WEBVTT - ITS Home Edition: Ryan Tedder 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.960 Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by I Heart Radio. 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:16.120 I'm your host Joe Lee. So on this home edition 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.720 of the show, our Quarantine correspondent Jordan runt Hog talked 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.360 with Ryan Tater. And you may know Ryan from his 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:25.959 band One Republic, or you may know Ryan as the 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:30.280 prolific songwriter and producer who's the answer to the eternal 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.440 question what do you two and Paul McCartney have in 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.920 common with the Jonas brothers and Beyonce? I mean, how 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:40.720 prolific is Ryan Tatter? He just released two tracks recorded 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.080 during Lockdown, Let's Lose Somebody with Kago in Better Days 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.400 with One Republic. But he also told Jordan that during 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.240 the first one and twenty days of Quarantine he wrote 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.720 more songs than he had in the previous nine or 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.240 ten months. Except it's what else he had to say 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.120 about the impact of this time. That a big reason 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.240 that we started this whole home edition of Inside the 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.800 Studio to let you know how artists were coping with 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.679 this moment, how it's impacting not just the way they 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:14.800 make music, but their lives. And Ryan really let us 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:17.760 inside all of that. What he is to say is fascinating. 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.880 So if you enjoy this episode, be sure to listen 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.479 to the I Heart Radio podcast that Jordan's hosts, which 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.880 is called Rivals Music's Greatest Feuds, and which is available 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:34.560 wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody, My name is 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.240 Jordan Runt Doug, But enough about me. My guest today 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:40.399 has been called the undercover King of Pop by Billboard Magazine. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:42.640 He's one of the most gifted songwriters of our time, 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.000 crafting hits for Beyonce, Adele, Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers, 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.880 Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga. And that's when he's not fronting 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:51.640 his own multi platinum rock band One Republic. The group 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.400 repoised to release their fifth album Human this spring. With 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.160 the pandemic out other plants, the album's delayed, but he 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.080 has plenty more on his plate. He just wrapped up 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.800 the second season of saw Land, launched the CBD drink 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.120 called Mad Tasty, and it's in the midst of developing 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.680 a movie music with Margot Robbie, and he's still writing 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:09.040 more songs than ever. Frankly, I don't know how he's 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:10.640 made time to be here today, but I'm so glad 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.040 he has. Ryan Tedder Welcome thank you so much for 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.240 joining me and thanks for having me. How are you today? 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.440 How does this day in Lockdown find you? I'm good, 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.880 I mean, you know, I'm okay. I to be honest, man, 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.600 I kind of like I was doing really really good, 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:29.560 uh and and probably almost like irrationally good, irrationally well 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:34.160 during the COVID craisiness since the middle of March and 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:38.280 decided to make lemonade out of lemons. You know. Have 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:42.239 have easily written more songs in in the last hundred 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.200 and ten twenty days than I had in the previous 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:48.280 nine months. To be quite frank, I mean I just 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.000 pretty much four or five sessions a day, sometimes too 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.880 a day. Um, got some great cuts on some big 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.360 artists coming some great stuff in the in the you know, 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.360 in the Hopper and dough head, first into TV and 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.400 film rated a handful of TV shows back going back 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.200 to March and April, and then it finally slowed down 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.080 this last week and it all kind of hit me 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:08.880 and all of a sudden, I got I like, had 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.600 four months worth of being bummed all in like forty 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.600 eight hours. So yeah, so today I'm just like I'm 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.639 over it. I'm just over the pandemic. I'm like, I'm 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:22.840 over the constant news like changing every day. You know. 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.480 I I know about eighteen people that have gotten it. 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.639 I know three people that have died from it, So um, 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.880 you know, I'm over dealing with people in parts of 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:32.640 the country that don't think it's real. I was just 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:36.119 texting with my stepsister and my and what she said 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.120 was so true. She she lives in Oklahoma, and she's 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.280 she's taking it very seriously, but a lot of friends 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.840 and family aren't. And the reality is, if you don't 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.360 know someone who got sick with it, you don't have context. 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.520 You don't realize how bad this thing is until you're 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.200 face timing one of your friends who's like gasping or 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:57.160 hacking up along and hasn't moved in two weeks. And like, 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.560 I've had so many of those facetimes in those calls 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.640 with people have gotten it that I can't not take 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:07.720 it seriously. But the kind of like selfish, just like 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.160 self centered part of me has finally kicked in and 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.240 it's just like I don't want to deal with it anymore. 