Behind The Wall
Savan Kotecha: The Songwriting Genius Behind the Hits That Defined a Generation
Sun, 29 Dec 2024
This interview is dedicated to the beloved artist and One Direction's own, Liam Payne. I never had the honor of meeting Liam, but his presence in music meant so much to me and so many others around the world. His voice and impact will live on forever. In this interview, I had the privilege of chatting with legendary songwriter, Savan Kotecha. One of the key people who helped Liam, One Direction, and so many artists find their voice. This conversation was recorded before Liam's tragic passing; a loss that has deeply affected so many around the world. And I wish that Liam could see how many people and how many lives he changed because of his incredible because of his incredible voice, his incredible message, and his incredible music. Before we begin, Savan asked me to share this heartfelt message in honor of Liam and his family: "Hey everyone, Since this interview with Daniel was recorded, the world has changed with the tragic passing of Liam Payne. As you’ll hear in my conversation with Daniel, my time with Liam and One Direction was truly life-changing. Liam played a huge role in making my wildest dreams come true. He was a light, and I will forever be grateful that he was a part of my life. I know I speak for millions of fans when I say he will be missed beyond words. Lots of love, savan" Savan Kotecha: The Genius Behind the Hits That Defined a Generation 🎶 In this episode of Behind The Wall, we sit down with the legendary Savan Kotecha, a songwriter and producer whose work has shaped the sound of modern pop music. With over 375 million records sold worldwide, hundreds of billions of streams, and a unique perspective on the creative process, Savan’s genius has defined global pop music like no other. As one of the most successful creatives in music, Savan’s journey is an inspiring story of breaking barriers and redefining representation in the global music industry. From humble beginnings in Texas, he overcame rejection, self-doubt, and the challenges of finding his voice in the competitive music world. Through persistence, passion, and an unrelenting work ethic, Savan went on to co-write some of the biggest songs of all time for artists like One Direction, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Ellie Goulding’, Usher, and so many more. Years later, Savan has become one of the most successful and sought-after songwriters in the world. Yet, as he shares in this conversation, success is about more than numbers—it’s about the lives you touch and the moments you create. In this heartfelt and inspiring discussion, Savan opens up about his creative process, his perspective on success, and the never-before-heard stories behind the biggest songs he’s helped create. Whether you’re a music fan or an aspiring creator, this episode is a masterclass in creativity, resilience, and the power of belief. Where You Can Find More of Savan Kotecha: Playlist of Songs Savan Co-Wrote: Spotify Instagram: @savan_kotecha TikTok: @savan_kotecha Facebook: kananisongs Spotify Artist Profile: Savan Kotecha Where You Can Find More of Daniel Wall: YouTube: Daniel’s Wall TikTok: @danielswall Instagram: @danielwall Facebook: danielsecretwall Playlist of The Songwriters: Spotify Special Thanks to the people who helped me bring this episode to life Creative Director: Ryan Bell Editors: Danial Yahaya & Noah McGuire Thumbnail Designer: Asif My friends and family: You know who you are ❤️ I’m so grateful for everyone who have pushed and supported me on this journey. Thank you, Savan, for going Behind The Wall with us and sharing your incredible stories! You are truly one of the most prolific songwriters ever. The songs you’ve helped create have defined not just a generation but my own journey. Hearing the stories behind those songs was an absolute dream come true. Thank you for being so open and vulnerable in this conversation. I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn from you and look forward to many more incredible conversations in the future!
Chapter 1: Why is this interview dedicated to Liam Payne?
This interview is dedicated to the beloved artist and One Direction's own Liam Payne. I never had the honor of meeting Liam, but his presence in music meant so much to me and so many others around the world. His voice and impact will live on forever.
In this interview, I had the privilege of chatting with legendary songwriter Savin Kotecha, one of the key people who helped Liam, One Direction, and so many artists find their voice. This conversation was recorded before Liam's tragic passing, a loss that has deeply affected so many around the world.
