And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is the British singer-songwriter behind “Escapism.” and “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!”

After seven years in a record deal without releasing her debut album, she went independent, landed a UK No. 1 and won six BRIT Awards in one night.

This is the story of how she found her own way to succeed—and brought her people with her.

And The Writer Is... RAYE!

In this episode, we get into:

• Signing a record deal at 17, having hits, and still being unable to release her debut album.

• The album called “too risky,” the partner who backed it, and “Escapism.” changing everything.

• Bringing her family and band into the success, and demanding fairer treatment for songwriters.

• Her full writing process, early “Click Clack Symphony.” demos, and nine hours on the “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” bridge. and much more.

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

PRS for Music — supporting songwriters, composers and publishers. Find out more: https://www.prsformusic.com/join

And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period. Have you tried variations yet?

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

1:10 Making music and touring with her family

7:38 What happened to her grandfather's songs

9:49 Ad: PRS for Music

11:09 Ad: Splice 12:16

Ross's stolen-song story and the line between influence and theft

17:33 Who deserves a songwriting credit?

19:52 Why songwriters deserve fees and master points

25:29 The power to say no and protect your splits

28:50 Advice for young writers: choosing your battles and avoiding comparison

33:18 Writing her first song at seven

36:48 The BRIT School and finding her voice

42:21 Subscribe to And The Writer Is

42:50 Jazz freedom and her first music-industry reality check

47:13 The dance hits that came with conditions

48:17 Signing her record deal at 17

54:26 Seven years, hit records and still no debut album

56:33 Going independent and the Escapism. breakthrough

1:02:56 Ice Cream Man. and finding strength through music

1:08:15 The BRIT Awards night she still has not watched back

1:10:38 Making THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. on her own terms

1:12:38 Playing the early Click Clack Symphony. demos

1:14:53 Why she writes with Auto-Tune

1:17:15 Title first: heels, lyrics and theatrical melodies

1:18:48 Nine hours on the WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! bridge

1:21:19 Getting bigger without trying to please everyone

1:23:30 Who is Suzanne? Picking a song for every mood

1:26:18 Her grandfather's poems in Fields

1:27:04 Opening for Bruno Mars

1:28:48 Closing: building a better music industry

CREDITS

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Edited by Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is the Swedish producer and songwriter behind "Problem," "Into You," "Love Me Like You Do," "No Tears Left To Cry," "Santa Tell Me," and "Unholy,".

He finally sits down with Ross for an And The Writer Is interview ten years in the making.

He taught himself to make music from a demo CD that came in a cereal box.

A radio singing contest got him discovered, and he signed a publishing deal at 17.

It then took him ten years to land his first real hit. He tells Ross how a year of playing FIFA with Shellback led to Wolf Cousins, and what Max Martin's famous "math" actually is.

If you've ever wondered how the biggest pop songs of the last decade actually get finished, this one's for you

And The Writer Is... Ilya Salmanzadeh!

JOIN THE ATWI PATREON

Monthly Zoom hangs, demo feedback, special guests and 200+ archived audio episodes (Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Shania Twain, Babyface and more):

Patreon.com/andthewriteris

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR SPLICE

Try Variations in the Splice Sounds plugin. It makes new versions of any Splice sample with a different structure, key and BPM, and the original creators get paid every time.

Splice.com

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open: what Max Martin's "math" really means

1:32 Welcome Ilya Salmanzadeh

3:12 What MXM is: "like Real Madrid signed me"

4:46 Jantelagen: why Swedes won't brag

9:57 Born in Iran, raised in Denmark

16:22 A cereal-box CD and teaching himself music

19:54 The hits: Problem, Into You, Unholy and more

21:32 Early influences: Tracy Chapman, Michael Jackson, hip-hop

24:50 Why the world's biggest pop writers live in Stockholm

27:14 Wanting to be an R&B artist

32:36 The radio singing contest that got him discovered

37:26 Ten years from publishing deal to first hit

39:09 Telemarketing and Apple tech support

43:08 The immigrant drive to prove he belongs

46:21 His first cut: the Bratz album

48:20 A year of FIFA with Shellback and the birth of Wolf Cousins

52:37 The MXM pop family tree

54:21 Competition vs. family inside MXM

58:40 Max Martin: "Why aren't you in LA?"

