Love Is War
It was 2010. Britney Spears was making a new album. I felt like I had some momentum because she recorded another song I wrote “Out From Under” for her previous album Circus. Songwriters all over town were partnering up and trying to come up with something undeniably Britney. One night I sat down at the piano with a glass of wine. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what the girl had been through. How might she feel if she were STILL trying to get over Justin? I didn’t know for sure that’s where her head (and heart) was at. But you have to start somewhere.
More Today Than Yesterday
I’ve sadly (and gratefully) gotten used to you not being here. Isn’t that what we wait for when we lose somebody — to get used to it? It’s the only way we can get on with our lives. It’s just that the older I get the more questions I have.
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. 😳
Happy Travels
I don’t know about you but for me re-entering a not-so-post COVID world comes with some re-acclimation anxiety. I’ve never been anxious in my life. I am anxious now. My local KCRW broadcasts a daily gentle reminder that COVID has made us ALL anxious. I’ll say!
#PAY$ONGWRITERS!
We were always underpaid. It’s just there was enough flowing down from the top of the waterfall so our time was better spent trying to write another song that would catapult us to the top. But when the invisible stream came along and hijacked our mechanical (physical) royalties we weren’t able to sustain ourselves any longer. The rumble of discontent has grown into a deafening roar. I’m happy to report there are quite a few initiatives circling the zeitgeist to effect change.
Speaking in Lyrics
We songwriters speak in tongues. And our partners need to be ready. My antennae have learned to pick up (or overhear) anything that’s lyric worthy. On supermarket lines, newscasts, snippets of gossip from teenagers walking by me on the street. It’s the stuff that emerges from every-day conversation that doesn’t always come as naturally when formally summoned. Grande latte please.
Can I Have Your Attention?
Pop songs are getting shorter and shorter. A recent report finds that by 2030 the average length of a hit song will be 2 minutes. That’s about half the length of what it was in 1990. James Shotwell says “it’s not about writing the most incredible song that anyone’s ever heard it’s about getting them to listen to it.” That’s a shame. Writing the most incredible song was always a fun goal. Something to shoot for.
Rock Star
You know how a song’s middle-8 is a departure? And when you finally get back to that last hook you’re absolutely delighted? Well, same with life. Every so often I need to take a break from my raison d'etre in order to return to it later with enthusiasm. No matter how young or old you are I recommend it highly. 😍
For The Dreamers
A go-to co-writer is someone who continually delights you. They bring out colors you didn’t know you had. Because they believe in you, you’re on your game when you’re with them. Little do they know it’s because THEY are special. THEY are having an effect on you! Maybe we need to let them know more often how much we appreciate them. Feel free to tell about or post a pic one of your favorite collaborators in the thread below. Let’s honor the creative spirit of the people who bring out the best in us.
Jukebox: The AI of Music
As if songwriters aren’t struggling enough with dwindling digital royalty rates and competition for song placements, will we now have to compete with thousands of compositions composed by non-humans as well? I feel fortunate that I never had to think about this stuff as a young songwriter. Diane Warren was my biggest fear! I’m more grateful every day that I came up in an innocent time when a Jukebox was a music-generating device in a diner into which we dropped a coin and pressed B5 or C8 to hear out favorite tune.
“Drivers License”
How does an 18 year-old girl who can’t have that much experience writing songs professionally tap into her feelings so effortlessly? Well, perhaps she’s simply downloading the truth instead of following an emotional pop-chart algorithm that would guide one through a proven formula. Newsflash…algorithms don’t have hearts. We’re all trying to write hits when we should be ignoring the algorithms and just telling the truth.
Never Underestimate The Power Of A Girl & Her Pen
Although this piece shines a light on poet laureate Amanda Gorman, WriteGirl — whose motto is “Never underestimate the power of a girl and her pen“ — plays a significant role in her journey. And Lord knows with all the ‘likes’ and ‘ums’ overtaking conversation, the brevity of messaging, not to mention the vanishing of punctuation we could use all the young poet laureates we can get.
#Anti-Social Media
My heart isn’t in the game. An appetite for promoting my own endeavors is waning. When I scroll my feed I hear what sounds like noise. My own noise included. So now...first thing every morning before checking my email, or any texts I might have missed from the night before I grab a coffee and sit in my yard and just be. In fact before I take a sip I hold the mug to my nose and breath it in so as to “pre-extend” the experience. Life isn’t just about our purpose or our calling, but the more subtle beauty going on around us.
Are You a John or a Paul?
You may ask ‘why do we have to choose?’ We don’t. But why not? It’s fun. Do we ultimately prefer John’s heady, trippy world or Paul’s tales of imaginary (and not so imaginary) friends, lovers, mothers, dogs —Maxwell, Rita, Mary, Penny, Martha, Lady M…It’s a long and winding road.
That’s So 2020
2020 cheated everyone out of something. A canceled wedding, a canceled tour, a deserved vacation or the worst... the loss of a loved one. Like all of us, I’m looking forward to a new year and I’m hoping it’s all up hill from here. (Read on for my most recent 2020 moment.)
Splits Before Hits
How do you measure a contribution — a catchy title vs. an entire first and second verse? What if Jack writes 90% of the lyric on the hook but the room was stuck on the pay-off line until Will spouted it in one fell swoop after being verbally MIA the whole session? Suddenly the whole song comes to life. Is there some objective scale on which to weigh a song? Let’s discuss.
Dark Horse vs Joyful Noise
Recently I was asked to consider signing an Amicus brief in support of the “Dark Horse” position in an infringement suit filed by the writers of Flame’s “Joyful Noise.” Newsflash, if it were your song in the test tube you may not want me on the jury. I tend to hear similarities my colleagues don’t. That said I’m concerned that the onslaught of lawsuits of late are threatening the creativity of my community. Still, I want to be thoughtful about each individual case. So let’s take a deeper dive.
Thankful
“I don’t write because I think I have something to say. I write because if I don’t, everything feels even worse.” — (Lily King — “Writers & Lovers”) I’m thankful to have a passion for a process that can usher me through the gamut of ‘lifely’ emotions. Life just wouldn’t be the same if I couldn’t write my way though it.
Exhale
For 4 years I didn’t have a President. He said as much. Don’t we all deserve a President even if it’s one we didn’t vote for? I remember all the social media posts after the 2016 election urging everyone to “let the healing begin.” But how can healing begin with a leader who doesn’t promote healing? Now we have one. If we want one. I’m not holding my breath but maybe, just maybe, if we can make it until Jan 20th, there is hope.
Almost Doesn’t Count
I’m eternally grateful to Suzan Koc for pitching the track to Atlantic Records’ Craig Kallman in 1997 when it had nothing to do with the purpose of their meeting. 😳 That’s what a song publisher was all about back then. Turns out “Almost Doesn’t Count”’ actually counted…a lot. And looking back I can honestly say, I’m glad that idiot broke my heart.
