If I’m given a specific assignment or script or song title/subject to focus on, I tend to get inspired to create from what immediately surfaces for me after hearing the title or reading the scene. I’m learning to be gentle with myself if I’m having a day where not much is bubbling up. I try not to let the pressure of writing something earth-shattering come into play if I can help it. JF: I do jot down ideas and do better when ideas hit me. In my experience, some of my songs have broken those rules and they ended up being the cuts I’m most proud of.ĪS: Are you someone who has a very concerted writing process? Or are you constantly jotting down ideas and creating more sporadically? There seem to be so many industry-fueled rules tied to what a “hit” is. I’ve found if I’m not holding on tight to expectations of what a hit has to be, going in, then my hands are open for whatever’s meant to come that day in that creative space. JF: I can’t say I’m able to predict a hit in the writing room with accuracy-of course, you hope your songs reach the most people possible, ultimately, but for me that’s something I’ve learned to loosen my grip on while in process. The distraction of driving makes things flow a lot easier for me as opposed to just sitting still and thinking.ĪS: Can you feel when a song is going to be a hit during a writing session or does it constantly surprise you which songs take off? So instead of sitting down with a guitar in a room to work on it, I’ll take a drive and sing ideas or lyrics into my phone as they come. … I tend to get past it by doing something else while trying to rewrite. If asked of me, I find it challenging to change gears and write a completely different song to replace the first one that came to me. When I’ve written something for a scene, it’s usually inspired by the first emotional impulse that hits me and I run in that direction. I do hit some walls in writing for sync and/or musical theater where I’m oftentimes writing by myself for projects. JF: I haven’t experienced a block where I couldn’t write for days or months. Their work always encourages me to never shy away from intensity in commercial songwriting.ĪS: Have you ever experienced writer’s block and how do you get past it? People like Dean Dillon and Lori McKenna, for example. I am also so inspired and influenced by some of the great writers of sad songs. I’m inspired by rich, conversational intense language and storytelling in all forms- reading books, poems or seeing a play will trigger a line or unleash things for me. I’m a pretty sensitive person so I tend to take on and absorb what’s happening to people around me too, which can end up mostly unedited and true to life in my songs. I don’t always have to be in the middle of it either, sometimes for me a memory ends up being way more devastating and interesting the older it gets. JF: For years I’ve always said I’m a non-fiction writer and so I’m mostly inspired by what’s really happening …or not happening in my life. My mom and I didn’t expect that since I’d never written songs before that first co-write! I remember it felt natural to open up and share pretty intense/emotional ideas even in that very first co-write and that has never changed.ĪS: What inspires you? How do you find ideas for a song? Greg came out of the writing room on our first day and told my mom (who was waiting outside), that I was actually a songwriter. I brought a notebook full of very rough ideas and we wrote five songs in two days. At the time my parents and I didn’t even know what that was! I was set up on my very first co-write at 13 years old with the brilliant Greg Barnhill and Jim Daddario in Nashville. Jamie Floyd: I signed a record deal out of New York at 11 years old and along with that came a publishing deal. American Songwriter: How did you get started in songwriting?
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