- 2/1/2024
Justin Tranter talks about receiving a Grammy nomination for their songwriting, goes into depth about the songs they've written this past year that they submitted for their nomination, why they feels like it's important for the Grammys to recognize songwriters, their process working, what they want to achieve with Facet label and publishing and writing with artists like Reneé Rapp, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and more!
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MusicTranscript
00:00 Hello, hello, hello.
00:01 Trick, trick, trick.
00:02 One, two, one, two.
00:04 This looks fantastic.
00:05 Thank you for this opportunity to just speak
00:08 in front of my own beauty.
00:09 Hello, I am Justin Tranter, and this is Billboard News.
00:16 Hello, I am Katie Baines for Billboard News,
00:24 and I am genuinely thrilled to be here
00:27 with Grammy-nominated songwriter Justin Tranter.
00:30 Justin, thank you for joining us.
00:32 Thank you for having me.
00:33 First of all, November, I want to know what you were doing
00:39 when you found out you were nominated for this Grammy.
00:41 I will be very honest with you.
00:46 Last year was the first year the category existed,
00:48 and I had my hopes way the fuck up,
00:51 and I did not get nominated.
00:53 So this year I kept my hopes very low.
00:56 Um, me and my amazing publicist did no campaigning.
00:59 We just, I just, I just, I of course submitted myself
01:04 and was very proud of the songs that I submitted,
01:07 but I just intentionally did not get my hopes up.
01:10 And right before the nominations came,
01:13 went to go walk my dog, was not watching.
01:16 I really truly thought that was, was not,
01:18 was not going to get nominated.
01:19 So walking my dog, and then all of a sudden
01:21 I looked down at my phone and there's like 300 text messages.
01:25 That's great.
01:25 Yeah.
01:26 That's great.
01:26 I actually just got goosebumps.
01:28 Did you stop in your tracks?
01:29 Oh, I was like screaming in the middle of the street
01:30 like a crazy person.
01:31 It's like, wait, why are there so many texts?
01:34 What's happening?
01:35 My dog's looking at me confused.
01:36 It was, it was great.
01:37 You know what you're going to wear?
01:38 Do I know what I'm going to wear?
01:40 I do not know what I'm going to wear yet.
01:42 There are a couple of designers that I love that we'll see,
01:47 but it's, it's still, it's still in the works.
01:49 And it's a very busy week for me.
01:51 So I need like, basically like 10 outfits.
01:54 So I'm not sure what I'm going to wear yet,
01:57 but it will be probably more ridiculous
01:59 than my fellow nominees in my category.
02:02 I can assure you that.
02:04 You promised you out ridiculous everyone.
02:06 Okay.
02:07 That's a good promise.
02:08 Yeah.
02:08 As you said, this is only the second year
02:10 this award's been given out.
02:11 Yeah.
02:12 Why do you think it's important to recognize songwriters in this way?
02:15 I think it's important because we almost always get
02:21 the short end of the stick in this business.
02:24 Um, we're kind of always thought of last,
02:26 uh, we're always treated the worst.
02:29 And I do think it is intentional because we are so powerful
02:34 that if we are allowed to recognize our power and flex our power,
02:41 we would run the industry and people don't want that.
02:44 Sure.
02:44 Um, so I think that this word is very,
02:47 is very important because, um,
02:49 it lends visibility to songwriters and without visibility,
02:53 we have no power because we live in a world where like,
02:56 if you can't see something, if you can't hear something,
03:00 it doesn't exist.
03:01 Um, so that's always been the case,
03:04 but in a social media landscape, it's really the case.
03:07 If you can't see it, if you can't hear it,
03:08 you can just act like it's not there.
03:10 Right.
03:10 So this award is important to celebrate our craft,
03:12 but also to make sure that, um, things change for the better.
03:15 You're very vocal about this topic.
03:17 And so I'm wondering with everything that you know,
03:19 have you seen any even incremental improvements?
03:22 No, I think it's only gotten worse.
03:24 Um, but the, the biggest issue is that there are young songwriters right now
03:30 who could have over a billion streams, more than that,
03:34 2 billion, 3 billion streams.
03:35 Um, and they are having to drive Uber instead of focusing on their craft.
03:41 I'm not saying that day jobs are bad.
03:43 I'm saying that these people should be financially secure
03:47 from the music that other people are making money off of,
03:51 but they are not, they are still having to like,
03:53 hustle in ways that does not deal with their music.
03:56 I have the list of the songs that you're nominated for this year.
03:59 Yes.
03:59 And I'm wondering, we don't have to get super deep into it,
04:01 but if you could give one memory of that creation process.
04:05 Yeah, let's go.
04:06 Okay. Okay.
04:07 We have Gemini Moon by Renee Rapp.
04:08 ♪ I bet you're sick of it ♪
04:14 ♪ Being so mad ♪
04:15 Gemini Moon by Renee Rapp, um, is one of my favorite songs ever,
04:19 I've ever been a part of.
04:20 She was mentioning like her moon is in Gemini.
04:23 I'm a Gemini.
