My guest this week is songwriter Sam Hollander, who has written and produced for the likes of Panic! At The Disco, One Direction, Katy Perry, Weezer, Def Leppard, blink-182, Fitz and the Trantrums, Train, Ringo Starr, Carole King, Tyga, The O’Jays, and many others.
To date, he’s achieved 22 US Top 40 Hits, as well as 10 Number 1's, 10 top fives, and 87 Top 10 chart positions globally. His songs have been streamed over 7 billion times, and in 2019, he held the #1 position on the Billboard Rock Songwriters Chart for nine weeks, a year-end record. Sam has also been chosen to be on Variety's Hitmakers list, as well as being named Rolling Stone's Hot List Producer of the Year.
Sam has written a book entitled “21 Hit Wonder: Flopping My Way To The Top of the Charts” that looks more at his struggles, flops and bad luck in the business before he made it than his many successes.
During the interview we spoke about sticking it out despite many years of failures, his collaboration technique, reading the body language of your co-writers, writing for different genres, his work in television, and much more.
I spoke with Sam via zoom from his home in upstate NY.
On the intro I’ll take a look at the songs on Spotify that have reached a billion streams, and the most dangerous and popular DAWs to search for.
[Photo: Danny Clinch]
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