Part 2

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

No. For me not at all. Well at least I don’t feel like there is until something spooky happens with a record.

There’s a single I did for Taeyeon called “11:11” and I remember when I wrote the song I thought absolutely nothing would happen with it. The song would never hear the light of day and it became one of the biggest selling songs of the year and broke records.



That’s creepy because it’s the one and only song I wrote about my late father. I was in Copenhagen and it was the last session of my trip and I was flying home that night. I wanted to do something quick, nothing too personal, just a song that could go to anyone and be fun.

But that’s not what happened. We got an acoustic guitar out and the producer said - what haven’t you written about before - my Dad entered my head. I never wrote about him before, because it was depressing (I thought). Anyway, I’m not sure how, but the English version of the song started with the lyric

“It’s 11:11 I made a wish up on a star, looked right into heaven and said wherever you are, I hope that you’re watching …”

and the song started. It was done in an hour, I vocaled the song just with the guitar and I put it to bed.

The next week I had an email saying it would be Taeyeon’s first single from her new album and the rest is history. 2.5million sales later … I guess I never really thought I wrote spiritually or from a higher place, but there’s something about that song that I will always think ... How the hell did that happen?

When you're in the studio to record a piece, how important is the actual performance and the moment of performing the song still in an age where so much can be “done and fixed in post?“

The producers that I’ve worked with for a few years know me now. I hate re-writing a lyric and I hate re-recording a song. It’s never the same for me.

I heard stories that “Teenage Dream” was re-written like 8 times or something absurd and thankfully that worked! I LOVE THAT SONG! But for me, the magic is either there or it isn’t. I’ve actually given a percentage of a song away before in order for another writer to come on board and re write my song, because I just can’t. It feels like work, it feels like a puzzle and I hate puzzles.



As soon as I need to think hard about how to say this or what to do there, the magic for me is gone and I’m no longer in the feel of a song, it’s become a job and I really hate that.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

I just work until it’s done. I won’t leave something half finished. If I do it’s probably not very good. If something keeps me hanging on and wanting to keep ploughing through, then I think it has something.

Of course, if it’s getting late into the night and I have plans, I will do all the bells and whistles at another time, i.e - adlibs, BVs. But I will for sure make the verses and chorus killer before I take a break from it.

My adhd is good for that, I can’t leave things unfinished, it makes me shudder.

Even recording a solo song is usually a collaborative process. Tell me about the importance of trust between the participants, personal relationships between musicians and engineers and the freedom to perform and try things – rather than gear, technique or “chops” - for creating a great song.

Your relationships with the artist, producer, co writer, engineer, everyone - are just as important as each other. You need to trust one another and I see it being from a football background in a team sport: that every single one of you in that room needs to be doing their job to get something great. If someone’s energy is off it saps the whole session.

Engineers have a really important role for keeping the speed of a session going. If I’m cutting vocals, I need someone who I trust pushing me to do a better take or looping me in the right spot so we don’t take a eternity to cut 2 lines. Same with a producer, if he’s not quick at finding chord progressions that inspire us all and they are taking forever on a high hat - it’s game over.

Every single person in the room needs to be surfing on the same wave for something special to happen.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?  

Mixing and mastering come at the end, and as much as that is important, I think to even get to that stage you need to have your attention focused on the most important thing - the song.

When I’m writing and cutting vocals and working on production I do definitely hear how I want the mix to be as we get later on in the process. Do I want the bass to pop here? Do the drums feel fuller in this part, more so than this part? Does the vocal sit perfectly here, or does it cut above the sonics here?

Again for me, that comes a lot later down the line, but it can take a record from a 7/8 to a 9/10 just with a great mix.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

I never get that feeling, I feel full actually. Like everything was worth it, even if it does absolutely nothing. It’s always like that for me, I don’t make music for people or to please people.

Obviously when people can connect or I hear a song in another language and it transcends into other territories or countries that I haven’t even travelled to, that is very cool. But honestly I just make music I like and when I get chance to put a song out to the world I’m always happy with that and I just move onto the next one. I kinda forget it’s happened in all honesty… the cycle repeats.

It’s just what I do… so I don’t really hold on to anything. Good or bad.

Music is a language, but like any language, it can lead to misunderstandings. In which way has your own work – or perhaps the work of artists you like or admire - been misunderstood? How do you deal with this?

I’ve never really been in a situation like this. The only thing that comes to mind being misunderstood is when I obviously write a song in English, and it gets translated into another language and becomes a completely different story, but I actually find the good in this and love when a song I’ve written takes on a completely new life compared to where I thought it was going, it’s actually so cool.

I’m never truly attached to my songs. I know what they mean to me, and that will always be with me, but if someone sees/hears it in a completely different way, that’s their personal perspective and that’s fine too.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

It’s expressive, like anything we do, as I referenced earlier - how are you dressing today? Did you choose that just because? Or do you wake up every day and go with how you feel? It’s all expressive.

I get to do this in football too, as I still play. How I celebrate when I score is the same as writing a song, how I make food is expressive to me, how I drive is expressive. Honestly, I think I do this with every single thing I do with the 24hours I get each day, and hopefully I can continue to do this until my time is up.

I love life and everything in it, all the highs and the lows, I just love it all!