04:25 And so she was like, you know, looking at her relationship
04:27 and behaving in her relationship in two very different ways.
04:30 Um, and then we like Googled and in that moment,
04:35 in that day, the moon was also in Gemini.
04:37 Uh-huh.
04:38 So, uh, we got real LA, real hippie, real, real astrological.
04:43 And just use that idea.
04:46 The song is very much rooted in like real life truth.
04:49 So I sort of use the Gemini Moon metaphor, uh, to, to explain her relationship.
04:55 Honey, are you coming manaskin?
04:57 Honey, are you coming manaskin?
05:05 I am a manaskin super fan.
05:06 Um, I literally like DM'd them on Instagram.
05:11 I don't even know if they know this to be honest.
05:13 Hi.
05:14 I DM'd them on Instagram when they like won Eurovision.
05:17 Yeah.
05:17 And I was like, you are the coolest band I have seen since my band.
05:20 That's a big compliment.
05:23 Um, we should work together.
05:25 It didn't happen a year later through me harassing their label and,
05:30 and management and everybody I got to, got to work with.
05:33 Um, alt rock is like a very much important part of who I am as an artist and as my history.
05:39 Um, so to work with them is always like an honor.
05:42 Cause it's very like, it's the closest I get to be to myself when writing.
05:47 I want more.
05:48 Marissa Davila and the cast of Grease, Rise of the Pink Ladies.
05:52 Yes.
05:58 So, um, the reason I ever started making music to begin with before my band,
06:02 I was like a baby little musical theater kid.
06:05 Of course.
06:06 I was shocked to no one.
06:08 Between Annie and the Little Mermaid, I like really registered.
06:12 Oh my God.
06:12 Music is a thing that touches people and moves people because of musicals.
06:16 The I Want song is such an important part of like musical theater structure.
06:22 Sure.
06:22 Of the protagonist.
06:23 It's one of the best things about musicals is that it's not cheesy for the protagonist to
06:29 spend three minutes telling you what they want, which in other novels and in, and in
06:35 TV shows and movies, you have to be much more subtle with that.
06:39 Sure.
06:39 And this in musical theater, they give you the gift of like, just let them, you know,
06:44 part of your world.
06:46 I want more.
06:46 I Want More was the very blatant I Want song for Grease, Rise of the Pink Ladies.
06:54 Jersey, Baby Tate.
06:55 Tate, uh, her, her grandparents and parts of her family are from Jersey.
07:05 She was born and raised in Atlanta, but, um, spent most of her summers in Jersey.
07:09 The song came out and obviously like Jersey club music is such a thing right now.
07:15 And we like went for the jugular of it, of like acknowledging it, of like crying in a
07:20 club in the middle of New Jersey.
07:21 Do another Renee rap song.
07:23 Pretty Girls.
07:24 Pretty Girls.
07:30 Um, so Renee told us this concept she had about Pretty Girls and how, you know, Renee is queer
07:40 and, um, how if she could count the amount of times, like straight girls, a couple of drinks
07:47 in are always like, if I was gonna do it, you'd be the one.
07:51 Sure.
07:51 And, um, as a fellow queer person, I have experienced that many times in my life as well.
07:57 And so the thought that I got to write a song about this experience that I've experienced so
08:04 many times and that she's experienced of like, it shouldn't be a compliment, but it is a
08:10 compliment.
08:10 It's a very like complicated thing.
08:13 Sure.
08:13 And to be able to write a pop song about it, um, and I think we killed it.
08:17 It's one of my faves.
08:18 I'm very proud of it.
08:19 Last but not least, River by Miley Cyrus.
08:21 Miley is one of my favorite voices of all time.
08:28 It has always been a dream to work with her.
08:32 Her voice is sent from somewhere else, not this planet, just the best.
08:38 And we had one day together and she was in close to the beginning of a new relationship
08:45 and was feeling very sexy and fabulous and wanted to write something very, as her words,
08:53 like pretty fucking filthy and sexy.
08:56 And it was great.
08:57 You know, you spend one day with someone, you get along wonderfully, and then it turns
09:01 into a single with a beautiful video.
09:04 Yeah.
09:05 Pretty, pretty fucking amazing.
09:06 You have obviously a very large body of work.
09:09 When you look at everything you've done, is there a connective thread that you see?
09:14 That is a really good question.
09:17 And it's, it's a kind of a hard question to answer because my job, most of the time, is
09:22 to serve what the artist is thinking and feeling.
09:26 And it is not about me at all.
09:29 Now there are moments when it's a song that you write and you pitch and it is about you
09:34 and you just wrote a song because you loved it and you found it at home.
09:38 But for the most part, I'm like, it's like a, it's like the best service job in the world.
09:44 I'm there to serve the artist.
09:46 So finding a connective thread might be a little harder, but I think that I try to at
09:51 least, my goal is to always encourage as much honesty from the artist.
09:56 So a lot of times they'll just say something in conversation and I say, well, that's the
10:00 lyric.
10:00 Let's just find a melody for exactly what you said.
10:04 Yeah.