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.000 I want to get on a plane and fly to 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:19.320 Denmark or Hawaii or New Zealand. I want to stop 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.760 being scared of infecting my sixty year old mother in law. 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.599 I'm a prime candidate for that. So I'm trying to 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.000 tell myself, you know this two shell pass and uh 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.760 and try and getting the headspace to be creative again. 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.000 But sometimes you just have to, like, you know, process 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:36.840 whatever you're going through and let it. If you're if 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.719 you're upset or depressed for a couple of days, be depressed, 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.400 you know, yeah, just just go through it. What's that 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:44.920 Winston Church? Alive and going through hell? Keep going. If 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:46.800 you're going through hell, keep going. The other thing you 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.799 also said is democracy is the worst form of government 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:56.839 except for all the other forms we've tried. Yeah, pretty much. Obviously, 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.360 this is just a whole new frontier in terms of 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.200 anxiety and and and you know, rational fear. That's the 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:05.280 scariest part. I mean, what's that frame? You know, just 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.240 just because your paranoia doesn't mean you're wrong. What do 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:10.320 you do in the past when you've been in this 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:12.280 kind of headspace, Like what's helped you move through it? 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.480 Is it music? Is it family? Is it all the above? 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:19.440 Is it exercise? In the past? Two things exercises my 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:21.880 kind of go to because it's free and it's there, 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:25.880 and it's like, you're foolish not to um. But honestly, 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:28.320 the other one is a change of scenery. I've been 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.880 touring for fifteen years and and NonStop, like if I'll 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:33.599 do four hundred thousand miles in a year. So I 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.200 think part of it is to be so accustomed to 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:38.080 being around the world and seeing all these different things 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.480 and having the stimulation and the interaction and friends and 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:42.400 different cities around the world that I always get to see. 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.760 It's addictive and like to go from from that to 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.480 literally a dead stop, like nobody does that, like it's crazy, 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:51.360 and so I have done that. So I think part 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:52.920 of it's that I'm part of that. Like my brain 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.880 is going like where could I be right now? Like okay, 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.360 like let's you know, like it's it's New Zealand, it's 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:00.800 beautiful there, Let's go there. You released a new song 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:03.159 I think the end of March called Better Days, which 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.120 I had so much hope in it. You know, it's 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.120 such a hopeful message in the face of COVID. Was 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.279 that inspired directly by the pandemic or that been brewing 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:12.080 a little bit beforehand, and the words took on a 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.160 new meeting. The chorus was written probably nine to twelve 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.680 months beforehand, but all of the verse lyrics and the 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.680 rest of the song, the meat of the song was 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:25.240 written um during the pandemic, during the first during the 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.760 two weeks that I was quarantined at at this studio 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.760 UM with a couple of band members. Uh, it just 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.640 it's all. It was also new and also it felt 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:37.880 like a wave crashing, you know, over America, and so 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:40.400 it's all I could think about, and and you know, 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:46.040 the news I've now For anybody listening, I highly recommend 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:50.680 if you are as sick of the news as I am. Uh, CNN, 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.240 Fox News. I don't care which side of which. It's 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.000 hilarious at this point. To call either of those companies 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:01.120 like quote unquote news channels is just a joke. Um, 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.960 they should be called op ed channels because their opinion 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:08.960 pieces I've now been relegated to. It's so boring. But 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.520 if you want to know what's going on without any spin, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:17.080 it's the Associated Press. I go to Associated Press or Reuters. 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:20.200 And that's been my new thing because I just kept going, 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.720 like after like three months of CNN and then for 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:25.720 out of for fun, just to know what my family 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:28.120 in Oklahoma was watched, like what news they were getting. 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:31.320 I go to Fox News and see a completely different 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:35.720 set of facts reported with completely different color. UM. And 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.600 watching both of those, I've now realized. Then I go 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:41.760 to the source of the news articles, which is the 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:45.400 Associated Press and Reuters, and read the report which is 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.360 as it happened without color. I'm I'm trying to focus 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:55.480 on reading books, like I'm reading three books at the 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.360 same time right now. UM, I am. I downloaded the 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.280 call map, which actually works. By the way, the meditation 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.320 app UM, big shout out. I'm not sponsored by them, 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:10.880 the big shout out com and UM. And I'll tell 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:16.320 you what. There is a vaccine for trapped in a 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:21.640 cage island fever during a pandemic, and it's called wine. 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.400 I was gonna say, I've been following um quarantine cuisine. 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:30.400 Oh yeah, I kept that up for about three weeks. 