1:00:41 What Max Martin taught him about songwriting

1:03:13 "Problem": Savan Kotecha's original voice memo

1:08:59 The morning "Problem" hit #1 on iTunes

1:10:57 His father and the number he keeps seeing

1:14:31 Weeks on one pre-chorus: making "Into You"

1:21:55 "Love Me Like You Do" started as a Sunday hang

1:27:08 Producer vs. writer credits: "Bad Blood" and "Bang Bang"

1:31:42 His creative wavelength with Ariana Grande

1:32:23 "No Tears Left To Cry" breaking the pop rules

1:34:00 "God is a woman" was almost for Beyoncé and JAY-Z

1:35:48 Ariana Grande as a producer1:37:27 "Unholy": the hotel staff, Max and his daughter

1:44:20 When a release doesn't hit

1:47:11 14-hour days: how he finishes so much music

1:48:57 Chris Martin, Coldplay and the "mind movie"

1:52:17 Why he keeps working with new artists (Tate McRae, LISA)

1:54:53 "eternal sunshine" vs. "petal": the two-room process

1:56:54 "Santa Tell Me" and chasing a Christmas classic

1:59:24 Has Ilya finally proven his worth to himself?

And The Writer Is, hosted by Ross Golan, is a podcast about the songwriters, producers and artists behind the songs you love.

Instagram: instagram.com/andthewriteris

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is a multi-platinum rapper and songwriter who took Compton to the charts and gave the world “My Hitta,” “Who Do You Love?” and “Big Bank.”

From his debut album My Krazy Life to collaborations with Drake, Nipsey Hussle, and Nicki Minaj, he’s built a catalog that’s done serious damage to club speakers. Now, with The Gentlemen’s Club, he’s getting personal and reminding everyone there’s a storyteller behind the hits.

And The Writer Is…

YG!

In this episode we go deep on:

- The inspiration behind his new album

- The Def Jam singles deal with five album options: "I could have sued everybody"

- What he'd tell an 18-year-old holding a label offer

- Why having a catalog doesn't mean you own it

- What a YG session looks like: tequila, "next beat," and a BPM in his head

- How "FDT" got made with Nipsey, and why Def Jam wouldn't release it

- The night Nicki said "don't put this out without me"

- "Who Do You Love?": three months, hook writers, and Drake telling him to do it himself

And much more...

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications.

Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, our Patreon!

Patreon.com/andthewriteris

And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:32 Hiring a "Hitman"

8:07 "Were you ever suicidal?" and the homies who said "same"

9:10 Chin up, chest out: what the streets never let you say

10:28 "2004," the song he cut from the album

24:31 Turning himself in while his song blew up, and the label that called his mom

27:31 Signing young: "I could have sued everybody"

28:24 Ross: athletes get rookie orientation, artists get "good luck"

34:57 What he'd tell an 18-year-old holding a label offer

39:40 The masters trap: you have a catalog, but you don't own it

41:30 What a session with YG actually looks like

47:39 Why he made Gentleman's Club: "they were playing with my name"

50:10 How "Hollywood" with Shoreline Mafia got made

53:51 How "FDT" happened with Nipsey, and why Def Jam passed

59:40 Meeting Nipsey: two different gangs, one mission

1:05:56 How do you stay brave when the people around you get killed?

1:10:59 The night "My Hitta" got made

1:13:03 "Big Bank": Nicki says don't put it out without me

1:18:15 What he knows at 36 that he didn't at 20: the streets don't love you back

1:27:20 "Who Do You Love?": three months and Drake's "you do the hook"

1:30:02 What makes a Mustard beat different

Credits Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is a singer, songwriter, producer and dancer who has spent her career trusting her own instincts—and building a world around them.

From “2 On” to “Nasty” and “No Broke Boys,” Tinashe has kept releasing music through major-label deals, independent projects and viral breakthroughs.

