[JonnyD]

Saw this article on the BBC website and wondered what the forum would think of it... Some useful advice in there I thought and there's little I disagree with. Except the fadeout bashing of course, fadeouts are glorious.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26848897

[Kevin j]

ummmm... theres no link

[JonnyD]

Well that was silly of me

[hardtwistmusic]

Okay..... a very young man (couldn't be more than 32 years old) who has been writing at a high level for the last ten years WON'T work with people too young to have lived the song.   

YUP....  makes total sense.  Not that he can't write.  But that might be the most illogical AND artistically biased statement I've ever heard anyone make. 

Right on the borderline of being absurd.   There are people who are 75 who haven't grown up and actually experienced life.  And there are people who are twelve who have lived through things this young man will never have to even imagine. 

He can certainly write songs... but in my opinion, he has some growing up to do himself.

[Boydie]

I have got to say I agreed with everything he said

Re the age thing...

I think what he was saying is that the ARTIST needs to be of an age to "sell" the song

A 15 year old could write a song like "I will always love you" but could they really "sell it"

The same goes for a 50 year old writing a song like "call me maybe" - I think they could easily write it but would not be able to "sell" a performance of it, whereas a younger person could

This, for me, is the beauty of writing songs for other people to perform


Also, I really like the distinction (and metaphor about cooking) regarding "singles"

The same needs to be considered for those pitching - artists are only looking for "hit singles" (NOT album tracks) so everything he says about singles is relevant for those of us pitching

Good info and good find RockingSnowman - thanks for posting

[diademgrove]

I wonder if he'd have turned down working with this young man. Rules are meant to be broken:

[Boydie]

I don't remember too many Jackson 5 ballads!

As far as I recall he was singing about Rocking Robin's and blaming it on the boogie!

The only "love song" I recall was about a rat - which kinda proves the point that the song was aimed at a pet for a 14 year old to perform


However, I do agree that there will always be exceptions to the "rules"

[Jess]

It's funny because Simon Cowell is trying so hard to start talent young (American xfactor is open for like 13 year olds) but this guy's against it. I kind of agree, I mean you see six year olds on Britain's got talent singing Whitney Houston ballads and it's a bit like umm...okay. In fact, even at my schools talent show three different girls performed adele songs and yes they could sing but the words didn't mean anything to them.