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:32.240 I did, I did. I did it for like three weeks, 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:36.200 quarantine cuisine. UM and I just if I didn't have 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.080 a life, I would have kept doing it. I didn't 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:40.599 have a wife and kiss my my I got on 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:42.800 my wife was like, you are not gonna do quarantine. 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.600 We're not that's doing. That's not happening every now. Um. 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.120 But I didn't stop cooking. I've actually got way better 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.520 at cooking. And they funny you mentioned that that is 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.079 the other thing that helps me keep my sanity. Everything 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:57.080 in the music industry has been paused so tremendously. I 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.360 developed a TV show, which I will talk about now, 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:01.680 just to warn anybody else off from from doing the 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.800 same thing. But I developed a created shows being in 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.400 a pandemic, and I thought, Okay, what if there was 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.000 a TV series that was super high depth, super high 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.440 end that every artist that wants to release an album 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.840 or single they don't have an anchor to release it with. 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:17.679 So I just worked backwards from like, what would one 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.920 republic want? I would like a concert special where we 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.280 play all of our hits and then I go into 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.440 detail telling the stories behind those hits, like and I 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.200 talked about where this idea came from and when, where 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:30.960 I was when I wrote this, and how did I 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:32.719 come up with that lyric? And how did I come 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.959 up with you know, the phrase counting stars? Where did 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.760 I think of that? And apologize who's it about? Like 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.800 you know, and go into those songs and go behind 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:43.520 the hits and then at the very end of the 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:47.320 concert play our new single and launch our new single 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.880 and album off of a TV special. And I was like, 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:52.840 what would that look like and how many artists would 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:54.760 want to do it? Well, every artist is at home 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.080 doing nothing, but all these venues are sitting empty. So anyway, 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:02.400 I've been working very quickly on getting this show together 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:04.760 and right now we have it. That sounds incredible. I mean, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.000 you mentioned having three four songwriting sessions a day as 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.600 well on top of all of this. How has you 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.640 know zoom songwriting affected your process or has it? It's 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.480 made my process way more efficient. When I said earlier 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:18.560 than I thrived in the first part of COVID, it 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:22.319 was because of the zoom sessions. Like I, it's because 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.280 the barrier to entry is so low, the value proposition 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.000 is so high. So here's what happens in reality. I'm 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.920 in West Hollywood. Let's say I have a session today 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.520 at three pm and one of the one of the 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.640 writers or monsters and strangers, whether we're over in Sherman Oaks, right, 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:44.319 So that's gonna be that's gonna take them thirty forty minutes, easy, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.520 to get here. Let's say I have I want Michael Pollock, 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.000 who's who wrote Marion five Memories and a bunch of 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.160 other songs. I write with them all the time. Okay, 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.160 he lives in like I don't even know a thousand 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:55.880 oaks or something like like, that's gonna take him an 0:10:55.880 --> 0:11:00.920 hour to get here. Okay, so already that's a time 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:05.640 traffic stress driving. Everybody shows up on the scene. And 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:07.880 then what happens is not every day, no matter how 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:09.559 good you are, are you going to write a smash. 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:11.600 It's just not gonna happen. You're gonna write a lot 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.800 of like like A minus and A songs. But really, 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.840 the A plus songs are the only ones in the anomaly. 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.040 Hits are pretty much the only ones that exists anymore, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.360 just a great song. Where you used to be able 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.680 to just work a great song. Those are a lot 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:31.480 harder to be successful at radio and streaming these days 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.439 because they get drowned out by one TikTok video that 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.880 just goes viral. But you know, I've really diagnosed why, 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.080 because me and a few other friends have actually done 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.480 better in the Zoom sessions than before, Like we enjoy 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.320 them more and we were thinking, well, because in a 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:47.600 zoom session, if a song is just not turning out great, 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.040 people don't hesitate to be like, guys, I'm not I'm 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:51.959 not loving this. Let's start something else. So let's just 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.040 pick it up tomorrow. Right, Well, if I drove an 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:57.920 hour and he drove an hour and a half and 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:00.360 I'm gonna fight traffic going home, We're finish in this 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.760 damn song even if it sucks. And like that type 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:08.120 of thing is actually not it's actually contrary to healthy 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.800 songwriting because you're you're now letting the fact that you're there, 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.720 you drove, and these other ancillary factors that have nothing 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.640 to do with the quality of a song influence your 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.120 decision to finish that song and to like dig your 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.600 heels in and I've done it. I've done it countless time. 