Let’s get philosophical first of all, okay.
Because I think understanding the why of, of anything you do is really crucial.  So, you know, I think we all have, we’ve seen some examples of like the lone  songwriter or artist, you know,  like a Bob Dylan back in the day, or, you know, like a Prince or Stevie Wonder a lot of the time, who kind of seems to be self-contained  and seems to, you know, they can write, the whole song themselves.
It maybe perform it, produce it, as well.  But let’s face it, that is, those are the unicorns  in the world of, in the music industry,  okay? Most people, come up with their songs by collaborating with someone else. So whether it’s an artist collaborating with one songwriter or songwriter slash producer, or many, you know, if you look at credits on most of the top pop records and hip hop records, today, you’re gonna see more than one name.
And often you’ll see like a long list of, of names.  So  why do we collaborate? Number one, pool your resources, okay, because  I know what I do well, and the skills that I bring into a room,  but I can’t do the whole picture myself.
So personally, my skill is, okay, great musicianship. You know, I spent a few years, learning guitar, learning some other instruments, learning production, and then learning how to write songs. coming up with big hooks is another one of my skills. But do I sing well? No I have a very limited range, so even though it sounds great in my head, it definitely would not be a hit if I sang it.
So, I love personally collaborating with great singers, and that’s been something I’ve been able to do, for my career.  So, wherever you are at today, you  know, it’s important to kind of just take a real look at what are you good at and be confident in that and keep expanding on that. However, whatever else is missing to kind of get a song from zero to a finished, song that’s gonna be out there in the world, you know, you want to connect with other people to do that.
So you wanna pool your resources, because you’ll get better results faster, okay? That’s the main, that’s another reason, why pooling your resources is, is gonna be, more effective. ’cause you’ll get to your goal a lot faster than you would otherwise.  So,  and you see it, and another one, okay, you’ll see, I obviously, I dunno if you can recognize, I pulled a few pictures, the blurry picture of the Beatles  crossing, Ivy Road Studios there.
So this is, you know, Â that’s a great example of, pulling the resources because individually, I think, you know, I’ve read in interviews and everything, they never consider themselves great musicians, maybe on their own. and as far as songwriters, well, that’s different. Definitely. You know, we have John Lennon and Paul McCartney, you know, wrote, so like the top songwriting duo still to this day as far as the number of, of hits that they’ve had and lasting classic songs.
not to little George Harrison or Ringo. So anyway,  but, you know, everyone had their role and when they came together, it created something  way, way, way, way better than the sum of its parts. So, there’s always some kind of magic factor, in the creative process  that you can’t predict. So, you know, that’s,  you definitely know you’re gonna get something different when you bring someone else into a room than when you are just coming up with your own songs.
 So the second reason why it’s awesome to collaborate is to, for accountability.  So I don’t know about you guys, but, you know,  I have been known to, or had in the past, maybe procrastinated or maybe didn’t finish something, as fast as I could have.
I mean, that’s, I can say that although, you know, honestly, I’m, I’m pretty disciplined in general, but the beautiful thing with, when I know I have a songwriting session booked is I have to do it. So,  we’ve all had those days where you wake up and, you know, you think you’re gonna write a song, but you just don’t feel like it, you’re not inspired, or you don’t, you don’t have the inspiration. It hasn’t come to you that day.  So  if you’re just on your own, you might just push it off and say, okay, I’ll wait until inspiration strikes.
and that  definitely is not the way to build a lasting songwriting career. You gotta consistently keep practicing and keep writing those songs, you know, day in and day out.  So  the great thing is when you put, when you make a plan with someone else,  then you know you’re accountable to it to be there to show up.  And also, when you’re in a room with someone  and you’re coming up with an idea,  you’re kind of,  you know, accountable to each other, to, to finish the song and to kind of agree on what you both like.
And, and whatever that is where you, where your likes kind of cross, is where you’re gonna come up with, you know, a better song. Â So, and the other thing is obviously support. Â Okay? Â So, Â like I said, you know, you’re not gonna feel inspired every day.
I’ve definitely, like  my first two experiences were in bands, okay? first band, the philosopher Kings became big in Canada way back in the nineties.  And, you know, we did everything together. Like we were  rehearsing eight hours a day. We kind of  come up with the arrangements of the songs, in a group,  and, you know, we tour together and all that support made us each more confident, gave us, you know, got our careers moving way faster than they would’ve otherwise.
so  yeah, there’s nothing like having there know a team.  The bottom line is humans on a very basic level, we all need connection.  So, you know, as much as you can do on your own in front of a computer screen like this, even, you know, connecting with someone is a much deeper experience.
 And songwriting is a very, at its best, songwriting is really emotionally rewarding. It can be a spiritual experience, definitely is one of my favorite experiences that I get to, do again and again and again. but what I  personally love most about it is  the connection with someone else. So that’s part of the support.  Oh, here’s our friend Drake here.
again, why co-write Build community?  So, you know, we can support each other in the songwriting session or the songwriters, but  someone like Drake,  you know, he has built  not just a great career for himself, but he has actually created something very unique. He created a whole  ecosystem, creative ecosystem of  other songwriters, producers, rappers, musicians  within, his projects, and then by developing the OBO label.
 So  it’s amazing. It’s actually created so many careers just off of, you  know, him being open to collaborate, him, seeing the value in collaborating and continuously, making that part of his business and his practice creatively,  right?  So,  you know, there’s strength in community.
