- 4 days ago
Billie Eilish ('Barbie'), Cynthia Erivo ('Drift'), Dua Lipa ('Barbie'), Jon Batiste ('American Symphony'), Julia Michaels ('Wish') and Olivia Rodrigo ('The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes') talk to THR about their songwriting inspiration, their very first music purchase and why Billie Eilish thought she had already "peaked" in Off Script With The Hollywood Reporter hosted by Yvonne Orji.
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00:00I find songwriting very difficult and I find honesty in songwriting very hard and out of
00:06my reach.
00:07And there's something so special to me about writing about not my life.
00:14I played it for a friend and we were sitting in a car and I was like...
00:18I was like, oh wow.
00:22Wow.
00:23Who?
00:24Who do you smell?
00:26Welcome to Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:30I'm Yvonne Orji and we are here at The Georgian, a historic hotel in Santa Monica, California.
00:36I have a question for you.
00:38Have you ever just gotten a song stuck in your head?
00:41I mean, this song just makes you want to do a bop, makes you want to groove, it makes
00:44you feel so happy, you know?
00:46Or maybe it's a song that just really hits you and then you're there on the airplane in
00:51seat 32B, it's an aisle, and you just start thinking about your ex and you're like, oh
00:55my god, maybe I should call out a girl.
00:56You know you should definitely not call him.
00:59You get what I mean, right?
01:01All right.
01:02Well, today you are going to meet six amazingly talented songwriters whose music and lyrics
01:06have made us feel all of the feels this year while watching some of our favorite movies.
01:11So sit back, relax, and get your groove on with John Batiste, American Symphony, Billie
01:17Eilish, Barbie, Cynthia Erivo, Drift, Dua Lipa, Barbie, Julia Michaels, Wish, and Olivia Rodrigo,
01:27The Hunger Games, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
01:32They are on the record, but maybe just a bit off script with The Hollywood Reporter.
01:39Take it away, Mesfin.
01:41Thanks, Yvonne.
01:42I'm Mesfin Fakadu, and this is Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter Songwriters Roundtable.
01:46How are you guys doing?
01:47Good.
01:48Good.
01:50I'm so excited that you all could be here.
01:51Such a talented group of people.
01:53I know some of you know each other.
01:54Some are probably just meeting today, maybe.
01:57Yeah.
01:58Perfect.
01:59I wanted to ask, as songwriters, do you remember the first song or lyric you wrote?
02:06I don't know how old you were, but I want to hear some of that backstory.
02:09How about you, Cynthia?
02:10Yeah, I was 16, and I wrote a song called Maybe.
02:13I think it was given to a South African girl group or something.
02:18I mean, I guess the first song that I wrote on piano proper, I was probably 14 or 15, and
02:24I wrote this feminist anthem called Superman, about how I didn't need Superman to come and
02:31save me.
02:32That's right.
02:33That's right.
02:34Yeah.
02:35Stardom young, so.
02:36On the right track.
02:37Yeah.
02:38Gosh, I mean, when I think about mine, it was completely different.
02:41I was always, like, making up songs when I was really little, and when I was about four
02:46or five years old, I made up the song.
02:48Albanian was my first language, and so I sang it in Albanian, and it was a song that I'd made
02:53for my mom, and I'd walk around the house, and I'd be like, when I grow up, can I borrow
02:56your shoes?
02:57And when I grow up, can I wear your dress?
02:59And when I grow up, can I be just like you?
03:01And it actually just, like, stuck around.
03:03It's kind of the one thing that, like, at home, we just always remind ourselves of.
03:08It was, yeah.
03:09I love that.
03:10That's horrible.
03:11I love that.
03:12How about you, John?
03:13Oh, well, I was doing a lot of music instrumentally for many years.
03:20And I started writing lyrics for a Shakespeare play that wanted songs in the play.
03:29I was probably about 21, and I started writing it, and I was like, man, characters and worlds
03:38and the expression of all these interconnected relationships and how I can make all these
03:45sounds come together.
03:47That was the end of it.
03:49I love that stuff.
03:52Yeah.
03:53I'm trying to think.
03:57I think that, like, what comes to mind is probably when I was, like, eight or something,
04:03and it was like, it was like, I'm going down, down, down into the black hole, sweeping up your soul.
04:13And I was like, today.
04:16I was just like, I was like, it's tight.
04:18Banger.
04:19Were you going through something at the time as an eight-year-old?
04:21No.
04:22Listen, I was writing stories, man.
04:24I feel like the first song that I wrote was probably when I was, like, 11-ish.
04:31Or, no.
04:32Now that I think about it, I think I was, okay, I was six.
04:34And it was me and my friend, we were playing the ukulele, and it was a song about ukuleles.
04:39I don't know.
04:40Whatever.
04:41You guys have good stories.
04:42Come on.
04:43Yeah, I don't really have a good story.
04:45I started writing, like, when I was six as well.
04:48Yeah.
04:49Just all the time.
04:50Just bad little times.
04:51Yeah, really, really bad.
04:52Me too, dude.
04:53But the first thing I ever, like, got was this theme song for a Disney Channel show when
04:58I was, like, 17.
04:59The show called Austin and Ally.
05:01Yeah!
05:02I love that song.
05:04That was, yeah, my first, like, whatever.
05:07Anyway.
05:08This was history.
05:09Yeah.
05:10Oh, my gosh.
05:12I wanted to ask, too, what's the first album you remember buying or downloading?
05:18I think for some of us, for me, it was cassettes and CDs, because I'm older.
05:23For some of you, I imagine it's iTunes or Spotify.
05:26But do you remember what was that first album that you bought?
05:29Never Say Never, Brandy.
05:31Classic.
05:32I was obsessed.
05:33Obsessed.
05:34Obsessed with it.
05:35Obsessed, and I would play it.
05:36I remember I wrote her a letter.
05:38I was, like, 12 or something.
05:40And I wrote her a letter, because I just was obsessed with her voice.
05:44I never heard anyone like that.
05:45And something about the sounds that she was making connected with me really, really deeply.
05:52And I think I bought more than one of those.
05:55Wow.
05:56Was this cassette or CD?
05:57The CD.
05:58Wow.
05:59And it's crazy now, so many years later, Burner Boys just samples sitting on top of the world.
06:04Full circle.
06:05Yeah.
06:06Wow.
06:07Yeah.
06:08I think I'm not playing that over and over again.
06:09I am.
06:10It's like a nice little throwback to something that was a really sweet memory for me.
06:12Yeah.
06:13What was, do you remember what was in the letter?
06:14I think I just wrote that she was my favorite singer.
06:17And I think I must have thanked her for writing the album or something.
06:22I don't know.
06:23I just really connected with it.
06:25And something about the way she used harmony in her songs was, like, new to me.
06:33So it felt like, oh, I like that.
06:36I like what she's doing with her voice.
06:38I want to learn to do that with my voice.
06:41Yeah.
06:42Yeah.
06:43It was really special.
06:44Yeah.
06:45How about you?
06:46I remember getting my first phone.
06:48It was probably, like, 12 or 13.
06:50And the first thing I did was download Lorde Pure Heroine.
06:53Mmm.
06:54I love that record so much.
06:55And I remember listening to it as I first started writing songs and just being blown away
07:02by her lyrics that are just about, you know, being a teenager living in the suburbs.
