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Last night I hung out with Betsy Ulmer, a professional songwriter in town. Though only 27, Betsy’s work can be heard all over the world. In addition to writing the single that Dolly Parton sang on American Idol last year, Betsy wrote a song that was cut by the winner of Brazil Idol, and another one of her songs is currently climbing up the country charts in Australia.
I asked Betsy a number of questions about the songwriting business – How do songs go from idea to radio? Are most hits written by one writer or several? How do artists find songs? Etc. Even though the interview was impromptu (she thought we were getting together to watch Shaun of the Dead) Betsy patiently answered my questions.
During the course of our conversation, Betsy brought up a couple points I think are worth sharing here, as the advice she gives for developing songs could easily apply to career development:
Pick a lot of Brains
The vast majority of hits on the radio were written by more than one person.
Betsy goes to several “co-writes” a week and she seldom writes with the same person twice in a given week. The diversity is essential. As she says: “Different people challenge you in interesting ways. They make you go different places….sometimes you talk the most, sometimes you listen. Sometimes you’ll go into a room with someone who doesn’t contribute a single lyric, but their presence causes you to be ‘on’”.
How many people do you work with in a given week? When you want to talk about your career, how many different people do you call to kick around ideas? The more people you sit down with and the more perspectives you listen to, the sharper you will become.
More Honesty, Less Premeditation
Betsy says good songs, especially good country songs, are driven by real raw emotions, fears, and desires. You should go with what you feel, your instincts. The more you try to plant or plan a more "appropriate" feeling or emotion, the less “real” you sound.
Career moves are the same way.
“It’s like gymnastics,” Betsy says. “The more you over-think your next move, the more likely you are to land on your head.”
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Comments
12.10.08
Picking brains is essential!
I don't think one person (alone) on Team Brazen could legitimately take credit for putting an idea into action. By the time it makes its way into development we've bounced the concept off of the entire office, family, friends, Community Leaders, etc. And if we didn't do that, we'd miss something important.
You're totally on point ... "the more perspectives you listen to, the sharper you will become."
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