She’s collaborated with artists including Calvin Harris, Charli xcx and Kaytranada, and joins us to talk about the journey behind it all.

And The Writer Is... Tinashe!

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications.

Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.Splice, the best sample library on the market, period.

and our lead sponsor, our Patreon page!

We're still giving away free Universal Audio Recording Gear in our next zoom hang.

Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

0:46 Tinashe and Ross reconnect—back to The Stunners

3:48 “Deep in the Night”—the song she wrote at five

5:08 Tinashe’s French fry rankings

6:12 Child acting, Whoopi Goldberg, and moving to LA

9:11 Life in a girl group without creative control

11:22 Buying a microphone and building a bedroom studio

14:10 Getting signed—and expecting it to be easy

18:40 Join the ATWI Patreon

19:32 Splice: Sounds and Variations

20:39 Early Travis Scott sessions and being taken seriously in the studio

23:29 Recording 200 songs—and trusting the big producer’s opinion26:33 Trusting your gut and knowing when to leave a session

30:43 “2 On” takes off. What happens after the first hit?

36:03 Writing “2 On” in a garage with friends

37:37 Does having a hit teach you how to make one?

39:20 Leaving her label and rebuilding trust in her own ideas

43:29 What releasing music independently actually takes

46:10 Filming her own videos and building her visual world

48:14 How dancing shapes the way she writes songs

50:08 Working with a label again—and finding Ricky Reed

52:11 Getting the call from Calvin Harris

53:52 Why genre doesn’t define her music

55:19 “Nasty” takes off after she stops needing another hit

57:04 Why she won’t write for a TikTok trend

58:43 Charli xcx and finding freedom after early hits

1:00:41 The unexpected remix journey of “No Broke Boys”

1:03:31 Taking the Grammy off her lock screen after seven years

1:05:14 Making POPSTAR—and giving herself time to play

1:05:55 Which POPSTAR song fits every mood?

1:08:19 Claiming the pop star she’s always been

1:13:32 “Just don’t stop”—keep putting your music out

1:14:42 Her advice to young women in music: intuition

Credits

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is one of the most unmistakable voices in modern pop — an artist, songwriter and producer who has built a career by making music that sounds like nobody else. Her catalog has passed two billion global streams. She’s played top billing at festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, opened for Olivia Rodrigo, Lorde and Paramore, and collaborated with artists including Nile Rodgers, Beck, Dominic Fike and Sylvan Esso.

And The Writer Is... Remi Wolf!

In this episode, we get into

- The USC training that rebuilt her voice

- Waiting tables and taking Craigslist gigs while building a career

- The 30-minute session behind “Photo ID,”

- Industry lessons for every artist to take notes on...

and much more.

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

0:40 “You can’t teach tone” — how Remi found hers

2:13 USC: “We’re going to beat you down until you feel like you’re nothing”

6:15 Fourteen, busking the Bay Area, and writing songs in Chloe’s kitchen

13:40 “Carousel” — the first song she ever wrote

15:41 A substitute teacher, an apartment, and her first recording

18:05 Ski racer by day, songwriter by night

19:05 Meeting Jared Solomon at 15 — then finding each other again

21:07 Applebee’s on tour — and the road to sobriety

24:04 Rehab, writing Juno sober, and why clarity changed the songs

29:02 “It’s not ready” — why she refused to release music in college

30:22 Six songs in one week — the reunion that started everything

34:24 Restaurant shifts and Craigslist gigs: how she paid to keep making music

39:26 The Sofar show that led to her first manager

42:39 “I had no expectations” — making music before the industry got involved

45:28 35,000 decisions a day — what creative control actually costs

49:22 “You have to start protecting yourself”

51:34 What is the goal? Redefining success

56:51 Her first album rollout sober

59:21 Social media, warped expectations, and screaming into the void

63:22 “Photo ID,” TikTok, and the accident that helped it explode

66:40 “Photo ID” took 30 minutes — and she thought it was horrible

70:15 Her first professional topline session: “I was overcome with social anxiety”

72:11 Why I’m Allergic to Dogs worked during lockdown

74:56 Why Juno is called Juno

78:50 Hayley Williams and singing with another “belt queen”

82:25 Five years of nonstop touring — and finally hitting pause

87:15 “I Won’t Cry” — her favorite song she’s ever written

89:15 “I was sick of the uptempo shit” — writing 130 songs for Mud

90:49 Her first pitch session was for BTS

92:34 Which Mud song fits every mood

94:10 “I’m the happiest I’ve been in my life”

Credits

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is a musician's musician who co-founded The National, the Grammy-winning band behind Boxer, High Violet and Sleep Well Beast.

