i wasn't singling you out. You're comment just caught my eye that's all. Lol.

lol That's okay... I'll just try make my comments less sexy in future

lol, don't you think that's pretty artificial though? If the songwriter wrote it....it's theirs, it comes from them...

hahaha! lol ok.

I just get passionate about it cos i see that the credit should be spread around....people get more/less credit than they deserve....it bemuses me....which is why i want to be a one woman band....i'd feel more whole/accomplished that way...

think of those boybands that get frustrated cos they don't write their own songs...it's embaressing that the music industry makes them so fragmented....i'd never put myself in that position since i want to believe in the things i'm singing.....

I think artists like Shakira and Ke$ha could produce a hit album by themselves, and do all of it (vocals, lyrics, composition, production and mixing) solo, but fortunately they CHOOSE not too!

You can write songs for someone else. Pharrell Williams wrote Why Should I Be Sad for Britney about the breakdown of her marriage....

I agree. Mary J. Blige had 3 song writers for her song 'No More Drama' which dealt with her depression, drugs, alcohol etc. The song spoke bucket loads to her and it's one of the most personal songs of her career.

That's a good example....I think songwriters are very similar to actors in that respect. Using that other posters logic, actors shouldn't act anything that hasn't been written by them because it doesn't come from them....

To add to this point, a big part of a singer's artistry comes from how they interpret a song and make it their own.

Kelly Clarkson's current single springs to mind - it was written years ago and shopped around to various singers, but then when she got it, she completely owned it. Most people are obviously surprised such a personal song is written by four random Swedes (without a single co-write credit to Kelly), but it doesn't matter, and she connected with it. That's artistry in my opinion.

I think what makes being a totally independent songwriter uncommon within pop is that it's typically so production heavy that you'd need to also be a skilled producer to complete the process.

Britney's Piece of Me and Circus are also tracks that are worth noting for being very personal, yet not written at all by the singer, aside from a new changes here and there (that Britney DOESN'T get credited for btw).

But surely we all know that Adele didn't solely write her songs. In fact that's how this thread started. Do you have any sources to prove she has said this because that would truly be audacious and erm lying? I imagine she said she wrote some of the lyrics anyway would be interesting to know more.

I keep hearing Taylor Swift writes her own material with no collaboration. Is this true? I don't know a lot about her, assumed she was a country singer so wasn't interested but I'll give a listen but would like to know if she is that creative.

Every song on taylors second album fearless and her third album speak now were written by Taylor. Even on taylors first album almost half the songs are taylors own songs.
Liz Rose has been credited as part songwriter on some songs on fearless that were written during the writing of taylors first album but as Liz herself has said her input into the songs was more as a mentor and to create the finished article, the origional lyrics and music were all written by taylor.
The only real collaboration taylor had was a song on fearless called breath featuring Colbie Caillat but even that song was origionally written by taylor. Many people dont know that taylor was a professional songwriter before becoming an artist.
Thing is many things go on in the creation of a song and confusion often happens when co-writing credits are written on an album. Without song credits a co-writer cant get royalties so sometimes a co-writer will have credits even if they input very little into a song.
The whole co-writer credits is always a bone of contention and only the artist and co-writer and producer really knows how much input each has put into the song.
My husband is a pro session guitarist and has guitar credits on over 20 albums now so I know a little of how that side of it works through him, of course it works differently for song writers and session musicians who play on albums but the same prinicple applies to some extent. For example he has credits for a 20 second guitar piece on one song whilst on another song having the same credits for playing guitar through the whole song so his input has varied but he is still credited in the same way on both songs.

I think my own personal problem with songwriting and whether you do it alone or with help is that it detracts from my admiration of an artist if they've had outside help. It's different for bands who all write songs together, because they are meant to be working artistically in a group. But when you see someone constantly singing someone else's songs I fail to see what's impressive about them. My favourite artists all write their own material and to me that's brilliant. I'm in awe of them for how talented they are. Could I be in awe of a Rihanna/ Britney/ Katy Perry? No. Some of their songs may be catchy but hell, they'd be catchy no matter who was singing them.

That's not a fair comparison, actors don't give the public a perception of having a creative input in the script. People don't worship actors falsely in the same way in happens in music. If you can't write your own songs, you're just a singer, not an artist. Take a look at Kate Bush's work, every album will say "All songs written by Kate Bush". That's what I want to see, not co writes. You only co write if you're not good enough to do it yourself.

