Behind the Hits - Who Really Writes Pop Music?

Behind the Hits - Who Really Writes Pop Music?

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Trout Show. Thank you so much for stopping by. Well, what you're listening to is a tune by Barry Manilow that was recorded a few decades back called I Write the Songs.

 Bet he didn't write that song. Nope. Barry Johnston with the Beach Boys wrote it.

So when you're listening to your favorite pop hits, do you realize that a lot of times there are more people writing the songs than there are members of the band that's playing it? And some of the great pop stars of the day, which you may be surprised, don't lift a finger to write a song. That story is next, because this is the Trout Show. Are you ready to take control of your financial future? Meet David Smith, your trusted Edward Jones Financial Advisor.

 With personalized strategies and expert guidance, David helps you achieve your financial goals, no matter where you are in the continental USA. From retirement planning to investments, he's got you covered. Call David today at 4693721587 to start building your brighter tomorrow.

That's 4693721587. Your financial success starts here. Welcome back to the Trout Show, Vinyl to Viral.

Yes, it's true, a lot of musicians now, singers that is, don't write their own music. Maybe call me old fashioned, but I'm one of those guys that think if you're going to be out there singing a song, you should have been the one that wrote it. Times have changed dramatically when it comes to singers performing their own songs.

I grew up with the great songwriters like McCartney and Lennon, Jagger and Richards. There's so many people that I like that wrote their songs. That was part of the deal when I was a young man, to listen to rock music.

It was always people that wrote their own songs. But as times have changed, I don't know whether it's because pop music has become so, I don't know, the word's not sophisticated, slick maybe, that a lot of people don't even write their own songs anymore. Now you may say to yourself, who cares about that? Well, I do, and I think a lot of people do, because to me, if you're not involved with songwriting, I just, I don't know, it just means something to me that you own that song when you're out there singing it.

Here's a little historical context for you. In the 1970s, the hits back then, the pop singles, averaged about 1.7 songwriters, with over 50% of the artists that were recording and putting music out contributed to their own hits. By the 2000s, that changed a lot.

It started changing. By that time, there was 3.3 songwriters per song, with only 48% of the artists that you were listening to were credited with writing the song. Then in the 2010s, that average number of songwriters per song got close to 5, with 88% of the artists receiving songwriting credits, though sometimes for minimal contributions, like changing a single word.

By the year 2018, the average number of credited songwriters for the US top 10 streaming hits was, ready for this, over 9. That was largely due to hip-hop's reliance on samples, which I don't like either, and using multiple producers and lyricists. People write the songs, I mean the lyrics, so for instance, like Beyonce's song that was recorded and released in 2023 called Heated. I can't believe sometimes these numbers.

Over 18 writers, averaging only 12 words per writer. I mean, think about that. 18 people.

Hey, let's all sit down and write a song. Okay, let's get a group of people together. In double-digit songwriting, counts are now common, where you have lots of people and writing involved in it, especially in the major pop hits that you hear.

That's why people say, why do they all sound alike? Do you wonder why? So, you're asking yourself, why do we have so many writers? Well, pop music often involves a lot of people. Maybe a pool of people with diverse skills. People that write the words only.

People that are involved in producing, polishing it out. And it's also a trend of using sampling, which they then have to credit the original songwriters. So, if they get a song from me that I wrote and they sample it, then they're going to have to put my name on there, the song too.

And some artists gain songwriting credits for minor tweaks or just adding authenticity to the music. Record labels and A&R teams, those are the people that go out and try to find talent for the record label, have been pushed for multiple revisions and contributors to ensure that they're going to get a hit. In other words, it's not real, people.

It's not real to me. I'm sorry. It's just the way I think.

If you're listening to a song that took 20 people to write, you know, I've heard this before. I read this one time, that one very famous artist would go in and change one word on the record and make it sound better. Solo songwriting is rare now, nowadays, in pop music.

By 2020, only one artist, artists like Ed Sheer, he was an exception to the rule, so to speak. And then sometimes even people think his solo credits are debated. So who are these people writing the songs? Well, it's a small group of people that dominate songwriting.

There's a guy that writes songs, his name is Max Martin. He has written or co-written 27 Billboard Hot Number One hits, writing for Britney Spears, Taylor Swift. Other famous people, I'm not sure you're not famous, but the people that are involved, people like Jack Andanoff, Brian Tedder, Amy Allen.

Those names, those people are responsible for almost 30% of the top 40 hits in the last decade. While artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo are involved somewhat, or heavily involved, they say, in writing, many pop stars like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, they just rely on teams, with credits often shared with five to ten writers. Now you're probably also wondering, what about the famous writers, you know, people back years ago, like Frank Sinatra or Whitney Houston.

It was a different trend back then, I don't know why, but they didn't write their songs either. They rarely got involved with it. And you think, what's the difference? Well, the difference is, with Frank Sinatra, they would come in with songs, and they'd have, here's the songs, Frank, what do you think of them? And then Frank would listen to them, and he'd go, okay, I like that, let's change this, change that, same thing with Whitney Houston.

So does it really matter if pop artists don't write their songs? Singing and songwriting are very distinct skills. Some people can write a great song, just like the song at the beginning of this with Bruce Johnston, and they don't do anything else but write songs. Some people might think that expecting to have both, where you have the person that's singing and writing the song at the same time, is kind of compared to, I guess, actors writing their own scripts.

But the fans care. People like me that think it's less authentic if you don't write your song. But you couple that, that whole situation, you couple that with the fact that they use autotune, are we really getting the real deal when they do this? You know, large songwriting teams can produce polished, big hits, but may lead to formula music.

That's what I said earlier. People listen to pop music, and you're like, what does it all sound like? Well, probably because it's the same 20 people writing the same songs with different lyrics on it. We go to some people, like famous artists like Ed Sheeran, this tune he wrote, Shape of You, had three writers on it.

I think he's put his name on there too. And Drake, the song One Dance, ready? 19 writers. That included samples too.

It's been said that maybe the streaming companies like Spotify and Apple pressures the labels to use multiple writers to hook listeners in the first 30 seconds. Which of course means it's all about the big bucks, folks. If you like a song, the more times they're gonna download it, the more time is the streaming services are gonna make money.

So you have to ask yourself, does it really matter anymore? Does it matter that they have a team of writers, they have sampling, they have autotune? It does to me. Maybe because I'm old-fashioned like that. But at the end of the day, the person who writes the song, goes in and records it, and maybe even produces it, is more the kind of artist that I like.

And when I hear about people changing one word to make a song sound better, AI is probably not far behind. That's it for this episode of the Trout Show, Vinyl to Viral. I hope you enjoyed it.

For more information about the Trout Show and you want to know more about podcasts, YouTube, my music, visit my website at www.thetroutshow.com for everything. Everything's on there. You can find what's coming up, and you can find out what's gonna be happening.

There's also a blog on there about music, so visit it. And I'm gonna be starting a newsletter really soon, so sign up for that. I'm gonna be doing that.

Also a big shout-out to the guy that keeps the lights on here, David Smith with Edward Jones. Thank you, David. So until next time, people, remember what I always say, it's only rock and roll, but I love it.

See ya!