Writers on Track features JUNO award-winning, platinum-selling, songwriter/producer/singer Anjulie with Sony Music Publishing Canada. Anjulie has collaborated with notable artists like Kelly Clarkson, Nicki Minaj, and Lady Gaga, and her music has been featured on HBO, ABC, NBC, and MTV.
What’s your favorite part of the songwriting process?
There are so many parts of songwriting that I don’t love and I’ll start with that because it will give context for why the part that I love is so powerful. I don’t love the music industry. I don’t love how songwriters are valued by music platforms. I don’t love the misogyny and predatory behavior that I’ve had to deal with for my entire career. I don’t love how artists are treated like the lowest common denominator. I don’t love how you can be in a songwriting session with the biggest artist in the world and everyone from the producer to the session engineer to the runner is getting paid except for you, and no one will buy you lunch. I don’t love how you can go to a session with an awesome artist and their boyfriend, who has never written a song before in his life, is collecting 25% for being on their phone and nodding their head.
What I do love is the process of making something out of nothing and how being in flow state and channeling music is the closest I’ve ever come to God. And it makes the rest of it tolerable.
What’s your biggest session highlight so far?
I’ve had so many but maybe the funniest was when I worked with Max Martin (producer for The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran) and I thought the Swedish word for goodbye meant hello and he walked in and I told him goodbye. He was very gracious about it.
How much do current market and track trends impact your creative process?
When I’m producing and vocal producing, I think a lot about market trends but when I’m songwriting I think very little about it.
Listen to Anjulie on Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify.
