I grew up painting and playing piano so when I was a little kid I thought I was going to be an artist or a painter but my mom had me taking piano lessons for about 10-12 years as a young kid.

Shinoda is describing an early, formative period in which visual art and formal musical training competed as possible futures. The quote highlights how childhood identity is often shaped by both intrinsic interests (painting) and parental guidance (years of piano lessons). In retrospect, the tension resolves into a synthesis: disciplined music study can provide technical fluency, while an artist’s mindset—composition, color, texture, and design—can carry over into songwriting, production, and multimedia work. The remark also frames creativity as something cultivated over time rather than discovered fully formed, emphasizing practice and long-term instruction as foundations for later artistic versatility.