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:25.360 So well, they drove all the way here. I don't 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.319 really think this song is like a smash, but you 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:29.520 know what, let's just finish it. And and like in 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:31.720 a zoom session, man, you just pull that rip chord. 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:33.320 You pull the rip chord and you start a new 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.120 song or you or you see, guys, let's pick it 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.600 up tomorrow, and you don't feel like you've put out 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:41.439 four people that drove halfway across town, Like I missed 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.560 the camaraderie and I missed the interaction of people in person. 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.320 But I think almost every rider you talked to would 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.160 tell you that we are really good at wasting a 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.760 lot of time in a session. I mean, because half 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.520 half the fun. Ross Golan, who hosts you know, the 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.679 the Penultimate Songwriter blah Our podcast, will tell you he's 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:03.240 always that like I enjoy. The reason I like songwriting 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.240 is the hang. I like to hang, and that's that's 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:06.439 half the fun of it. If you end up with 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.120 a hit, great, but it's it's all about the hang. 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:22.760 Is there a place when you're actually writing the song, 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.720 once the conversations is over and everything that you always 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:27.640 start like is there? I don't know if it's like 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.120 a ritual, even like a mental ritual that you begin 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:32.720 when you're when you're really sitting down the start the 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.160 actual act of writing. I don't think there's a I 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.600 light a candle. I've always done that. I have. I'm 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:40.480 big on anyone who knows me knows I'm like my 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:42.880 candle game is strong. It's probably one of my biggest 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.200 budgetary allowances annually big on candles. So that's that'd be 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.080 one thing I want the room to the room needs 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:53.000 to be clean and like and like and like together 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.360 clean and smell good. That's about my only like no 0:13:56.520 --> 0:14:01.280 bad smells good, smell good natural lighting. Um gone is 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.960 the day that I work in dark studios like that, 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:06.080 I do that type of stuff. I'm just not. I 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.720 spent years in dark studios, years and years and years 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.160 and studios without windows, and I finally I just drew 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:17.320 line of sand um a few years ago and just 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.200 I can't do this anymore. I even built one. I 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.280 built like the most extraordinary student studio imaginable in Colorado. 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:25.760 I used it for four years and then I was like, 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.040 I'm depressed. I can't be down here anymore. Like I 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.320 need natural I'm a big, big, big sun natural light person. 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.840 So my studio now is tons of natural light. Also 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:36.560 if it's an if it's a cool and if it's 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.920 like seventy two or below, I'll open the doors. The 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.320 whole thing just opens. So like it's like you're writing 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:46.680 indoors and outdoors at the same time. And vibe. Vibe 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.120 is my ritual. Vibe is my ritual man um ritual wise, 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:55.240 if it's with an artist, I get them talking. I 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.480 get them talking. I asked them how they're doing, what's 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:59.600 going on in life, what have they been listening to? 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.040 If they're in a relationship, I kind of you know, 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.160 I I leaned in on that a little bit, because 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:10.560 nine times out of ten that there's the song. I 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.480 did a whole run of sessions with Miley Cyrus, with 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.000 Ali Tempos and Andrew Watt, Louis Bell back right before COVID, 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:22.240 and that's all we ever did. Miley blah blah blah blah, 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.440 what's up? And Miley can talk, so then it's just like, 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.760 you know, she gives you everything. Really good artists. Good 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:34.640 artists are vulnerable. Good artists know themselves the best ones, 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:39.440 and them talking gives you all the fodder that you 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:43.200 need for that day. UM. If you don't get that, 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.640 because there's a lot of times where you don't, UM, 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.120 then you kind of hope. I mean, I'm a firm 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.880 believer and I used to be much better at this, 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:53.920 and I should probably start doing this again now. But 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.760 back in the day, I was the guy. UM when 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.160 I started writing, I made it. I just you know, 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.400 I didn't learn this anywhere. I just kind of thought 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:04.160 it up. I guess myself. I thought, I will always 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:09.640 have two or three titles and concepts in the back 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:13.840 of my pocket that are bulletproof, so no matter what, 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:15.760 so I lean into whatever the other writers and the 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.040 artist wants to do. But if anyone gets stuck, I go, guys, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:21.800 I got a singer, check this one out, and I 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.640 just drop it like Mike drop in. I'd done that 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:29.720 for years. So that's my other rituals. Do I have 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.920 a fallback plan? Do I have something? You know, if 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:36.200 everyone gets all weird and insecure because nothing great is happening, 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:40.920 do you have a parachute? Um? And so, yeah, that's 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:42.560 that's pretty much it. I don't have any other kind 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.160 of ritual. I don't like to listen to the people 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:48.000 unless I'm referencing something. Um, you know, I might we 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:51.120 might play a couple of songs like oh remember that 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.560 like me and Julio down by the schoolyard. I want 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:56.200 to do a song it sounds like that, like let's 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:57.560 play that, you know what I mean? And then you 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.640 you get a little bit of a you get it 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:01.760 in your in the air, you get the sound of 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.440 it in the air. Um, I'm very careful with that stuff. 