Podcast
Songwriters on Process
Hosted by Ben Opipari · EN
In-depth interviews with songwriters about their songwriting process. Nothing else. No talk of band drama, band names, or tour stories. Treating songwriters as writers, plain and simple. By Ben Opipari, English Lit Ph.D.
24episodes
Episodes
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Emma Jansson (Girl Scout)
3d ago00:48:04Tap to summarize"When I'm not self-conscious, I tend to write better stuff. I need the dud sessions before I make progress," says Emma Jansson of Girl Scout. Good writing in the initial stages is indeed all about getting out of your own way and applying the Anne Lamott method. And it's why Jansson often starts her writing process with a pen and paper instead of a keyboard because, as she explains, "I don't edit as much when I use pen and paper. I respect the initial thought more."Girl Scout's debut album Brink is out now.
Transcribe →Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene)
1w ago00:53:43Tap to summarize"We should see how many disco records were made in the winter," Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene said. And with that, we ventured into the intersection of songwriting and meteorology: how weather patterns and temperature affect the creative mind. The Canadian songwriters I've interviewed tend to be seasonal writers. Many tend to write more during the winter, when they're likely to be holed up inside. Drew and I even dared start a new east coast vs. west coast feud as we pondered whether east coast writers are more productive because their seasons are more defined. But regardless of location, Drew says morning is his best time for writing because "it's one of your best chances to be free."The latest Broken Social Scene album is Remember the Humans on Arts & Crafts Records.
Transcribe →Jena Malone
2w ago00:47:27Tap to summarizeJena Malone had me at the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. When the actor/songwriter started our discussion talking about Millay and the profound effect poetry has on her songwriting process, I swooned. There’s a theme here: I’ve had a lot of actor/songwriters on the pod recently (Maya Hawke, Sasha Spielberg, The Wolff Brothers) and it’s not surprising that, given their other day jobs when they’re not singing, language is particularly important in their songwriting process. Malone is also a parent, and we discuss the role that motherhood plays in her songwriting process. But as you’ll hear, for Malone there’s no place like the back of an Uber to do some good writing. Her latest album is Flowers for Men.
Transcribe →Maya Hawke
3w ago00:57:38Tap to summarizeAll you need to know about Maya Hawke's dedication to wordcraft is summed up in this memory: "The day I fell in love with my husband was the day we got into a fight about free verse poetry versus formal poetry." (Hawke's husband is singer/songwriter Christian Lee Hutson, whom I interviewed last year.)Hawke is of course an actor (Stranger Things, Inside Out 2, among others) and a visual artist, but she's really a poet, first and foremost. Rarely have I encountered a songwriter with such passion for the literary artistry of the words on the page: how they sound, how they feel, how they look, what they mean. By the way, Hawke was on the side of formal poetry in that argument. Maya Hawke's latest album is Maitreya Corso on Mom+Pop Records.
Transcribe →Lolo Zouaï
3w ago00:40:39Tap to summarizeAs a bilingual artist, Lolo Zouaï uses both English and French on her new album Reverie. Sometimes it's because the meaning of a word in one language is more precise for the song, while other times the sound of the word fits the melody better. We take a deep dive into Zouaï's songwriting process and discuss why she's not good at late-night writing sessions, why the bathroom is a great place to get rid of writer's block, and why she's much more productive when working on many things at once.
Transcribe →Donovan Woods
4w ago00:43:57Tap to summarizeDonovan Woods is the master of the pull quote when it comes to the songwriting process. His words are wise counsel for any songwriter. To wit: "A good song asks questions rather than provides wisdom," and "When I have writer's block, it's because I'm not reading enough."I'll quibble slightly with the latter quote only because I cannot imagine Woods getting writer's block: the last three minutes of this episode are nothing but Woods listing all the authors who inspire him. And that includes the iconic poet Paul Muldoon, a recent guest on this show whom Woods and I spend a few minutes swooning over.The latest EP by Donovan Woods is Squander Your Gifts.
Transcribe →Sasha Spielberg (aka Buzzy Lee)
Apr 1500:59:29Tap to summarizeI wasn't surprised when Sasha Spielberg--an actor, visual artist, and musician who records as Buzzy Lee--told me that she once cried listening to the score to E.T., one of her father's most famous movies. I was surprised, however, when she told me that she also cried watching "The Real Housewives of Orange County." But that's why this convo with Spielberg is one of the funnest I've ever done. (And yes, funnest is a word.) As you'll hear, both events are tied to her creative process.I've interviewed many songwriters with careers in other artistic mediums (Jeff Daniels, Kevin Bacon, The Wolff Brothers, Jena Malone, among others), and I'm always interested in exploring how their processes overlap and influence each other. We go deep into that here. But we also talk about why Spielberg loves to write with a cheap old school Bic pen and why a quick, efficient shower is a boon to her songwriting process. Spielberg's latest album as Buzzy Lee is Shoulder to Shoulder.
Transcribe →Morgan Nagler
Apr 900:38:52Tap to summarizeMorgan Nagler has co-written with HAIM, Phoebe Bridgers, Kim Deal, Madi Diaz, and Margo Price among others. And now comes her fantastic debut solo album I've Got Nothing to Lose, and I'm Losing It. We go deep into her songwriting process on the pod, including a discussion of why physical movement is so important to the creative process.
Transcribe →Cameron Picton (black midi, My New Band Believe)
Apr 600:39:59Tap to summarizeMy New Band Believe is Cameron Picton's new band after his time as the bassist and sometimes frontman for black midi. We go deep into his songwriting process, including a discussion of how sounds outside the studio affect his songwriting. My New Band Believe's self-titled debut is on Rough Trade Records.
Transcribe →Carl Newman (The New Pornographers)
Apr 200:50:46Tap to summarizeIt's the return of Carl Newman of The New Pornographers! We were just kids back in 2015 when I first interviewed Newman and we discussed his love of the 10cc song "Dreadlock Holiday." We return to that song in this episode, and we span the entirety of Newman's songwriting process, including a great discussion of why writing badly is so important and why gibberish is a great way to jump start the process.The New Pornographers' latest album is The Former Site Of on Merge Records.
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