Songwriting Therapy with Madonna, Beyoncé, and John Legend: A Conversation with Toby Gad
From John Legend's "All of Me" to Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry", Toby Gad has been writing hits for decades. We talked about how he's made musical magic for so long.
A native of St. Thomas, Theron Thomas got his start writing songs and producing as one-half of R. City with his brother Timothy Thomas. The duo initially signed a deal in 2007 under Akon's KonLive Distribution after meeting the rapper in Atlanta and writing album cut "The Rain" for his 2006 sophomore LP Konvicted. By 2015, they'd landed a top 10 hit of their own, thanks to their single "Locked Away" featuring Adam Levine, and released their debut album, What Dreams Are Made Of. The whole time, Thomas and his brother were also writing for other artists, churning out bangers for the Pussycat Dolls ("When I Grow Up"), Rihanna ("Man Down"), Miley Cyrus ("We Can't Stop") and more.
In the past year, Thomas has brought his own hit-making pen to high-profile hip-hop collabs by Chlöe and Future ("Cheatback"), Ciara and Chris Brown ("How We Roll") and Lil Durk's and J. Cole ("All My Life"). He's also worked with rising stars like Ayla and Sekou and even segued into the world of K-pop by contributing to "Seven," Jungkook's Latto-assisted debut solo single.
"I always say I'm the Chick-fil-A of the music business," Thomas said in an interview with HOT 97 in February. "I'm here to serve and I'm here to bring something to the table."
„ The situation was put into bold, blunt relief in a minute-long video posted on Instagram Wednesday, which uses the “Of course!” format popularized on TikTok and was coordinated by artist-songwriter Bonnie McKee (Katy Perry, Britney Spears) and featuring some of the most successful professional songwriters working today — including J Hart (Cher, Troye Sivan), Tayla Parx (Ariana Grande, Panic at the Disco), Authumn Rowe (who won a Grammy for her work with Jon Batiste), “American Idol” finalist Jax (Weezer, Big Freedia) Lauren Christy (Dua Lipa, Avril Lavigne), Jesse Saint John (Lizzo, Camila Cabello), Michelle Lewis (Cher; head of the Songwriters of North America non-profit), and more.“
hier der Instagram Link (auch im Artikel verlinkt)
„Ashley Gorley is the most commercially successful songwriter of all time. The Kentucky-native has written an unprecedented 80 No. 1 radio singles and nearly 500 releases with artists including Morgan Wallen, Post Malone, Chris Stapleton, Jelly Roll, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett, Kelsea Ballerini, Bon Jovi, and Weezer. Most recently, Gorley co-wrote 10 songs on Post Malone’s debut country album including the global hit, “I Had Some Help,” featuring Wallen, which topped the Billboard Global 200, Hot 100, US Radio Songs, Pop, Adult Pop and Country Airplay charts. Gorley’s 9th chart-topper of 2024 and his most recent hit, the poignant “I Am Not Okay” written with and recorded by Jelly Roll, depicts the challenges of mental health in an honest light. The commercial success of the song provides a platform for further mental health advocacy for fans and members of the music community alike.“
Number One Songs:
“All I Need Is You” - Chris Janson
“Save Me The Trouble” - Dan + Shay
“Everything I Love” - Morgan Wallen
“World On Fire” - Nate Smith
“God Gave Me A Girl” - Russell Dickerson
“Thinkin’ Bout Me” - Morgan Wallen
“Girl In Mine” - Parmalee
“Last Night” - Morgan Wallen
“Gold” - Dierks Bentley
“What He Didn’t Do” - Carly Pearce
“You Proof“ - Morgan Wallen
“She Had Me At Heads Carolina“ - Cole Swindell
“New Truck“ - Dylan Scott
“Take My Name“ - Parmalee
“Slow Down Summer“ - Thomas Rhett
“Beers On Me“ - Dierks Bentley, HARDY, Breland
“Sand In My Boots“ - Morgan Wallen
“You Should Probably Leave“ - Chris Stapleton
“Country Again“ - Thomas Rhett
“Single Saturday Night“ - Cole Swindell
“All My Favorite Songs“ - Weezer
“What's Your Country Song“ - Thomas Rhett
“Hole In The Bottle“ - Kelsea Ballerini
“One Of Them Girls“ - Lee Brice
“One Big Country Song“ - LOCASH
“Hard To Forget“ - Sam Hunt
“Catch“ - Brett Young
“Ridin' Roads“ - Dustin Lynch
“Remember You Young“ - Thomas Rhett
“Good Vibes“ - Chris Janson
“I Don't Know About You“ - Chris Lane
“Living“ - Dierks Bentley
“Rumor“ - Lee Brice “Love Ain't“ - Eli Young Band
“Eyes On You“ - Chase Rice
“What Makes You Country“ - Luke Bryan
“Life Changes“ - Thomas Rhett
“Marry Me“ - Thomas Rhett
