Sasha Alex Sloan performs 'Empty' and discusses the craft of songwriting

Transcript

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Geoff Bennett: You may not know the name Sasha Alex Sloan, but chances are you have heard her work. She’s become one of music’s most sought-after songwriters, writing across pop, country, K-pop, and R&B for artists, including Olivia Rodrigo, Bruno Mars and Karol G, and Charlie Puth.

Now, as Sloan is in contention for a Grammy nomination for songwriter of the year and prepares to release an album of her own, she joins us to talk about the craft of songwriting and to perform one of her own songs here in our studio.

Sasha Alex Sloan, welcome to the “News Hour.”

Sasha Alex Sloan, Musician: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Geoff Bennett: So tell me what it’s like to be a songwriter. When you walk into a room with an artist, how do you craft something without imposing your own voice on it?

Sasha Alex Sloan: It’s a great question.

And every room is so different, so there are a million different answers to that question, but I think it just depends on who you’re writing with. And I think, when you’re the songwriter in the room and not the artist, it’s all about them. It’s their voice, their ideas.

And so I think your job as a songwriter is to just help them be heard.

Geoff Bennett: As we said, you have written pop songs, R&B songs, country, rock. What makes a song work regardless of genre?

Sasha Alex Sloan: So I always say a song is like a script, and the production is the set. And I think any song — I’m going to maybe take that back later, but, for the most part, any song can be made into any genre with the right production.

And so I think, as the story — as long as the story’s good, the rest is — you can figure out.

Geoff Bennett: I wonder, do you have a story about somebody you have worked with who we would know that really stands out?

Sasha Alex Sloan: I got the privilege of working with Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro, and it was just an incredible time. I just felt so honored to be there and grateful to be in the presence of that level of greatness.

And I eventually heard a couple months later that Robert Smith was featuring on the song, and then I basically realized that I peaked and I should probably quit.

(LAUGHTER)

Geoff Bennett: Hardly.

So the song you’re going to perform now, “Empty,” what should we know about it? What does it say about you as a songwriter or artist?

Sasha Alex Sloan: “Empty” is one of my favorite songs I have written recently. It’s just about being codependent. I read this book called “Codependent No More,” and I am the biggest people pleaser on earth, and I give and give, and I try to fix people, and I think that’s love. And it’s not.

And this song is kind of my realization of that.

Geoff Bennett: This is Sasha Alex Sloan performing “Empty” off the new album “And The Crowd Goes Mild.”

It’s a great title, by the way.

Sasha Alex Sloan: Thank you.

(MUSIC)