07:07And I just remember never hearing my life be put into a song like that where, you know, it just made being young and doing these seemingly unimportant things feel so sacred and beautiful.
07:19And, yeah, that album's one of my favorites.
07:21And she still inspires me a lot to this day.
07:24I remember, you know, when Royals came out, the radio did not have that sound on it.
07:28And I think she definitely opened doors to, like, not follow trends and set her own trends.
07:35Completely.
07:36Yeah.
07:37I remember hearing that song in the radio for the first time.
07:39It was, like, one of those pinch me moments where you always remember, like, snapshot memory, like, oh, my God, what is this?
07:44It, like, changes the trajectory of your life.
07:46But, yeah, that was my first one.
07:48Now, while you guys were speaking, I was thinking it was either between Alicia Keys' songs in A minor, which I just absolutely love that record.
07:57But it also Woe Nelly by Nelly Furtado was also a really big one for me.
08:02And I feel I wouldn't be able to know, really, which one came first.
08:06But they were, like, I don't know, it was something about Alicia's voice and kind of just, like, the pain and the love and the feeling and everything that she carried with it was so, I don't know, felt really meaningful.
08:18I felt like I was going through a breakup having never had a boyfriend.
08:22And then Nelly Furtado as well, like, I loved how she mixed her, like, Spanish roots as well with all the music that she made.
08:30I felt really, I loved that.
08:31There's something really cool about the combination of those two singers, because they both have that sort of, that ability to express pain in their voices.
08:41So, like, where Nelly Furtado's voice sits is, like.
08:44They have a rock.
08:45He's, like, yeah.
08:46There's, like, a real.
08:47So, I love that you found it in both of them.
08:49It's, like, really cool.
08:50Yeah.
08:51And they both came out the same year.
08:52Yeah.
08:53I remember that year they were both nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys and also NDIRE.
08:57Oh, right.
08:58So, it was, like, these three super unique different voices.
09:01They're such strong female artists.
09:03Yeah.
09:04I think they really had their own identity and they knew exactly what they were talking about.
09:07Yeah.
09:08And they were just so open with their experiences.
09:10And that's why I think people connected so much.
09:13Right.
09:14And all around, like, 21 years old.
09:15Yeah.
09:16So, it's amazing.
09:17John, what about you?
09:18Do you remember the first CD or cassette you bought?
09:22I bought CDs at Blockbuster Video from the used CD band.
09:29I was playing gigs from a young age, so I had some money.
09:32I remember I first bought four records.
09:34I can't remember what the fourth record was, but it was a cracked copy of Michael Jackson's
09:40Dangerous.
09:41Mm-hmm.
09:42And Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun.
09:44Yes.
09:45I love that.
09:46I love that.
09:47And the, oh, my gosh.
09:48That record.
09:49So good.
09:50It's like what you reminded me of with Nelly and even just the sound of her voice for
09:57sure, but the artistic purpose.
09:59Mm-hmm.
10:00Every great artist, like, all y'all have such clear, just acutely aware, profound artistic
10:06purposes.
10:07Every great artist has a great artistic purpose.
10:09Mm-hmm.
10:10I'm still trying to figure mine out.
10:12But I remember when I heard those records, that's what I heard every one of them.
10:16Oh, yeah.
10:17Bjork.
10:18Vespertine.
10:19Oh, wow.
10:20That was the fourth one.
10:21And Voodoo, D'Angelo.
10:23Ooh.
10:24Those four records.
10:25I remember that.
10:26And I was like, man, it's super, super convicted.
10:30Everything about it is very much coming from the most pure channel.
10:35That space up there that we all try to dip into.
10:39I like that a lot.
10:40That album is crazy.
10:44So in that, when I was checking the liner notes, oh, liner notes.
10:48Oh, I remember liner notes.
10:49Yeah.
10:50So you read the thing.
10:51Oh, my gosh.
10:52D'Angelo wrote this incredible, just a mission statement in there.
10:57And then I looked at it.
10:58I was like, oh, wow, there's a lot of similarities.
11:00Mama's Gun and Voodoo were recording the year 2000 in Electric Lady Studios.
11:05A lot of crossover in terms of the personnel.
11:08And then I was like, that's why I got to get to New York.
11:10Yeah.
11:11I got to get to New York City.
11:13But yeah, that record Spanish Joins.
11:15Spanish Joins.
11:16Spanish Joins.
11:17Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:18You recorded some of your album there?
11:19Yeah.
11:20I made lots of my new album at Electric Lady.
11:21Wow.
11:22It's my favorite place ever.
11:23Such good history.
11:24And was it your first time recording there?
11:26Yeah.
11:27Uh-huh.
11:28It was so much fun.
11:29I used to roll my eyes at people when they were like, I love to go to New York.
11:32It's so inspiring.
11:33I'm like, sure.
11:34Like, whatever.
11:35How inspiring can it be?
11:36But getting there, yeah.
11:37The vibes are just incredible.
11:39It's very hallowed halls, that studio, you know.
11:41That's how much to pull from.
11:42Oh, my goodness.
11:43You in the right place.
11:44Oh, it's the best.
11:46The best.
11:47How about you, Billie?
11:48Well, I had a little blue mp3 player that was like this big.
11:57And I remember I had-
11:58Hit clips?
11:59Yeah, girl.
12:00What?
12:01I had, I kissed a girl in there.
12:04Let's go.
12:05And I was like, hm.
12:08Noting.
12:10Yeah.
12:11Noting how I feel.
12:12That was.
12:13But I also, the first song I remember, like,
12:16trying to go buy and then download was Sale by AWOL Nation.
12:22Oh, yes.
12:23But I didn't know who it was by.
12:24I didn't know what song it even was.
12:26And I looked up on iTunes, like, Sale.
12:28And I just bought the first one that I saw.
12:30And it was, like, not the song.
12:32And so I had only one song for a long time,
12:35and it was Sale by some guy.
12:36Some other song.
12:37I couldn't tell you what it was.
12:39But Phineas, my brother, was really mad that I did that.
12:42But I was, Sale's sick.
12:44That song is tight.
12:45It was tight.
12:46But I think, like, the albums that I first remember, like,
12:50downloading and listening to, like, front to back,
12:52were, like, Green Day.
12:54I think, like, you know.
12:55American Idiot?
12:56Yeah.
12:57American Idiot was my, was a big one for me and my family.
13:00Yeah.
13:01It's funny what you mentioned about Sale.
13:03That was such a sleeper hit.
13:04I love when you.
13:05It was tight.
13:06That song is released, and, like, two years later, it climbs.
13:09And it's also been licensed.
13:11Literally, TV shows, car commercials.
13:14Like, the amount of money he's made from that song.
13:16Oh, yeah.
13:17It's pretty magical.
13:18That cool is, like, set.
13:19You know?
13:20And also, I love the idea of, like, not thinking of that
13:22when creating the song and it just having its own life.
13:25That song, like, I don't care what anyone says.
13:28Like, that song is, like, blew my mind.
13:31That song was, like, the coolest shit I'd ever heard in my life.
13:34It, like, really, I don't know.
13:36It really inspired me in terms of just, like, different sounding stuff.
13:42I don't know.
13:43I also liked The Walking Dead, and there's a character called,
13:46who's the guy?
13:47Do you guys watch that show?
13:48Yes.
13:49You know when, in the first season,
13:50the guy that gets locked on the roof?
