Appreciating Josh Groban
I was perplexed. Josh Groban was a curious choice to be the special guest speaker for an all-woman week-long songwriting seminar I participated in recently. He certainly has a golden voice and I hear he’s a lovely human but couldn’t they have found someone with lady parts? There are loads of them out there. 😳
Grown-up Making a Video
Deep down I do not see my (undisclosed) age as a handicap but as an advantage. I’ve experienced life more fully and I’m more comfortable living it than ever before. I’m even more comfortable in my own collagen-starved skin. Self-expression and the desire to make and share your art doesn’t change just because you’re in the second half of your century.
Small Fish
It’s a whole new world out there with algorithms, analytics, gamification and secret weapons like Spotify Release Radar! I’m as novice as any H.S. sophomore uploading her first precious song to SoundCloud. In making my first album I am indeed a Small Fish.
Holiday Parties: Tips for Surviving The Season🎄🎅
If you’re anything like me after about 5 celebrations I start experiencing “holiday-party-fatigue.” And then I start considering skipping one — staying home and binging on Mrs. Maisel. But people…Mrs. Maisel can wait. I’m going to share with you some secrets to maintaining stamina while enjoying yourself so you can make it over to the other side: 2020. Ready?
Truth Hurts
"Truth Hurts" came under fire recently when a British singer claimed that Lizzo lifted the first attention grabbing line from one of her tweets. But times have changed. It’s a bold new viral world out there. So is a tweet copyrightable?
Sample Me
Generally when a song of mine is sampled (or licensed for advertising) I want to make sure it doesn’t taint the integrity of the copyright by incorporating (or associating it with) something vulgar or offensive. Other than that I’m pretty open to giving it the thumbs up. In fact a while back my co-writer’s publisher turned down a use for “What a Girl Wants” in a Tampon ad. Truth be told I wouldn’t have had a problem with that. After all, what more could a girl want than a tampon when she needs one? It’s only natural. 🙂
Weekend With My Wifey
My husband Adam annointed Suzan Koc “my Wife” a number of years ago when I had asked him to choose between this dress or that one or something like that. Actually I think I wanted to know if my butt looked flat in a pair of jeans. He told me his opinion. And then I questioned it. So he said…”Why don’t you ask your wife.” I knew exactly who he meant.
Abbey Road Revisited
If you’re an uber Beatles fan like moi, having a peek inside Abbey Road has got to be on your bucket list. And feasting your eyes on "Studio Two" where their most iconic songs were recorded would be the cherry on top. Right? Well, sometimes luck is on your side.
Rotten To The Core Strikes Again! 💟
In a culture where songs are here today gone tomorrow, a songwriter has come to appreciate (more accurately cherish) a lasting copyright, or as we call them, “evergreen songs,” — ones that seem to keep regenerating and replenishing themselves. This is one of those moments.
Chrissie Hynde Revisited
To have someone who is perfectly capable of writing her own iconic material, someone you’ve put on a pedestal your whole life, someone who’s blazed the trail for so many women, make a choice to record YOUR song is a songwriter’s dream.
Yesterday: A World Without The Beatles
The Beatles are the ultimate common thread — the timeless hub around which all music lovers revolve. We can disagree about politics, cuisine and couture but I think we all see eye to eye when it comes to the Beatles.
Deciphering The Spotify Spin
Spotify professes to be our friend — a champion of the creator — the birther of the “Spotify Secret Genius” — a manufactured honor conceived to pander to our egos and a title that is now so laughably transparent. For a service that preaches the value of music and the people who create it, they sure are trying pretty hard to f*ck us over…as covertly as possible.
Bicoastal
Last week as I s-curved across Mulholland Drive, top down/wind in my face (in a Don Henley song), appreciating Los Angeles for all its curves and waves, knowing it’s where my village is, my zen, my professional community, I asked myself for the first time since I moved west if I could move back east. NY is better for my mind. LA is easier on my bones. What’s a girl to do?
Harmony
Do you remember where you were the first time you heard “Your Song?” I do. I was sitting on my friend Hope’s bedroom floor when she put the needle to the vinyl. I was like…What was that? Where were you?
Song For My Mom
Have a wonderful Mother’s Day, everyone. Give yourself (if you’re a mom) a big hug and give one to your mother too if she’s close enough to receive it. Sadly mine isn’t. So I wrote her this song….
Songs From The Other Side
As creators , when we put forth original material we are present (if not hands-on) from beginning to end — from conception to mixing. Our songs are our babies and we want to make sure the world hears them the way we envisioned them — according to our sensibilities. So, If something happened to you in the middle of making your album, would you be comfortable with someone else fully realizing your work-in-progress on your behalf — thankful that it would be heard? Or would you prefer that it rest and never see the light of day?
Album Update
Sometimes you can’t beat a scratch vocal. There’s something about the first moment you step up to the mic and it’s so fresh and real. I’m never going to be more honest than when I’m not thinking about it. I feel it with my bones.
Men Are Lettuce, Women Are Tomatoes Revisited
Remember when country radio consultant Keith Hill made a stunning comment about female artists being the tomatoes in the salad that nobody wants to eat? Well, it didn’t go over well and became known as Tomato-Gate. Sometimes ridiculous ideas lead to silver linings that just need a little time to reveal themselves.
Anticipation
It’s funny, when you’re too young to comprehend lyrics about the complexity of mature relationships you may still sing along. They may still feel like they mean something when you’re 12. You’re just not sure what it is they mean. But some songs just curiously resonate. And then one day, they totally make sense.