10:04 So I try to at least, I strive for as much honesty as possible in my work.
10:09 And then I'm also a big fan of weirder lyrics and content matter that's a little further
10:16 left than the average pop writer does.
10:18 So those are the two things that I really try to do.
10:22 Yeah.
10:22 But because I'm trying to make sure it sounds like the artist is living in their world at
10:27 all times, it might be a little harder to pick it out.
10:29 Yeah, that makes sense.
10:31 I'm a marquee diamond, I'm a marquee diamond.
10:35 You're dealing with, I mean, the biggest of the big, you know, Justin Bieber, Cardi B,
10:39 Selena Gomez.
10:41 How do you create rapport and trust, as you said, with these massive superstars so you
10:46 guys can create lyrics together and songs together that are so vulnerable?
10:50 It's a tricky balance where you are there to work, right?
10:57 You're there to get something done, but you have to hang out and get to know each other
11:01 a little bit.
11:02 So with someone like Selena, we've been working together for so long.
11:07 We are actual friends.
11:10 That one is now, that work was done years ago to create that trust to walk in and write
11:17 the songs.
11:17 But with somebody new, it's kind of always like you're walking in fresh.
11:24 And I just, for myself, I can't be afraid to ask slightly more personal questions than
11:30 you would ask someone that you just met an hour ago.
11:32 But I think if you ask them with respect and you also share something, at least a little
11:39 bit about my life, then it feels like we are in this together.
11:44 And I am very lucky, too, that I was just kind of born pretty confident.
11:50 And so I think me being like a very femme queer person who's also very confident, I
11:56 think creates a space of like, if I can be confident in this, then you can be confident
12:02 in what you're in, what you're living.
12:06 Sure.
12:06 Like who you are is in and of itself disarming.
12:09 Yes.
12:09 I think it helps.
12:10 We're talking about songs that are, you said alt-rock, R&B, pop, they're dancey.
12:16 How are you able to do all of these different genres?
12:20 Do you have to use different parts of your brain or are you able to just kind of speak
12:23 all these musical languages?
12:24 Yeah, intentionally I submitted very different genres.
12:30 I wanted to show that I not only can do that, but I really enjoy doing that because for
12:36 me, where my, of course, you know, I took piano lessons, I went to music school, I understand
12:44 everything that one needs to understand about the mathematics of music.
12:48 But for me, my favorite part is the storytelling and the lyrics and what is the point of this
12:55 song.
12:56 Sure.
12:56 And for me, I think that that part of it can transcend genre.
13:01 I very much respect the musical details and the sort of, certain genres require being
13:10 brought up in that genre, really understanding it.
13:13 But I think from a storytelling point of view, a good story is a good story.
13:18 Right.
13:18 And I think I can tell a good story in any genre.
13:22 And I really got to do that this year, which was a fucking blast.
13:26 Is there something, like, do you have a ritual to kind of turn on your creativity or are
13:30 you a person where it's always just kind of coming?
13:33 I kind of like to just write at least, if I have it my way and my schedule can be as
13:39 filled as I like it, I like to like write like 10 songs a week.
13:42 Whoa.
13:42 So just like stay, keep the muscle, muscling.
13:47 Sure.
13:47 Like always stay in top shape.
13:52 Yes.
13:52 That to me is like, it is a muscle.
13:56 It is something that needs to be practiced.
13:57 Yes, you like, you can't force the divine moments when like something great just like
14:03 falls into the room, falls into someone, whether it's you or your co-writer or the
14:08 producer.
14:09 Like you can't force that, that morsel of greatness.
14:14 But if you don't stay in practice, you don't know how to turn that morsel of greatness
14:20 into a full song.
14:21 Right.
14:21 It's just like, there's one good line.
14:23 Right.
14:23 There's one great melody.
14:25 But for me, I want to stay in practice so I can take those, those moments that drop that
14:30 like you can't plan.
14:32 Sure.
14:32 But you, your skill set and your muscles are warm enough to turn that into a proper song.
14:36 Right.
14:36 Like it has to be both.
14:37 It's the creativity and then having exercise.
14:40 Yeah.
14:40 And not that you know what to do with it.
14:42 Yeah, that makes sense.
14:42 I would love to hear just kind of the essence of what you are doing with Facet House project
14:48 with this label.
14:49 Yeah.
14:49 So with Facet Records and Facet Publishing, I really enjoy creating community.
14:56 I really enjoy being a mentor.
14:58 And the fun of it for me is to like help someone get their first cut on a major artist and
15:05 like they can't believe it.
15:07 And of course, the goal is that these people turn into superstars because they all deserve
15:11 to be superstars.
15:12 That's the macro goal.
15:13 The micro goal is just to help people navigate the early stages of this, of this industry
15:19 a little bit better.
15:20 Well, how cool for you that you're able to do that now for these young artists.
15:24 Well, also having your own dreams come true simultaneously with stuff like the Grammy
15:28 Awesome.
15:28 And I still have like a thousand more dreams to come true.
15:30 I'm just getting started.
15:32 Yeah.