13:52Merle.
13:53Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:54I don't know.
13:55I always pictured him screaming,
13:58I thought he was singing Sail in the song.
14:03I was, like, picturing him screaming it.
14:04D.
14:05I don't know.
14:06I don't know.
14:07Yeah, kids, dude.
14:08Yeah, man.
14:09Imagination's just good.
14:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:11Yeah, so.
14:12That's also the other cool thing is, like,
14:14AWOL Nation has one of the biggest hits,
14:16but I'm forgetting the lead singer's name.
14:19He can walk outside and just have an energy and just, like,
14:23He's good.
14:24That's, like, the perfect life almost.
14:25Yeah.
14:26Great idea.
14:27Great.
14:28Mailbox money.
14:30Oh, yeah.
14:32Yellow.
14:33Julia?
14:34I mean, the first album I ever, like, was given for, like,
14:41Christmas was Train.
14:43Whoa.
14:44I know.
14:45Yeah.
14:46With, like, Meet Virginia on it.
14:48Yeah.
14:49I just loved that song when I was a kid.
14:51Yeah.
14:52And then, obviously, as I got older and angsty,
14:54Jagged Little Pill was, like, my holy grail.
14:58Ooh.
14:59I just loved her lyricism and just how unapologetic she was.
15:05And she was also hot AM.
15:08Yes.
15:09Yes, yes.
15:10So, yeah.
15:11Did you see her in Dogma?
15:12I didn't.
15:13No.
15:14There's a film called Dogma.
15:15This is me being a geek.
15:16There's a film called Dogma.
15:17And she is spectacular.
15:19She doesn't say a word.
15:20Doesn't say anything.
15:21Doesn't say anything.
15:22She's just, like, a present.
15:23I think also when you were 13, I was homeschooled.
15:26Yeah.
15:27A couple homeschooled here, right?
15:28Yeah.
15:29Raise your hand if you were homeschooled.
15:30So I think, like, when you're kind of, like, isolated
15:35and you're, like, kind of angsty, like, she was the one.
15:39The one.
15:40Wow.
15:41She was my president.
15:42You obviously all have amazing film songs
15:44that have been out this year.
15:46And writing them and putting them together,
15:48I want to definitely talk to you all about them.
15:50You, the 100th anniversary of Disney,
15:53did a lot of music for them.
15:55What was that like?
15:56And also, did you do background vocals on Let It Go from Frozen?
15:59I did, yeah.
16:00Wow.
16:01Wait, hold on.
16:02Like, I thought I read that somewhere,
16:05and I was like, wait, what?
16:06I did, yeah.
16:07Okay, first tell us about that,
16:08because you were already in the Disney family.
16:11Yes.
16:12Basically, I was, I think I was 19 at the time,
16:16and I was doing demos around the city
16:19to sort of meet people and pay my rent.
16:22And I got a call from someone that was working
16:26on the Demi version of the song.
16:29Right.
16:30And they were like, hey, we need some backgrounds
16:31done for this song.
16:32It's for a Disney film.
16:34I was like, yeah, sure, like, no problem.
16:36And funny enough, 10 years later, cut to,
16:40the song that I did backgrounds for,
16:43the movie was directed by the same people
16:45that directed the film that I wrote all the songs for.
16:48So it's just like a very beautiful, serendipitous thing
16:52that happened unexpectedly.
16:54What was that like when you get the call from Disney to,
16:57because how many songs did you write for this film?
16:59I did seven, I believe.
17:02Wow.
17:03We know Disney songs are huge.
17:05And no pressure.
17:07Yeah.
17:08And Diswish, tell us about the inspiration
17:11and putting that together.
17:13I was told that the protagonist in this film
17:18was sort of a young activist.
17:21Basically, there was a lot of corruption in her town.
17:24And she basically wanted to fight for things
17:27that she found immoral or just sort of unjust.
17:31And I was like, I can do that.
17:34I kind of know what that is.
17:36And yeah, that was this wish.
17:39Wow.
17:40It was really beautiful.
17:41It was the first song I wrote for the film.
17:43Right.
17:44And it just sort of stood the test of time
17:46throughout the three-year process of making the movie.
17:48Three years.
17:49Yeah.
17:50And after writing that,
17:51did that kind of like open the floodgates
17:53for you to be able to finish the other songs?
17:56Yeah.
17:57It was very interesting.
17:58I've never done songs for a film before.
18:01I've only ever really written songs with artists
18:04or for myself.
18:05So this was very new.
18:07And the process was new.
18:09Because I'd be like, oh, I'm done.
18:11And then they'd call me two days later
18:12and be like, oh, we have a new song
18:13and we need it done in like three weeks.
18:15And I'm like, okay.
18:18But overall, it was a really beautiful process.
18:21I love it.
18:22And so cool.
18:23I know you, Cynthia's new film, Drift,
18:26she not only stars in it,
18:28she's produced it and written music for it.
18:31Wow.
18:32So...
18:33A little hand clap there.
18:34So I wonder, in addition to the inspiration behind the song,
18:39what was it also like wearing so many hats?
18:41Crazy.
18:42Because I mean, as a producer,
18:43I'm sure you were so hands-on with this.
18:45It was nuts because it was, you know, a little,
18:47I always call it the little engine that cooked us.
18:49It was made for nothing.
18:50Basically, a little indie movie that we made on location in Greece
18:54and we didn't have much time to do it in.
18:57So I'm on set, but thinking about the schedule
19:00and making sure that we can get shots done
19:02when we need to get shots done,
19:03but also being able to like, hey,
19:05we need to finish off this scene.
19:07Are we going to have enough time for that?
19:08But trying to be in scenes that are really tough, really hard.
19:13But the song, I think, was the easiest part for me,
19:16to be honest,
19:17because it sort of was inspired when I was on a run one morning
19:23and I listened to the song by an artist called Laura Mvula,
19:27called Father.
19:29And for some reason it connected with where I was at that time,
19:34what I was feeling, what I was experiencing
19:37and what this movie was about.
19:39And so I knew automatically that I wanted to work with Laura
19:43because I thought she understood the language of where I was
19:46and what I was doing.
19:48So I text her.
19:49I didn't tell anyone else first that this is what I wanted to do,
19:52which is not what you're supposed to do.
19:54I text her and I was like,
19:56would you be into working with me on a song for this?
19:59She said yes.
20:01Then I told them this is who I want to write this with
20:04and that's what's going to happen.
20:06I don't think I really gave them a choice.
20:09And then we sat in a studio after she'd watched the movie
20:14and she sent me this message.
20:15She was like, it feels like there's water and movement and transition.
20:19And she was really moved by it.
20:21And so I felt like she understood it.
20:23And we sat, we wrote this song and it didn't take us very long to write it.
20:26I think we wrote it in like a couple of days.
20:29And then she did lots of production on it.
20:31And the first thing, there's these two chords that she plays,
20:34I think on the organ.
20:36It just goes, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
20:40And I was like, oh, I'm there.
20:43So as we started playing with our vocals and trying to figure out what it wanted to be,
20:48it just sort of made itself really.
20:50Yeah.
20:51It was, it's, I really, I'm really proud of it.
20:54Cause it felt like it was the language of the piece that we were, we had made.
20:57Yeah.
20:58Beautiful.
21:00I know you, Olivia, Hunger Games, everyone is so excited for this to come out.
