Last year, Music Week crowned Savan Kotecha – the man behind huge hits by Ariana Grande, Sam Smith and Normani – as our songwriter of 2019.
And that was just some of his recent work, also included in his catalogue is The Weeknd’s Can’t Feel My Face, One Direction’s That’s What Makes You Beautiful, Ellie Goulding’s Love Me Like You Do and Justin Bieber’s Beauty And A Beat. And that’s to name just a few.
In a recent edition of Music Week, Kotecha gave us the story of how Demi Lovato’s Cool For The Summer came to life. Here, in the first our new Songwriter Secrets series, we dive deep into his songwriting past…
The first song I ever wrote…
“Was called Forever I Love You [laughs]. I can barely remember how it went, it was when I was first learning to play piano by ear when I was listening to a lot of Bryan Adams. I was probably 14 or 15… It wasn’t based on a teenage crush, I was just coming up with words!”
The last song I fell in love with…
“Recently, some of Max Martin’s work on the new Weeknd album is so good, especially In Your Eyes. It’s just so good, it stays in my head and I love a good sax solo.”
The chorus I wish I wrote…
“Oh my gosh… I’m going to go old school and say Hello by Lionel Richie. I love that chorus. What appeals to me about it? The melody, the lyrics and… I was always that person! [laughs]”
One thing songwriters must know before they get into the music business…
“Be prepared to starve. A little bit.”
A song of mine I wish I could tweak…
“Oh gosh [laughs] There are a few lines in certain Shane Ward songs I wish I could tweak. Like what? Well, there’s a pre-chorus lyric about babies on Breathless that I really wish I could change.”
The most undervalued asset a songwriter can have is…
“Melody. People focus so much on lyrics in the rooms that everyone forgets melody. The ability to create great melodies should be more valued, I think.”
When I worked with Britney Spears…
“It was great. For me, it was such a trip to have a song with Max Martin and Britney Spears – that was the cool thing to me, when I was trying to make it when I was in high school, I was listening to Max and Britney songs, and now I’m working with them! She was really sweet when I met her. How did I deal with If You Seek Amy’s controversy [about its double entendre chorus]? I was proud of it. If you affect culture, if you move culture, if you start a conversation… That’s the job of pop music. I remember my mother wasn’t very happy about it. There was a Good Morning America segment and my mom called crying like, ‘My friend’s son is a doctor, my son wrote a song about sex!’”
My definition of a perfect song is…
“It’s a tough one, but I’m going to go super-cliché: I think Imagine by John Lennon is probably the perfect song, or at least one of them.”
Subscribers can read Savan Kotecha's hitmakers feature here, or revisit his Songwriter Of The Year profile here.
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