He co-wrote and produced Taylor Swift's folklore and evermore, including cardigan and willow. folklore won Album of the Year at the Grammys.

He worked on The Tortured Poets Department and produced Ed Sheeran's Subtract.

He's behind Gracie Abrams' I Love You, I'm Sorry and Noah Kahan's Porch Light.

In the last year alone, he's made records with Mumford & Sons, Florence + the Machine, Brandi Carlile, Sam Barber, Kevin Morby and Suki Waterhouse.

He's one half of Big Red Machine with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.

And he built Long Pond, the Hudson Valley studio where many of these songs were made.

And The Writer Is... Aaron Dessner!

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Amazon Music for Songwriters. Your support means the world to us.

And SONA — Songwriters of North America. If you write songs, join them. They fight for us.

0:00 Intro

1:00 Cardigan, willow, Porch Light — and eight albums in a year

5:26 Why "I Love You, I'm Sorry" was never the single

7:27 Secretly rooting for the weird song

8:17 When a pop star needs a single right now

10:25 Don't fill the space: how he walks into a session

12:12 Long Pond and "you never make a mistake investing in your creativity"

17:24 Twin brothers and their dad's jazz drums

22:48 "We faked it": how The National got signed

26:48 Playing to no one — then 500 strangers in Michigan

30:05 "Did you lose yourself?"

33:14 When one bandmate starts writing hits for other people

35:38 On stage with Taylor: "You're playing a stadium. It's okay."

37:27 "Hey, it's Taylor": the text in 2020

40:34 The Dropbox folder — and cardigan by 3 a.m.

47:45 The thank-you note that became willow

51:49 Meeting Gracie Abrams — and 2–3 songs a day

57:47 How an instrumentalist became the storyteller's whisperer

1:01:11 Why his albums don't get shelved: finishing Prizefighter

1:04:23 Studio stories: Gracie, Brandi Carlile, Florence, Sam Barber

1:11:40 Noah Kahan arrives burnt out — and Porch Light

1:15:41 Live Q&A: finding the corners, his first key change

1:18:24 Advice for musicians with day jobs

1:20:07 What all the greats have in common

Credits:

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is a Grammy-winning songwriter, bandleader and activist who has spent four decades inside the most famous name in reggae — but whose real story isn't the inheritance. It's the set of rules underneath it, the ones the family actually lives by, which turn out to have almost nothing to do with music.

And The Writer Is... Ziggy Marley!

Subscribe to our channel and follow us on socials @andthewriteris Every week we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

Chapters:

0:00 He inherited a legacy and built a voice of his own

0:45 Why reggae heals

4:53 What makes the Marley family so consistent

6:43 Seven kids, and the family business that isn't music

8:36 Why the whole album is tuned to 432

12:32 The one song he left at 440

16:06 What makes this album different from the other fifteen

18:11 Finishing the songs before going into the studio

20:37 Why he wrote "Many Mourn For Bob" 45 years later

24:54 Umbrella or shadow: being a Marley

26:39 The funeral, and the drive to Nine Miles

30:54 NMPA + Splice

33:15 Breaking the four-bar on "Racism"

36:03 "It sounds light, but it's heavy underneath"

38:37 What "Beach in Hawaii" is actually about

43:37 How he found out "Tomorrow People" was a hit

46:14 The Melody Makers, and the line you don't cross

49:15 "Create your own space"

53:45 Advice to the next Marleys

55:27 "You can't just ChatGPT life experience"

59:12 "When the fridge was empty, I was happy"

1:00:26 "I know my value"

1:03:07 "It's always new. Still a kid."

Credits:

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.