21:05For you, what was the inspiration in creating this song?
21:08It was so much fun.
21:09I mean, most of my songs are very like diaristic in nature and kind of about my life.
21:15And it was such a fun challenge to get to watch this movie through the eyes of this character
21:20and then go and, you know, try to capture her experience through, you know, my words and my voice.
21:26I find that there's so much inspiration in, in restricting yourself sometimes.
21:32I don't know if you guys ever have this, but it's like, you know, when you have every color in the palette
21:36and any canvas you want, it's just so overwhelming that sometimes I think limiting yourself actually
21:42makes you just think outside the box and then reinvent.
21:45And so I think that's one of the joys about, you know, writing a song for a movie is there's this,
21:52you know, beautiful storyline that you kind of get to color in with, with your own words.
21:57So, yeah, I had a lot of fun and it was a very welcome challenge.
22:02So I'm really happy to do it.
22:04And John, you have a documentary that your song is, let us know a little bit about the documentary
22:09and also writing music for this.
22:12It started out as one thing and then it changed, life came into the picture.
22:17You know, I started to write a symphony that was premiering at Carnegie Hall.
22:23And I wanted to document the process of the last year of going and answering the question of what would a symphony be
22:33if it was invented by someone like me in the 21st century, who would be on stage?
22:40What would they play?
22:43What would that experience be like?
22:45I wrote this piece called American Symphony.
22:47So that's the title of the documentary.
22:49But, you know, we started to film in about a month into filming.
22:53There was a lot of changes in my life personally, as well as in my career.
22:58You know, it was the week of being notified of being nominated for 11 Grammys.
23:03It was a week that, you know,
23:05cash, super cash.
23:07I mean, it was literally happening.
23:10People knew about that.
23:11They didn't know, you know, my wife, she got diagnosed with leukemia.
23:15So we didn't know if she was going to make it.
23:17I remember I got a call from President Biden and we were in the chemotherapy ward.
23:22And he was congratulating me about the nominations while we were getting news about what her treatment would be.
23:28So then we decided to keep filming.
23:30So it became the symphony of life.
23:33You know, like how life has the duality of the highs and lows, sometimes all at once, sometimes extreme highs and lows all at once.
23:41So the music in the film is largely the symphony.
23:45But there was a moment where Matt and I, the director, we talked about what song would be appropriate as a final statement.
23:55You see, we're very moving to think about.
23:58So she's doing great now.
23:59I was going to ask.
24:00Thank God.
24:01Just to preface.
24:02But when she was in the hospital, you know, it was about two months where we didn't know if she was going to make it.
24:09And in the hospital there's all these sounds, you know, it's like beeps and all of these people coming in and out of the room and all the range of things that disturb your rest.
24:18And I believe rest is important for the spirit to heal.
24:21And all these things that I wanted to help her with.
24:24So I started writing her these lullabies.
24:26She's a writer.
24:27She would actually listen to your music and your music while she painted because she started painting just because her vision was blurred from the medication.
24:36So she couldn't write anymore.
24:37So a creative outlet was to paint while I would write these lullabies.
24:41None of them were meant to come out.
24:43But the song came from one of these lullabies that I wrote over that course of 30 or 40 days of being in and out of the hospital.
24:51So that's what the song, the ethos of the song is from that period, which I thought was a beautiful way to kind of tie a bow on this work that we didn't know what we were making when we were doing it.
25:06And it was hard. We had to reassess the decision every single month. It's like 14 hours a day.
25:12This filmmaker, Matthew Heineman, is known for being in war zones and embedded in drug cartels.
25:17And he doesn't make films like this. And it was such a part of our life.
25:23We'd be in bed. He'd be there. I'm literally one day I open the door and I'm in the shower and I'm like, why are you filming?
25:29And then he was like, I'm only shooting from the waist up.
25:32And I was like, do I really want to do this?
25:36But, you know, we did it. And I think it'll help some people.
25:40And that's what I'm about. So it's there. I hope it moves some people.
25:44And thank you all for what you all do, because I was very aware of the profundity of what we do in her healing process with music and creativity.
25:54Creativity as an act of survival. And I believe in that so strongly.
25:59I believed in it before, but now I'm just like, let's go. Let's make more beautiful things.
26:06I love that.
26:07You know, as creators, what is it like when you do hear that your music has really helped someone in a hard time,
26:16really just helping them persevere when it's so hard to think positively?
26:23It's hard to take it. I find myself like it's overwhelming.
26:27Yeah. I don't really know how to like believe it because I know what it's like to be in that position.
26:34And it's so real. And to think that you're helping somebody who's in that is really it's hard to believe.
26:43And it's really astounding and special and almost you feel like undeserving.
26:48I didn't deserve to help you through that. But it's so special and powerful.
26:53It's a great way of putting it. You know, like I feel that way a lot.
26:57People say some stuff and I'm like, oh my God. You know?
27:01Yeah, yeah. But it's so magical. It's very surreal.
27:06It makes you focus in on the thing that you're actually doing.
27:09So there's lots of noise around the actual art of making something, making music, making film, making TV, whatever it is.
27:15But when a person has taken the time to listen, to be there, meet you where you're at, meet you where you were when you made the thing and take that with them in their daily life and use it as a tool to help them get through whatever they're getting through.
27:32You're a part of their lives. You've made something that sticks with them, that they get to carry with them.
27:40And that is possibly one of the most incredible honours you can have.
27:44So that anything else is just not important. That is the important thing. Making things that people can hang on to when there's nothing else to hang on to.
27:56I think to refocus whenever it feels like everything else is out of focus on that, I think it's really, really special.
28:04You're so poetic.
28:06It's silly.
28:08I'm hanging on to every word.
28:10It's true.
28:11You can just talk.
28:12Yes, yes.
28:14That means a lot because, you know, for me, it's like, if I'm honest, I don't know that you could have told me when I was 15, 16 that I would be there, that I would be here, that I could make music and have people listen to it.
28:27It was like a pie in the sky dream, you know?
28:29I feel the same.
28:30So when people...
28:31I feel completely the same.
28:32You know?
28:33I thought it was like as unrealistic as a cartoon on TV.
28:36Do you know what I mean?
28:37I would watch artists and I'd be like, oh my God, imagine doing something like that, but never, never thinking that that was even a possibility.
28:45But doing this, sitting here, like making music, writing songs, putting them out, connecting with people, going on tour, like connecting one to one with people in a room.
28:54It's just, it's such a profound experience that it seems so far from reach, but it's real.
28:59And it's so cool that it's real because when there's, you know, you have like younger fans or people looking up to you, listeners, like they can also just see that and be like, oh, that could actually be me too.
29:11And it's real.
29:12It's actually, it's real and it's possible.
29:14And it's, it's so cool to, yeah.
29:17Especially as like a songwriter too.
29:19Like growing up with like Shelly Piken and Linda Perry and Lindy Roth, like all of the songwriters that wrote for like all of your favorite pop artists.
29:29And you're like, how do you do that?
29:30Like, how do you even get there?
29:32Right.
29:33And then to be able to like know them, write with them, be here is like such a beautiful thing too.
29:40Do you guys think about that when you're writing songs?
29:42I find it incredibly difficult to think about it when I'm like actually in the process of it.
29:46I think it doesn't hit me the impact of it until like months later, like on tour or something.
29:51I think about this a lot, John, in your, in your Grammy speech a few years ago.
