Writing The Next Big Hit With Shane McAnally
Acclaimed country music singer, songwriter and producer Shane McAnally is one of those songwriters that creates lyrics that really gets under your skin. Having written songs for the likes of Kacey Musgraves, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Hunt, Keith Urban and Lady A, it’s no surprise that McAnally has received so many accolades for his writing. He’s had over 40 Number One hits in the charts, a three-time Grammy Award-winner, a 2019 ACM Award for Songwriter of the Year and a recipient of the 2020 Billboard Trailblazer Award. McAnally really has earned his stripes.
A new NBC series released on Bravo in November shows Shane McAnally back in the writer’s chair, sitting alongside OneRepublic front-man, Ryan Tedder and Grammy-nominated singer and producer, Ester Dean. These songwriters, well-known and respected in the industry, are aiming to create the next big hit with the winner of each week’s songs being recorded by a guest performing artist.’
M2 got to sit down with Shane McAnally and talk on his own writing and Songland.
Is America still in lockdown?
Yeah, it’s different in separate states. Even different towns are taking their own precautions. I can’t really brag on the way it’s been here. I think because of the looseness of some of the rules, there’s been a lot of division in the way people are treating it.
Personally, we have been in lockdown and our family has tried to do our part. It’s more than just us staying healthy, but also trying to keep others healthy too. We want to set an example.
We’ve had a great time as a family. My husband and I and our two children have had our own little version of lockdown and we’ve had fun with it.
Firstly, what initially drew you to the music industry?
I don’t really know what it was, because I didn’t have a family that played music. We weren’t an especially musical bunch, but I was always interested in [music], even from a very young age. We have old cassettes of me writing songs as young as six years old.
My mum, she wasn’t exposed enough to the music business to know that that was even a career path. That seemed very foreign to her—there are still a lot of people who don’t understand it. That’s what we’re trying to show everybody [in Songland], that there are people who write these songs.
I felt that it was something I was born to do. As a teenager, I learned to play guitar just so I could write songs. I would save my money to go and record them in a studio. Nothing really came from that for about 20 years after, but I can certainly look back and see the building blocks of what I was doing.
It’s nice to finally get around other people who get it and say how they too were doing the same thing. I felt like such an outsider in my small Texas town where nobody else was in their rooms writing songs. It was nice when I came to Nashville and realised that there are actually a whole lot of us! You feel like you’ve found your tribe.
That’s ultimately what led to me having a commercial career; finding those people and collaborating and saying, ‘We see the world the same, we’ve been through the same struggles and although we come from different places, we know each other’s history.’ Because we have the same dream.
What are your biggest inspirations in creating music?
I guess just relationships and interactions – even if it’s just with friendships or family. I’m married now for many years and am in a happy, settled relationship, but I can still tap back into my younger self who didn’t have a clue and was chasing all the wrong things.
For some reason, those were the songs that always appealed to me – unrequited love, barking up the wrong tree, falling for someone not that interested. I don’t know why that’s such a recurring theme in so many of my songs.
As far as inspirations go, it might be a book, or TV show, but it’s something where I go, I remember that. That’s the thread that makes music so magical, you know somebody else feels the same way. That really does neutralise heartbreak.
You would say: ‘Well, if he wrote it, you must have felt it.’ It can be funny too. It could be stories that happen in everyday life. The more specific a song is, it becomes more universal. There have been times in which I’ve put little details – of a town or an experience – where I’m worried that people won’t have the same experience as me. But that’s the opposite. People can hear the truth.
They know, even if you’re singing in a different town you’re in they still get it. It’s interesting how the specificity translates to the universal language of love.
Tell us about NBC’s Songland…
Songland is where an unknown songwriter, someone who maybe hasn’t had exposure or has been trying to get their song in the hands of a big star, comes along and gets the opportunity to step in front of that singer, like John Legend, or the Jonas Brothers, or Macklemore or Will.i.am. They get to pitch their songs – what we do every day as working songwriters. Myself, Ester Dean and Ryan Tedder are the three judges. We have had careers of pitching songs to people, so we get it. They’re stepping out, pitching their ideas in hope that an artist will record their song.
Myself and the other two help to perfect their song, produce their song and get it in a form that is more commercial and more recordable. Ultimately, in every episode the artist of the week choses a song and you get to hear them perform it. The songs are then released. It’s really a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Ryan, Ester and I often ask ourselves if, 20 years ago we had the same opportunity to stand in front of these artists and hand them a song…maybe I would’ve completely fumbled it because I would’ve been too nervous! But these songwriters are world-class.
I’m shocked at the level of talent of these people that no one’s heard of. I’m so excited for people to see this show. It’s what we’d be doing anyway, even if there weren’t cameras rolling. So getting to do that in real time in front of people, it puts a spotlight on it. Ryan, Ester and I don’t think there’s a big change from our normal lives. We just get to wear better clothes and they put make-up on us.
In season two of the show, there are so many incredible artists too, like Lady A, Florida Georgia Line, Ben Platt who is an incredible Broadway and pop star, Julia Michaels, Luis Fonsi – the list goes on! But truthfully, I get a little star-struck by these people and I need to take a moment being like, ‘Okay, I’m sitting here with Usher…’ and try to keep my cool. It gets a little tangled in my head, thinking that this must be a dream.
What advice would you give young songwriters wanting to make it big in the industry?
I think you have to have to tell your own story through music. You have to find something that is uniquely yours. That will keep people coming back to you. If they know that you’re the only one that has that specific gift, then people will come back. I think it’s just trying to tell your truth in your life, then it spills over into the art.
Songland premieres on Bravo, Tuesday 17th November at 7:30pm
