I'm really proud of 'Kissing Strangers.'
— Justin Tranter
You can tell if something feels special. But there are so many moving parts involved in making the song a hit. The radio has to deliver, the management has to deliver in terms of booking the right promotions... just being a good song isn't enough.
I love to give the song away - it's so exciting - where, I think, a lot of younger songwriters, they struggle with that. And it's a big struggle, where they want the shine and they want people to know that it was their idea and it was their doing. But luckily, I've been through that, so I can just focus on helping other people do their thing.
I thought I was a superstar at 12.
When we were starting out as a band in New York, we played a concert at a small club early on and asked Lady Gaga to open for us. We were big fans, and she had the same kind of approach to music as we did: not taking everything so seriously and just having fun.
If you think of 'Chandelier,' Sia's singing her heart out about all those moments before she got sober, and that's one way to convey emotion and make people hear every word.
I just didn't really relate to Kurt Cobain. There was nothing very glamorous about him.
My artist career failed pretty miserably multiple times.
I really do pride myself on being able to help other people tell their stories and bring out the best in them. But I still, every song I'm writing, I still need to relate to it. I still need to find my true self in it, or else it'll feel dishonest. I mean, everything has a queer meaning as far as I'm concerned.
I've experienced some really very obvious, direct homophobia - when I was still trying to be an artist, behind the scenes, being told to be less gay, be less feminine.
The beauty of letting marginalized people tell their own stories is it isn't only the right thing to do socially, but it's also the right thing to do financially. People love the truth, and people like to spend money on the truth.
The only thing that's serious to me about music is making sure marginalized people are included in the story.
In the band Semi-Precious Weapons, I got to sing, wear, and say exactly what I wanted for ten years.
Even though L.A. can be kind of tacky, when a city's big draws are The Roxy and the Viper Room, you know its pretty amazing.
Gaga the person is much like Gaga the celebrity. She is very sweet, loyal, and funny with her fans, and she is very sweet, loyal, and funny with her friends. On stage, she is over-the-top, ridiculous, dirty, and genuine on stage, and she is very over-the-top, ridiculous, dirty, and genuine with her friends.
I'm a walking political statement.
If you listen to Semi-Precious Weapons' last single, 'Aviation High,' you can definitely hear that even in my old band, even in the songs I was writing then, the pop influence really started to take over.
For me, as a kid desperate to make music, I thought the only way I could do it was to try to be a superstar - which is a fun thing to be, but it can be exhausting and degrading.
The bullying was so bad that I got to go to the arts high school instead.
In every school, there's always the kid who gets it the worst, and I was, for sure, that kid. Every time you had to get in a line that was boys and girls, it was like my worst nightmare. A lot of kids I know got made fun of for being gay; that was not my issue: I was just called a girl endlessly.
The fans that fall in love with you at the show are always the most passionate.
I wouldn't want to write a song in a pair of sneakers. I think it would be a horrible song.
Under-sung vocals can be very sexy because of the intimacy, but they can be just as heartbreaking for the same reason.
I didn't want a day job anymore, so I somehow made the jewelry line work. Now that I look back on it, it was, like, the dumbest idea ever. Everyone and their mother has a jewelry line, so in retrospect, maybe not the smartest fallback plan. But it ended up working out great!
A lot of writers don't know what it feels like to get on stage. They don't understand the weight that songs can carry. I got a chance to play all these shows. I got a chance to define myself through music, so when it comes to helping other people figure out what they should say, I've been through it.
It's interesting to see the more femme that you present yourself, the more people sort of dehumanize you.
Young women should be telling stories of other young women. And if the superstar who is an amazing storyteller isn't a writer, that's totally fine, but we should get a young female writer in the room to work on that song with us.
I'm so grateful for my endless delusion.
A couple of days working with Joe Jonas, I thought, 'This guy is a slayer of a singer; he's really funny, goofy, and sexy. We need to write that.' And that led to 'Cake By The Ocean.'
I love myself. I love my friends.
We really like L.A. because it really likes rock and roll.
My mom has a big ol' crush on Arne Duncan, so I hear about and see pics of him all the time. I think he could look great in heels!
Great music is just very clear. Sonically and lyrically, you understand the point of view, you understand the melodies, you understand the vibe, and you understand the lyric pretty damn quickly. To me, that doesn't make it 'less than' - it makes it 'more than.'
I first fell in love with music when I was five years old because of 'Annie.' And then 'The Little Mermaid' really made me want to start singing. And then the fierce, amazing women of the '90s - Alanis Morrissette, Courtney Love, Tori Amos, Ani Difranco, Paula Cole, Patty Griffin - made me want to start writing.
In some ways, it's more rewarding to hear someone interpret a piece of music that you're a part of.
My success happened pretty late in life. I can't even believe it happened.
My existence is rock n' roll.
Truly saying sorry is never easy to do, and when you are, you just hope it's not too late.
When I saw Courtney Love in 1994, I knew what I wanted to do. The minute I saw a female-fronted rock n' roll band, that changed my life.
People are always quick to judge SPW because of the fact that I wear heels. For me, I just have no choice. This is just how I feel beautiful and how I feel awesome. I would just be so uncomfortable onstage if I was wearing something else.
Before anything else, my favorite thing as a fan of music was to make up my own story as to what it means.
I like to make glamorously informed songs for glamorously intelligent people.
I was very lucky that my family really supported me in exploring my femininity when I was young, and so it was a joyous thing.
If a song is being written for a woman, there should be a woman in the room collaborating.
I was borderline deluded to think something as outrageous as Semi Precious Weapons could have been mainstream.
All songwriters are known as 'topliners' because the vocal goes on top of the track.
For me, as a performer or a songwriter, Stevie Nicks is always a huge inspiration as well as Iggy Pop.
My fashion is inspired by Tina Turner and Sharon Stone.
A little makeover never hurt nobody.
Pop just means popular - it can be any genre, and if it becomes popular, then it's pop music.