29:55You said you were like, I show up every day, I make music every day because it's a spiritual practice for me.
30:01I think about that all the time and that's totally what it is.
30:04If I don't like write every day or create something, I don't feel like myself.
30:07I don't feel fulfilled.
30:08It doesn't matter if I like put it out.
30:10You know what I mean?
30:11It's, it's just like, it's something that you need to do.
30:13Just like breathing or eating or, you know, that's what it feels like.
30:16I feel more anxious when I don't write.
30:17Completely.
30:18I feel so anxious.
30:19There's like a nexus that happens with you.
30:21Yeah.
30:22It's like an exhale.
30:23I mean like, I feel like for me, like, I think just us creatives in general, like, we have a lot of things that go on in our minds all the time.
30:30And so writing is sort of like the deep exhale.
30:33So just like letting it out.
30:34And then you have this sort of tangible thing that you can take with you everywhere.
30:37You're like, okay, it's sort of not in my body anymore.
30:39It's here now.
30:40This is how I feel right here.
30:41Yes.
30:42Are you all writing every day normally?
30:44Or is it when you're like, I'm going to go create a song?
30:48I try.
30:49It's so hard, but I try.
30:50Journaling.
30:51Yeah.
30:52If I'm not writing, I'm writing something.
30:53I'm not writing necessarily always songs, but.
30:55I write songs almost every day.
30:57Yeah.
30:59I love it though.
31:00It's like, I just love it so much.
31:02Well, I know we have these Barbie songs that have been just like taking over the entire world.
31:08First of all, the whole album is fire.
31:11It's great.
31:12So many amazing different songs on there.
31:15I want to ask you do a dance tonight.
31:17Obviously it's killing it.
31:18What was it like for you putting that song together?
31:21I mean, from the very beginning, the most fun experience.
31:24It was something that I hadn't done before.
31:26It was a completely new experience.
31:29I don't know.
31:30Basically, the way it came to be was Mark Ronson, who's a friend of mine, DMed me on Instagram.
31:36That's amazing.
31:37Which is weird because also we're like friends, so we text, but he chose that as a form of contact.
31:42As a medium.
31:43As a medium.
31:44Yeah, exactly.
31:45And so he basically, he hit me up and he was like, I'm working on this film with Greta Gerwig and it's for Barbie.
31:50And it's possibly the funniest script I've read.
31:52And I really want you to write the song for the big dance scene in the film.
31:55And I was like, this is an absolute no brainer.
31:58Like 1000% yes.
31:59Like such a big fan of Greta's work.
32:01And I love Mark.
32:03And it was just, just so, such an easy yes.
32:06I was however on tour at the time.
32:08So I was like, okay, when does this song need to be due?
32:11Yeah.
32:12How much time do we have?
32:13And when can we get in the studio?
32:14And I basically, I just flew to New York.
32:16We went in the studio and we just had so much time like talking to Greta, understanding the premise of the film.
32:22And what I loved is what you were saying about the dualities of life.
32:27And I think that really comes across in the Barbie film, especially with the people who haven't seen it.
32:33Maybe it's like the importance of going and understanding like the deeper meaning of the film.
32:38It's so much about, you know, stereotypical Barbie having an existential crisis and finding out what it's like to be or to experience essentially like the human condition.
32:47And the way that we are as people and the emotions that we feel and constantly striving for perfection, but not quite reaching it or trying, you know, always trying to, I don't know.
32:56We're constantly looking or striving for something deeper in a way.
33:00And I think when making Dance A Night and Greta saying how inspired by disco she was, I just thought about disco and the community it brings and, you know, the way it brings people together.
33:11You know, a genre of music that was such a release when things weren't going well in the world or whatever was happening.
33:17It was so freeing to be able to go and release everything that was outside and just enjoy that.
33:23And so Dance A Night was created specifically for Barbie's best day ever, which then results in her thinking about death.
33:32So it's really about those dualities of life and being able to merge the two together.
33:37And that's what I love the most. Like I love dance crying. That's really like, that's my, that's my genre.
33:46Wow.
33:47It's great.
33:48There's nothing that makes me feel more of a release.
33:51And I think there's important to have some like optimism through the, I don't know, through the pain.
33:58There's so much happening. So it's good to have music and dance to release and disco.
34:05When I listened to it, I was like this, I was immediately thrown into the seventies.
34:09And I love what you're saying about the background that it was on.
34:12Cause that music, that disco was the place that all of the, the misfits went to.
34:21It's where all of the people that didn't feel like they belonged went to.
34:24That's where they, Studio 54 is where everyone went to, to, to convene.
34:28If you didn't feel like you were normal, if you didn't feel like you fit in and you wanted to fit somewhere
34:32and you wanted to connect with someone, that's where they went and they listened to that.
34:36And so when I, when I was listening to it, I was like, that's what it feels like.
34:39It's, it's got that energy in it. It was really cool.
34:42And I love a dance song with good lyrics.
34:45I feel like sometimes because the melody or the beat can be so good.
34:50Sometimes you listen to the lyrics and you're like, what? That don't even rhyme.
34:54And so I love that. Like with a good dance song with good lyrics, the lyrics are almost hidden and you catch them later.
35:01It's almost like rewatching a TV show or a film and noticing something else.
35:05But that's what I love about this song as well.
35:08And my gosh, we, we took so much time to like, initially we wrote the song and then we went back two weeks later
35:16and we kind of watched the scene with the song in it.
35:20And I was like, wait a second, this, I need to do some changes.
35:23I need to do some lyric changes.
35:24And we basically tailored little moments to the moves that were happening in the film.
35:30So you can marry the moments together.
35:33So that was really fun.
35:35It was like a really interesting jigsaw puzzle and something.
35:38Yeah, it was, it was really special, but I have just this whole process of the song.
35:43And even with the new record, I never wanted to like, let go of a good idea.
35:48Before it used to be like, if I didn't get the whole song that day, then it probably wasn't worth fighting for.
35:54I don't know.
35:55But now I'm like, if there's one part that I love, I'll just keep digging, keep digging.
35:59I mean, Julia knows me, like, I feel like I have dragged her into my madness.
36:05But I love your process.
36:07I actually love that about you because there are so many artists that will like, give up on a song after one day if it's not like perfect.
36:14And you're the first one to be like, this part is exceptional.
36:18I want to make sure this other part is exceptional.
36:21And I'm like, yeah, like, it should be.
36:23You've got to keep digging.
36:24And so that's, yeah, Dance the Night did a lot of digging.
36:27I love that.
36:29You all killed that.
36:30I was privy to see.
36:31I walked into the studio with Mark and I saw all of y'all's notes hanging on the wall.
36:37Oh, my God.
36:38Yeah.
36:39He showed me the scene.
36:40It was just like the amount of excavation that y'all did.
36:44That was very impressive.
36:46I really believe in that, too.
36:48I love that you said that because sometimes you find something that's so great and it's speaking, but it just hasn't met the rest of its tribe yet.
36:58Right.
36:59So there's no reason to put it away for good.
37:02That's right.
37:03That's right.
37:04But the way the intricacy of that scene, he broke it down for me a little bit.
37:08I hope you're all right with that.
37:09Yeah, of course.
37:10But so I was like, wow.
37:13The whole movie is just the whole bar movie is a lot.
37:17It's very deep.
37:18Yeah.