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.040 They all play a song one time, and usually I'll 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.880 play like fifteen seconds of it because you don't want 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.320 to accidentally, you know, interpolate something and end up in 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.320 a sticky situation. I was lucky enough to speak to 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:20.879 to the wonderful singer Ash recently and she she hosted 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:25.240 a pet Sounds fifty four anniversary live stream that that 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.960 you were involved with the absolutely incredible version of God 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:32.119 Only Knows. I was amazing. What is it about that 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:36.160 album that that speaks to you? Um? Well, me specifically, 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.600 the first album that I ever had, that was ever 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.399 given to me was Beach Boys. So my earliest memory 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.119 of music is the Beach Boys. I was five years old. 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.520 It's so playful. Their music is so playful. Their melodies 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:55.880 are so playful that I had no concept how absolutely 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:00.840 insanely complicated and difficult the arrange each mens were that 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:07.040 Brian Wilson was doing. Honestly, until God only knows, I, 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.840 I sat down. I did definitely did not get I 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:14.439 definitely procrastinated, but I sat down the day before it 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.240 was due that I had to hand in that video. 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.080 I sat down to learn it. It's pretty it's pretty 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.240 much like the day before it aired, Like I sat 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:22.960 down to learn God only knows, thinking, oh, I'll just 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.040 sit down and hammer this out in five seconds. And 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:30.119 then I sat down and just like God value uh. 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:38.399 Like he's changing keys every single phrase. He doesn't the 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.119 note that I thought my whole life he was landing 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:45.520 on he wasn't, and and changing the chord underneath the support, 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:51.040 the new voicing. It's this constant change. The bass parts 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:55.720 are crazy, insane like it is. He's such a better 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:02.000 writer whever than I am. Brian Wilson Um And look, 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.239 I mean, I've said this for years, no no, no 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:08.200 offense to to myself and every other modern musician and writer, 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.520 but we are all anyone. If you're in your twenties 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.720 or thirties, your your forties right now, you're just a hack. 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:19.040 Like we're all hacks. Compared to the musicians and writers 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.560 of the sixties and seventies, you had to be a beast. 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.520 Listen to Stevie Wonder songs in the Key of Life, 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.680 you know, back to back album of the year. I've 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.160 produced Stevie Wonder, I've written with him, I have seen 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.560 his genius firsthand. No one comes club, no one comes 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.119 close to him, Like, there's not you. All right, you 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.680 might have one singer alive now that's a signed recording 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.240 artist that maybe can sing as well as he is. Maybe, 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:46.680 but I don't even think that exists. Like in terms 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:48.600 of male vocalists, I can't in anyone right now that 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.280 that can do the stuff he can. Then you combine 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:54.680 it with the fact that he knows every single note 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.040 in the universe and how to combine all of them. 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:01.200 He's Jacob Collier level U piano player and keyboard player. 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:04.679 You know. To all you musos Jacob Coller fans out there, um, 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:08.160 he's as good as John Mayer is on guitar. He's 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:10.600 that good on that that little harpsichord thing that he plays, 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:14.880 the autoheart whatever that thing is, like there is there 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.240 are no comparables anymore to the level of musicianship you 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:20.600 had to have in the sixteen seventies. And McCartney told me, 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.560 he said, the reason you had to be good back 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:27.440 then was it was too expensive to not be recording 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:31.119 studio time was so expensive and tape was so expensive 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:33.159 that if you didn't nail it on the first or 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.840 second take, you were out the door. So every all 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:40.280 your signed recording artists were glorified studio. They were studio 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:44.040 musicians like you know most look, I mean, you know, 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.600 I'm thinking about Fleetwood Mac. Like any one of them 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:49.719 would have been a session player by themselves if they 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.199 weren't in Fleetwood Mac. You could take apart most of 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:54.960 the bands in the sixties and seventies, especially all the 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.879 artists on the Wrecking Crew era. Almost every artist was 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:02.800 good enough to be a session player, Like they were 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:06.359 like interchangeable, and that just doesn't exist anymore. Like I know, 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.080 like half producers I know don't play a single instrument, 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:11.560 and yet they can still do hits because now it's 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:15.399