And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan

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.
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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.

And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry . 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.

And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.