37:19Existential.
37:20There's, oh, it's very Whitman-esque.
37:23It's got a whole bunch of stuff in it that's underneath the surface.
37:27That's what I love about a dance song.
37:29Right.
37:30With a great lyric.
37:31Your lyrics, you always have great melodies and you always make sure the lyrics reach the level of the melodies.
37:38Because dance music-
37:39Oh my gosh.
37:40People can get lazy.
37:41Yeah.
37:42It can be like-
37:43People lying on the beat.
37:44I'm like-
37:45Yeah, yeah.
37:46Y'all, it's killing it.
37:48I love that.
37:49Oh, thank you very much.
37:51I find myself throughout most of my days, dance.
37:56It's just like in my head.
37:58A lot.
37:59I don't know why.
38:00Yeah, yeah.
38:01It's catchy, girl.
38:02It's catchy.
38:03It's really good to feel that.
38:04But your Barbie song-
38:05Yeah.
38:06Girl.
38:07So what was-
38:08Take over, John.
38:09Yeah.
38:10Do it.
38:11Do it.
38:12Please.
38:13Go ahead.
38:14I want to know, like, what-
38:15What's happening?
38:16What's-
38:17I don't know.
38:20Why-
38:21Why-
38:22Why that-
38:23That progression of notes.
38:24Ta-da.
38:27Dude.
38:28I just-
38:29But it's just-
38:30It-
38:31Immediately-
38:32My heart goes-
38:33Immediately.
38:35Where were you?
38:36That's the first thing that I wrote.
38:39Was that.
38:40Like, exact melody.
38:42Um, it was-
38:44Okay, so, it was a rainy day in January.
38:48And it was the day after we'd seen it.
38:51And I was just like, it was dark for me in my life.
38:54And my brother and I were working and we were trying to make stuff for this album.
38:58Like, my album we're working on.
39:00And it was just like a day of- of nothing.
39:03It was just like idea after idea after idea after idea of just like, no ideas.
39:08Like, nothing was happening.
39:10It was like the least creative.
39:12We came up with so many different things.
39:14And it was an instance where we were like, yeah, we're scratching these.
39:17Like, this isn't even worth our time.
39:20And it must have been, I think we were doing that for probably like six hours.
39:23And it was about, I want to say like 8 p.m.
39:27And I was like, all right, well, I'm out of here.
39:29Like, this is- I'm gonna go home.
39:31We're done for the day.
39:32We tried.
39:33We're gonna, you know, call it quits.
39:35And then he was like, just for shits and giggles, what if we tried to write that song?
39:42And I was like, you think after the day of like, garbage we've just made,
39:48we're gonna make a perfect song for something that is so, like, that needs something really good.
39:54I was like, I don't even have that in me.
39:56First of all, I didn't know I would have it in me at all.
39:58When it was brought up to me, I was like, I mean, thank you for asking,
40:02but I don't know if I can give you what you're gonna need.
40:04Like, I want you to have something astounding.
40:07And hopefully I can get close to that, but I don't know.
40:11And Phineas literally sat at the piano and immediately started playing the-
40:16And we've been using a handheld mic in the room that just plays, like, through the speakers
40:24instead of, like, headphones and sitting at the-
40:26I never, like, use a booth or anything, so I was-
40:28Trusty old SM.
40:29Yeah, dude.
40:30Yes.
40:31And so I was sitting on the little couch with the handheld and he was playing those chords
40:39and it was just, like,
40:49And then, you know, we were talking a lot about the, like, falling elegance or the floating, like, elegance of her
40:56and her ability to, you know, be so smooth and beautiful and perfect all the time.
41:02And then, you know, the juxtaposition of her suddenly falling and, like, can't do everything perfectly.
41:07And so immediately it was that I used to float.
41:10Now I just fall down.
41:11And we immediately wrote that.
41:13And then I used to know, but I'm not sure now.
41:15And I immediately was, like, what I was made for.
41:18And then we were both, like, what was I made for?
41:20Like, asking the question after that.
41:22And then we had that, we did that in probably, like, five minutes.
41:25It was crazy.
41:27It was like the, it was God.
41:29It was God.
41:30I don't know.
41:31It was, like, some other.
41:32Yeah.
41:33It was just the most perfect example to me of, like, true, true, true inspiration and connection.
41:41And it was living in me that whole day, but it wasn't coming out of me.
41:45And, yeah, as soon as we hit the what was I made for line, we were both like, oh, okay.
41:52And it's weird because we didn't, you know, again, we didn't go into it knowing at all what we were going to make.
41:57Or if we were going to make anything.
42:00And it was just so clear that we needed to.
42:05And, like, you were saying, Olivia, like, I love writing for, like, film.
42:11It's, like, one of my favorite things to do.
42:13Not even just film, but, like, for something.
42:15Right.
42:16Because the assignment, I really love an assignment.
42:19I love a prompt.
42:21And for me, you know, I'm listening to you especially and everybody talking about songwriting.
42:26And you're just so good at it.
42:27And you just do it.
42:28And it's easy.
42:29And it's fast.
42:30Okay.
42:31And, like, for me, I find songwriting very difficult.
42:36And I find honesty in songwriting very hard and out of my reach.
42:42And there's something so special to me about writing about not my life.
42:49And so when we're writing it, you know, I'm not thinking about my life.
42:54I was like, this isn't about me at all.
42:57This is just totally about another girl.
43:00Another character.
43:01It has nothing to do with my life.
43:03And I swear on my, like, I swear to God, I never thought about myself one time.
43:09I was thinking about a character and my brother was thinking about a character.
43:12And then we wrote basically the entire song that night aside from the ending verse.
43:17And then the next day or two later, I played it for a friend and we were sitting in the car.
43:22And I was like, I was like, what?
43:28Who?
43:29Who is that?
43:30Who is that?
43:31I was like, this bitch is singing about me.
43:35And it was scary.
43:38It was like, I'm like shaky.
43:40Like it was, it was scary.
43:42I felt like, it was like if you woke up and like someone had taken a photo of you sleeping.
43:47How are you had to do that?
43:50And I don't know, it was crazy.
43:53And I felt also, I'm talking a lot, but also I was, my brother and I both were in a period of like complete,
44:03I don't even think writer's block is necessarily real.
44:06I just think sometimes we're not able to pull it out of us.
44:11But it was that.
44:13It was a period of time when I just had nothing.
44:16I had nothing to say.
44:17I didn't know how to say what I thought I could say.
44:20And we really hadn't written anything in a minute.
44:22And I felt really worried.
44:24And I was like, damn.
44:26I honestly was concerned that it was over for me.
44:29Yeah, I gotta be honest with you.
44:31I really was like.
44:32Cause where were you in the middle of this new album?
44:35Like had you been trying for a while?
44:36We'd been trying and it wasn't really doing what it usually would do in me.
44:45And I was honestly like, damn, like maybe I hit my peak and I don't know how to write anymore.
44:51Like I don't know how to do this.
44:53And thank God for that.
44:56That was just your brain of what he's saying.
44:58Trust him well.
44:59Yeah.
45:00But it was also your brother feeling this way too?
45:01Yeah, no, it was very.
45:02Wow.
45:03I mean, I thank God for Greta, man.
45:05Yeah.
45:06She saved me.
45:07Really.
45:08Honestly, like getting that request.
45:09It was like a FaceTime.