Some of you are being ridiculous. As a song writer and composer myself, I understand that putting together lyrics and melody is the very same process as putting together piano and voice. You can do it yourself, but there's nothing wrong with getting someone else's twist on things by working with them. People are individuals and therefore see things from different angles.

The thing that matters is the end result, not how you get there - you're listening to the completed song, not the demo or the writing process. I think asking a songwriter to be able to identify all angles of a subject or story is a little harsh for writing all songs.

A great example of this would be Lennon & McCartney. Of course, they were in a band together, but that's not relevant. Music is successful because people connect with it, not because it was written by one sole person. It's the reason Christina's "Beautiful" is such a personal and emotive song, despite being written by someone else.

Life experience is the main factor for writing, and nobody has experienced the positives and negatives of every bit of life.

In conclusion: don't pretend to be smart little armchair critics if you don't know what the process is like in reality.

Good example, although Kate is more of a Diva than a Princess but definitely a very creative force especially in the 1980s. I also see Taylor Swift gets a mention above and it s true that there is a strong tradition of singer-songwriting in CW music which is one of it's strengths. I would like to see a bit more personal story telling in modern pop music. To be fair there is a bit of it with Adele.

It is of course possible for a singer to be the channel for a great song writer like Meatloaf was for Jim Steinman or The Monkees for Neil Diamond.

Or Bernie Taupin for Elton John. I think after reading all this it's perfectly respectable, reasonable and professional even to collaborate. And it's not just pop princesses or pop queens that do this, collaboration seems the norm for most artists.

It's the result that matters. EG whoever wrote Adele's Someone Like You, the way she delivers it makes it her own.

We are talking about solo artists not bands and the reality is that most solo artists (i.e. singer-songwriters) do write their own songs. The mainstream pop stars being talked about on this thread are not representative of most artists. There's nothing wrong with co-writing but Ihe artists I like the best and consider the most talented write their own stuff.

Then it's a good job you have no say in the industry. Some of the better songs have been co-written rather than written by one person. Writing a song on your own doesn't make you more talented or skilled, it just makes the song very one dimensional in terms of input from different points of view.

Adele is a fantastic example of this. She's co-written things that have been multi-layered in terms of their point of view and expression of heartache, but does this mean she couldn't write something like this on her own? Perhaps, actually. If she doesn't have it in her mind to write a song that could feature lines such as "Set fire to the rain" or "We were born and raised in a summer haze" then maybe those lines would've been replaced with something different. Does it make it better or worse? Who knows.

Imagine by John Lennon. Written by John Lennon. Does this mean it's better quality than "Let it be" or "All you need is love"? It's down to preference, but I don't believe that it is. It's a very one-sided song without variation.

Regardless of whether you're talking about one person or a band, it's all the same, really. You write a song, you sing it, or not in some cases.

Co-writing is how you expand your range as a writer. It's a very positive practice and bouncing your ideas off another person or a few other people can lead to moments of genius that would've never occured on your own.

Taylor Swift writes and composes the vast majority of her own material herself, all tracks on Speak Now if I'm not mistaken.

The likes of Britney Spears don't have alot of writing credits on their material, that's not to say they can't write. Britney wrote and composed a song 'Someday (I Will Understand)' by herself which, I think, is a beautiful song.

I don't think it is particularly important that an artist writes ALL their own material. Sometimes they can hear a song and identify with it. The most recent instance of this would be Demi Lovato 'Skyscraper'. She didn't write the song but it says alot about her and she can still convey emotion through it despite not writing it as she identifies with the lyrics.

I honestly could not care if an artist has written their own material.
If they work with AMAZING songwriters then I don't see the problem.

I don't particularly like when co-writes come up on threads like this.

An example.
Simon Cowell has a writing credit on 'Footprints in the Sand' by Leona. And we now know that he received that credit because he came up with the concept of turning a poem into a song.

A credit IMO is only accepted if the artist is actually responsible for the lyrical content. And if howany writers associated with the song agree.

So fanbases need not start ranting about how their favourite artist can write a song too then say that it was co-written.
I think Beyonce is one of the best known for having credits for writing when in fact we all know it's about the royalties.

Who said co-writing is a bad thing? Certainly not me. I hope you're not trying to suggest that I think everyone should write on their own because that would be bizarre and nothing like what I said at all.


I would say it does take more talent and skill but at the end of the day the quality of the songs is what counts. No one is suggesting that everyone who writes their own songs is talented and skilled. But the very best singer-songwriters are at the top of the talent tree as far as I'm concerned and are in no way one dimensional.

That's one possible reason, among many other more valid reasons!

Singers are meant to sing. Songwriting is a bonus IMO.