“Fix A Drink“ - Chris Janson
“Unforgettable“ - Thomas Rhett
“Do I Make You Wanna“ - Billy Currington
“Black“ - Dierks Bentley
“Today“ - Brad Paisley
“Dirt On My Boots“ - Jon Pardi
“A Guy with a Girl“ - Blake Shelton
“Dirty Laundry“ - Carrie Underwood
“Middle of a Memory“ - Cole Swindell
“American Country Love Song“ - Jake Owen
“T-Shirt“ - Thomas Rhett
“You Should Be Here“ - Cole Swindell
“Heartbeat“ - Carrie Underwood
“Nothin' Like You“ - Dan + Shay
“Young & Crazy“ - Frankie Ballard
“Kick the Dust Up“ - Luke Bryan
“Tonight Looks Good On You“ - Jason Aldean
“Don't It“ - Billy Currington
“Just Gettin' Started“ - Jason Aldean
“I See You“ - Luke Bryan
“Yeah“ - Joe Nichols
“Play It Again“ - Luke Bryan
“Rewind“ - Rascal Flatts
“That's My Kind of Night“ - Luke Bryan
“Hey Girl“ - Billy Currington
“Don't Ya“ - Brett Eldredge
“Runnin' Outta Moonlight“ - Randy Houser
“Crash My Party“ - Luke Bryan
“Good Girl“ - Carrie Underwood “American Saturday Night“ - Brad Paisley
“Then“ - Brad Paisley
“It Won't Be Like This For Long“ - Darius Rucker
“Start A Band“ - Brad Paisley ft. Keith Urban
“You're Gonna Miss This“ - Trace Adkins
“All American Girl“ - Carrie Underwood
“Don't Forget to Remember Me“ - Carrie Underwood
Geändert von Eulenspiegel (28.02.2025 um 03:20 Uhr)
0:00:00 Teaser
0:02:37 What FINNEAS Would Change About the Music Industr
0:07:40 “What Do You Do?” Identity & Being Multihyphenate
0:08:54 Why taste beats momentum
0:10:51 FINNEAS & Ashe
0:12:51 From Workaholism to Efficiency
0:14:17 Tools, Shortcuts & Speed in the Studio
0:16:13 Him and Billie and Their Creative Differences
0:20:11 Stage Fright, SNL & Performing Under Pressure
0:24:23 Writing Songs for Film vs Albums
0:27:49 Writing “What Was I Made For?
0:30:46 Writing Honest Lyrics in LA:
0:32:48 Parenting, Legacy & Keeping Ego Out of the House
0:36:42 Creativity and Parenting
0:38:47 Homeschooling, Childhood & Creative Freedom
0:41:46 Make your kids work with adults
0:44:42 When You're Inspired... Collaborate With Your Influences
0:46:30 Artists FINNEAS Would Love to Work With
0:48:46 How Not to Chase Trends: Why reference points should be old, weird, and far away
0:50:02 NMPA Ad
0:50:42 Splice Ad
0:51:30 Favorite Albums to Listen to Deeply
0:53:06 Writing with Billie, Honesty, Family & Creative Trust
0:55:55 Claudia, Love, Partnership & Sustaining Ambition
1:00:37 The 20% Rule
1:02:00 The 'Lowest Point of His Career' and His Personal Victory From It
1:04:57 Separating Your Work From Your Worth
1:06:00 The Barometer of Success For A Solo Artist
1:06:40 Doing The Apple TV Sound
1:08:14 Not Comparing His Success With Billie, New Album, Knowing When to Pivot
1:11:04 Repeating Success... Birds of a Feather, Taste as a Long-Term Advantage
1:15:00 Signing Writers
1:17:55 Why Some Artists Plateau
1:21:11 Publishing Deals, Reversion, and Leverage.. Bad Deals with Good People and Good Deals with Bad People
1:24:33 Avoiding burnout in a high-output career
1:28:01 Writing 'Lonely' for Justin Bieber with Benny Blanco
1:31:14 Aging in the Industry... Collaborating with Ashe
1:39:08 Big Songs On Deluxe Albums
1:42:50 Writing for Prompts and Film
1:45:01 What Still Excites Him About Music
1:43:41 Are You Happy?
1:52:37 Separating The Art From The Artist
Finneas O’Connell: Creating Worlds | Art, Emotion & Finding Place
Video Timecodes
0:00 Meeting Alfonso Cuarón
7:53 Show Open
8:13 Vienna Symphonic Library
10:52 ‘Disclaimer’ on set
14:40 Starting scoring
16:12 Themes
18:28 Complex Storytelling
21:13 Finding Cuarón’s sound
23:22 Working with Billie Eilish
25:17 Film scores are “scholastic”
27:17 Pop music vs. scoring
28:55 Ceramic pots
30:44 Deadlines are good
32:54 No roadmap for scoring
36:06 Adapting to musical styles
38:24 Hans Zimmer and James Bond
41:43 Phone call from Hans Zimmer
43:29 Billie Eilish’s “No Time To Die”
45:17 007 string arrangements
48:29 'Optimist’ vs. ‘For Cryin’ Out Loud!’
49:54 ‘Birds of a Feather’
50:29 ’Starfucker’
51:52 Signed Album Giveaway
53:11 Billie Eilish creativity
56:17 Keeping authenticity
57:33 Rihanna
59:52 Dream collaboration with Cake
1:00:22 Would you score 007?
1:01:01 Favorite moment on stage
1:03:36 ‘The Social Network’ influence
1:04:41 ‘White Lotus’ & ‘Babygirl’
1:06:03 VSL Synchron Series
1:07:46 VSL ‘Forrest Gump’ Demo
Finneas & Ashe on Forming The Favors and Creating Their Debut Album ‘The Dream’ | Broken Record
Songwriting
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