45:11It was a FaceTime.
45:13And it brought us both out of it and it put us in a just, like immediately we were inspired
45:20and wrote so much more after that.
45:23And being that honest without meaning to was a lot.
45:28And especially when it came out, I was like, aye, aye, aye, aye.
45:32It was like somebody like reading your, you know, diary or something.
45:36Did it unlock something in you where you're like, oh, I actually can be like extremely vulnerable.
45:41Well, and it'd be like received.
45:44Yes and no.
45:45But yes, because the way that it received was received was so shocking to me.
45:52I guess I forget that everybody feels the same in so many ways.
45:56And then everything we feel somebody knows, you know?
45:59Yeah.
46:00And like, I don't be the same thing, but it's the same emotion.
46:03It's the same emotion.
46:04Exactly.
46:05And I was really, really moved by that.
46:07And especially the way that it brought women together.
46:10Yeah.
46:11Was like something that I feel so just proud of.
46:16Yeah.
46:17And I feel so, I don't know.
46:20Like when it came out and it was such a girl, a girl thing.
46:25Yeah.
46:26I was like, I don't know.
46:27It felt really cool.
46:28Speaking of women, how amazing is this table?
46:31Right.
46:32I'm sorry.
46:33Like to be doing this at a time where there really is like so much camaraderie with women.
46:39It's so cool.
46:40Excuse me, John.
46:41Oh, John.
46:42Love you.
46:43Obviously.
46:44Love you.
46:45But like, just like being at a table with people who are genuinely happy for each other.
46:50Yeah.
46:51It's so exciting.
46:52And it's very true.
46:53Yeah.
46:54It really, like it really is true.
46:55I love you all.
46:56Like, I love you all.
46:57Like, I want you all to win.
46:58Like, it's so sick.
46:59Yeah.
47:00Sorry.
47:01I mean, I felt that way when trying to book this and get people.
47:06And as I was like seeing who has songs, I was like, oh my God, we could have this amazing
47:11young female songwriters and for young women to see, see all this representation, I think
47:18is so key.
47:19And so we got it and John and me.
47:22So we have y'all's back.
47:24I saw that when I got the invitation.
47:26I was like, I want to come learn from all of you.
47:29This is the thing.
47:31That's it.
47:32I love what you said about the diary and about bringing women together.
47:36Especially, you've been a voice for your generation so, so profoundly.
47:41But I think that's, people want to read your diary, but they also want to read their diary.
47:48Yes, yes.
47:49They want to read.
47:50It turns out it's like maybe the same.
47:52It's the same.
47:53Totally.
47:54That's like, oh snap.
47:55We really are connected.
47:56Have like a lyric that you feel like is so personal that you're like, they're not gonna,
48:01like, should I change it?
48:02They're not gonna understand it.
48:04And then they get it in a way.
48:06They internalize it.
48:07Like they see you.
48:08What I was going to say was when you were talking about almost kind of manifesting your own life
48:15into the song, does anybody else feel that when you write you're almost manifesting things
48:19that are about to happen?
48:20Completely.
48:21Like when you're about to write something and you're like, should I be putting this in a song?
48:25Because I'm going to be saying this a lot probably.
48:27Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy?
48:28Yeah, exactly.
48:29I feel that like so much.
48:31I feel like I look back at songs that I relate to now more than I ever did.
48:36Especially when I wrote them.
48:37Yeah.
48:38And some songs take on completely new meaning.
48:40I think it's evidence that songs come from the divine.
48:45That sometimes they know things that we don't know.
48:47It's so true.
48:49It's so true.
48:50We call it sometimes.
48:51The mirrors.
48:52It shows up.
48:55Hello, vessel.
48:58I got something for you today.
49:00I love what you said, really, about loving writing for movies.
49:04And for me, I mean, I think I've only been doing it for maybe two, three years,
49:08a couple songs here and there.
49:10And I really enjoy it because usually I'm in the thing and having to write about the thing that I was in.
49:17And so there's this weird sort of like double view that I have to see through.
49:23And then I have to filter what I've experienced, what is in the thing into this singular moment for people to listen to.
49:35But it feels like I'm exposing everything I've already been through on the project that I've been through.
49:39Yeah.
49:40So it feels like my heart is like beating on the outside of my chest.
49:43You're like naked.
49:44Yeah.
49:45But I love that.
49:46I love that.
49:47The task is that.
49:48And so there is no choice but to do that.
49:51And the only way to do it so that people connect is to be as naked and vulnerable as you possibly can.
49:56I know.
49:57I think you don't give yourself enough credit for being as vulnerable as you are.
50:00And just because your process is different to someone else's, it doesn't mean that it's not a process still.
50:05You understand?
50:06Yeah.
50:07If it takes you a year to get to the album that you want to get to, it takes you a year to get to the album.
50:11Yeah.
50:12It doesn't mean it's over.
50:13It just means that you're taking time.
50:14Yeah.
50:15It's like building a battery up again.
50:16Yeah.
50:17You know?
50:18Yeah.
50:19I just, I also love in terms of writing for film.
50:26Yeah.
50:27I love a challenge.
50:28Yeah.
50:29I love a challenge.
50:30Because you don't know what you're going to find.
50:31And I love a like, kind of get, like, I don't know if it's going to, like, I love a not guaranteed.
50:37Yes.
50:38You know?
50:39I don't know what's going to be.
50:40I don't know.
50:41I think for me, I've realized that like my whole life is an act of service.
50:47Yeah.
50:48I feel the most, like, of purpose when I can serve something or somebody.
50:53Mm-hmm.
50:54So whether that's like an artist or a project.
50:57Mm-hmm.
50:58Like, I like being there for, like, the making of.
51:01Mm-hmm.
51:02And being a part of something.
51:03And knowing that, like, I got to, like, be there for it.
51:06Mm-hmm.
51:07Like, that's such a beautiful thing.
51:08Mm-hmm.
51:09I mean, you have been a part of so many songs.
51:11They have a list of, like, some of the artists.
51:13Yeah.
51:14Let's just do a flex.
51:15Please don't.
51:16Let's not.
51:17Oh, my God.
51:18Selena Gomez.
51:19Britney Spears.
51:20Lady Gaga.
51:21Ed Sheeran.
51:22John Legend.
51:23Yeah.
51:24Shawn Mendes.
51:25Kelly Clarkson.
51:26Maroon 5.
51:27Pink.
51:28Casey Musgraves.
51:29Shakira.
51:30Shakina Aguilera.
51:31Should I go somewhere else?
51:32Keith Irvin.
51:33Vivi Lovato.
51:34H.E.R.
51:35Marion Morris.
51:36Gwen Stefani.
51:37Okay, okay.
51:38Nick Jonas.
51:39Gannon Shea.
51:40One Republic.
51:41Kelsey Ballerini.
51:42Linkin Park.
51:43Ben Platt.
51:44Five Seconds of Summer.
51:45Fifth Harmony.
51:46Bailey Steinsfield.
51:47Sabrina Carpenter.
51:48Okay.
51:49Little Mix.
51:50Zed.
51:51Rio Ora.
51:52The Fray.
51:53And that's not even everyone.
51:56So nice.
51:57My, my, my, why does that, why is it hard for you to listen to that?
52:01What's, I don't know.
52:03I, like, I think I'm just so used to being, like, in the background that, like, when, like,
52:09when someone, like, wants to, I don't know.
