone [Clapham, where she and her new girlfriend had moved to from Strasbourg], I could be any version of myself that I wanted. And as I was getting stronger emotionally, the music started coming. Show less «
Red summons to me the idea of flesh and blood and danger. It very much sums up the colour of the rec...Show more »
Red summons to me the idea of flesh and blood and danger. It very much sums up the colour of the record [Hunter]. It's more visceral, less cerebral. It's animalistic. Show less «
[Performing gives me courage, putting me in touch with] a different side of me that's strong and bra...Show more »
[Performing gives me courage, putting me in touch with] a different side of me that's strong and braver and more powerful. Show less «
Our culture is so saturated with ideas of women being hunted by men. I wanted to give a new narrativ...Show more »
Our culture is so saturated with ideas of women being hunted by men. I wanted to give a new narrative of the woman as a hunter who goes out and takes whatever she wants. I wanted my voice to be this wild force because often as a woman you're told to be nice and quiet and smile. Show less «
I see music quite visually and I like to create atmospheres... I like to try and create a whole worl...Show more »
I see music quite visually and I like to create atmospheres... I like to try and create a whole world in the space of a song. Show less «
[on begging her parents to get her a violin when she was four] I was obsessed with it. I'd see this ...Show more »
[on begging her parents to get her a violin when she was four] I was obsessed with it. I'd see this violin and this feeling would come over me and I couldn't really understand it. Finally when I was six, I got my violin. Show less «
[on putting a picture of her and her girlfriend on Instagram on Valentine's Day this year (2018), a ...Show more »
[on putting a picture of her and her girlfriend on Instagram on Valentine's Day this year (2018), a first open reference to her personal life] It wasn't like, 'And now I'm going to come out'. I think everyone who follows me knew anyway. I think my music has always been queer, and the people who needed that from me recognised it immediately. Those who didn't need that in their lives didn't notice. Show less «
I'm attracted to the impressionistic element of the music.
I'm attracted to the impressionistic element of the music.
I imagine the different instruments as colours, and so it feels like painting. I need music to come ...Show more »
I imagine the different instruments as colours, and so it feels like painting. I need music to come from a really emotional place. With my music I do like to hypnotise people and take them somewhere else. I like to slowly draw people into a world. Show less «
