Your Favorite Pop Singer (Probably) Doesn't Write Their Own Songs

I wish we had more people like Prince who not only wrote his song and played most of his instruments but wrote other people's songs as well.

There’s a concept in music called “change a word, get a third” where it allows the artist to do minimal work and get an equal chunk of the royalties.

Michael Jackson did not write Thriller, but wrote a surprising amount of his most popular songs. Beat It, Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, etc. were entirely written by him.

Songwriting is tough. Glad you made a video on this, it explains the music industry very well.

Carly Rae Jepsen writes her songs, and everyone should be paying attention to her. She's been releasing the greatest pop music since about 2015. 6 perfect albums since then.

I like to call it the “prince effect”. Artists saw the way he was revered for writing his own songs and wanted to emulate that. For example, Lauryn Hill’s record label asking her to write and produce her album like Prince, so she stole credits from the actual songwriters and producers to make it look as if she did it all herself. There was lawsuits over this and it’s speculated that is the reason why she remixes all of her songs on tour.

Unpopular opinion: songwriters should get more credit than singers.

Here is one way to help underpaid songwriters: https://www.change.org/p/support-songwriters-demand-a-decision-on-hundreds-of-millions-in-royalties-owed

That’s why the Beatles are still the most important pop band in history…because they wrote their own shit.

There's no shame in singing without writing, or writing without singing. But shining a light on the trend of lopsided credit (and more importantly, money) is a great service to the public.