52:13Dr. Cynthia has arrived.
52:14It really, like, freaks me out.
52:17I said this to another artist.
52:19I said this to another artist before.
52:20But I love, I love what I do.
52:22I deeply love what I do.
52:23It's really important for you.
52:24We believe you.
52:25It's really important for you to be able to sit in the power of being able to make other people's
52:29dreams come true as well.
52:31That's a really special thing to, I know, I know, but it's a really, but it's a really special and singular
52:36talent that you have, and you do yourself and the work you've done a disservice to not just sit in it.
52:43That's your work.
52:44Yeah.
52:45It's your work.
52:46Like, compliments, anything.
52:48Do you feel bad?
52:49I just want to be, like, a turtle.
52:51But you deserve it all.
52:52If you didn't work for it, it wouldn't come to you.
52:54You deserve it.
52:55It's not that you didn't do the work.
52:56You did all of the work.
52:57Do you feel bad for being talented?
52:59No.
53:00Oh, my God.
53:01No.
53:02I just, I don't know.
53:03I just, I like, like I said, I'm in, like, it's such an acts of service.
53:06I'm not, like, good with people.
53:09I, like, I just want to be there for people.
53:12But you are.
53:13You're good for good with people.
53:14You are.
53:15But I think we, I think we assume that an act of.
53:17Can we get off of me?
53:18I'm like.
53:19No.
53:20I think it's so important because I think we think that an act of service doesn't include,
53:23it doesn't include acknowledging the work that we've done.
53:27And that is also an act of service because if another young lady is watching you take ownership of the stuff that you've done, you're telling her that it's okay to take ownership of the stuff that she's done.
53:38Right.
53:39Yeah.
53:40Yeah.
53:41Yeah.
53:42Yeah.
53:43Yeah.
53:44Yeah.
53:45I think we don't, like, take that into account.
53:48It is important for other people to see us.
53:50Because women, we don't do it enough to say, yeah, I did do that and I'm really proud of that.
53:55Because another young lady is going to look at you and go, well, if she's okay with doing it, if I'm okay with it, then I'm okay to say, yeah, I did that and I'm really proud of it.
54:03Yeah.
54:04That is an act of service also.
54:05Right.
54:06It is an arrogance to say, I'm really proud of the work I've done.
54:09And you've done it.
54:10And you have.
54:11All.
54:12Thanks.
54:13And then some.
54:14Thanks.
54:15Yeah.
54:16You're good.
54:17You're very good.
54:18Yes.
54:19Okay.
54:20Who else?
54:21Olivia.
54:22How many?
54:23Hunger Games.
54:24You know what I'm talking about.
54:26You deserve it all.
54:27You're the greatest.
54:28Yeah.
54:29So we're close to wrapping up, so we'll do some rapid fire kind of fun questions.
54:33Okay.
54:34So, what your go-to karaoke song?
54:38Wannabe.
54:39Spice Girls.
54:40Oh, so good.
54:41She does not have a cake.
54:43We don't need another hero, Tina Turner.
54:46Oh.
54:47Good.
54:48Mine's Dancing Queen, ABBA.
54:49Yes.
54:50That's a good one.
54:51Good one.
54:52I hate singing at karaoke, so I do, like my friends hate it.
54:59It's all a bit weird, but I do Changes by Tupac.
55:02Oh, yes.
55:03That was in the barbershop the other day.
55:05Wow.
55:06Lose Yourself.
55:08Emanuel.
55:09Yes.
55:10Nice.
55:11Good one.
55:12When he came out the Academy Awards a couple years ago when he did it, that was fire.
55:15That was crazy.
55:16Yeah.
55:17How about you?
55:18I've never done karaoke.
55:19What?
55:20What?
55:21And you looked at me like, what do you mean?
55:24You guys just said, I don't like to sing.
55:29She was waiting for the rest of the sentence.
55:32The way you said it was great.
55:34Anyway, anyway, not like that.
55:37No, not even at home in like the fake mic.
55:39You know what?
55:40I had a karaoke like speaker, like box when I was a kid.
55:44When I was like six and it had We Are Family.
55:48Nice.
55:48And I would sing karaoke to that and it had,
55:51what is that NSYNC song?
55:54It's gonna be, man.
55:55I don't know if it was that.
55:56I think it was, it was probably It's Gonna Be Me.
55:58Nice.
55:59It was that and that and, and also,
56:04I Hope You Dance.
56:05Oh, wow.
56:06That's a great song.
56:08That's a good one, which is like one of my favorite.
56:11Leanne.
56:11Wilmer? No.
56:12Yeah.
56:13Yes, yes, yeah, yeah.
56:15I think so, I hope we're not wrong.
56:16But I Hope You Dance, We Are Family,
56:20We Are Family was like the main karaoke one.
56:22But I've never done like the like standing on a stage.
56:25Right?
56:26We should do that like, oh no way.
56:27Yeah.
56:28Yeah.
56:29I'm such a really bad for me.
56:30Yeah.
56:31Jeez.
56:32How intimidating to walk into karaoke and it's Billy and Dua.
56:34Yeah.
56:35Yeah.
56:36Oh my God.
56:37I just feel like, haven't you heard enough of me saying that?
56:41I don't know.
56:42Like I was at a party and they had karaoke and they were like,
56:44Billy, you should do it.
56:45I was like, you don't need me.
56:46Crush your heart.
56:47It's kind of the person who can actually sing, which is like,
56:49I tend to just be like, I'll watch.
56:51What about a dream collaboration?
56:53Everyone here.
56:54Yeah.
56:55There we go.
56:56This right here.
56:57Oh yeah.
56:58A super song?
56:59Yeah.
57:02We are Saturation of Hell.
57:05We did like, there was some, we were on a late night TV show
57:09and I was asked to sing something and John was playing.
57:13And I looked over and said, can you, can you do this?
57:16Yeah.
57:16Yeah, I can do this.
57:17And I just, I loved that moment.
57:19So I hope that I want to do it again.
57:22And you, I'm chasing after you consistently.
57:25Like you're all incredible, so let me know.
57:30The first time I heard you sing on Broadway with my whole family.
57:33Oh my God.
57:35Oh.
57:36Oh.
57:37Oh my God.
57:38Oh my God.
57:39Oh my God.
57:40Okay.
57:41I'm derailing the question.
57:42No, no, no.
57:43It's true because like, even though things are not about awards.
57:44I mean, this woman has won an Emmy, Tony and Grammy for the amazing work in the color purple.
57:58It's like you bleed purple.
57:59Like it's, it's a gift that keeps on giving, but it's your performance that has allowed you
58:04to do that because you just killed it.
58:07Yeah.
58:10Really thankful for all of you guys joining.
58:11I mean, this is such a dope table.
58:12We need to do this again.
58:13Yeah.
58:14Friends given, but cheers to everyone here.
58:16Thanks to everyone.
58:17Amazing songwriters.
58:19Gosh, with water.
58:20I know.
58:21It's not clear.
58:22Water is life.
58:23It's fine.
58:24It's fine.
58:25I feel like it's clear.
58:26It's fine.
58:27It's fine.
58:28We're all good.
58:29Cheers.
58:30I don't know about you, but I love seeing so many talented women and a man come together
58:36in a beautiful harmonious conversation.
58:38Until next time, I'm Yvonne Orji and this is Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter.
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