And I wish that Liam could see how many people and how many lives he changed because of his incredible voice, his incredible message, and his incredible music. Before we begin, Savan asked me to share this heartfelt message in honor of Liam and his family. Hey, everyone. Since this conversation with Daniel was recorded, the world has changed with the tragic passing of Liam Payne.
As you'll hear in my conversation with Daniel, my time with Liam in One Direction was truly life-changing. Liam played a huge role in making my wildest dreams come true. He was a light, and I'll forever be grateful that he was a part of my life. I know I speak for millions of fans when I say he will be missed beyond words. Lots of love, Sava.
Chapter 2: What is Savan Kotecha's background and impact on pop music?
Five kids walk in and I was like, they have something. And it was One Direction.
One of the biggest names and people in all of music. Usher. Ariana Grande. One Direction. It was said that you sold over 300 million records.
I woke up to a text from Harry going, I think you really nailed it with this one.
You're really the sixth member of One Direction.
I meet Simon Cowell when I'm like 19 years old. They weren't screaming for the winner of X Factor. They were screaming for One Direction.
That's crazy.
We have Ariana Grande. Do you know who she is? And I started singing, one more time. When you have those gifts that she has, anything felt possible. And when we got his vocal, it was like, oh shit. It's like Michael Jackson, you know? I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't understand why my kids wanted to hug me.
That's how messed up my thinking was, this sort of intertwinement of self-worth and achievement. A friend pushed me to get into therapy and save my life, to be honest with you.
welcome back to behind the wall super excited because we have somebody today who's one of the biggest names and people in all of music and movies five years ago it was said that you sold over 300 million records that's records not streams as in physical records if we were gonna say streams on spotify alone i was actually doing the math last night in my bed i was counting up
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Chapter 3: How did One Direction change the music landscape?
trying to like separate myself from the UK cheesy pop I was doing. Cause I wanted to finally do, I was finally getting like the calls to do like cooler American stuff. And, um, and he goes, she was Savannah, just go meet the contestants, you know? And I went to London. I was like, okay. Cause I owed Simon so much. I go meet the contestants and share a Lloyd walks in.
And I was like, Oh, that's something. And then these five kids walk in. And what I noticed when the kids walk in is that for the rest of the contestants, they had sort of got me like this meeting room where like I had 30 minutes with each contestant. That's what we did just to get to know them and see if anything inspires me.
And Cher inspired me, but it was always like the artists would go in by themselves. But when these five boys walked in, I noticed that all the women from the office walked, came in the room as well. I was like, oh, that's interesting. And they had, they were the funniest kids. You know, they had known me from some of my songs like Westlife that they grew up with because they were UK and Ireland.
And like, oh my God, you did these songs. And I thought they were just the best kids. And I was like, they have something. And it was One Direction. And yeah. And then I did X Factor that year, which was the funnest three months. I mean, I've made lifelong friends from the people that worked on that show. And yeah.
And what were you doing on X Factor?
I was, so we tried to find a role for me. So we made it like vocal producer so I could help mold them and on air as well. But like, it was really, I tried not to be on air. I put on stupid wigs throughout the series.
I saw some of those.
I was thinking there never, no way they're going to put this in the edit, but they did.
you're also very good at accents I saw you do a couple accents like Niles accent oh yeah we did a lot of fun like behind the scenes comedy sketches and stuff and for the four finalists or the five finalists we did like we did like I wrote comedy songs for them like for One Direction it was What's Happening Boys um And I just fell in love with those guys and that whole process.
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Chapter 4: What was Savan's creative process behind writing 'What Makes You Beautiful'?
like that kind of happened around the same time one direction if i'm getting my years right um so it was an amazing sort of year for me like i helped break this band and then maroon five was like number one for like eight weeks um yeah it was it was it was such a great time during that time amazing
Now, one of the biggest songs of the 2010s is Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj's Beauty and the Beat. That's another one with Max. I remember in Justin Bieber's documentary, there's a line of Justin Bieber singing it and Max Martin saying, oh, that's incredible. You're such a great singer. How was it like to make that song?
It took a long time. I think Zedd sent the track and it was just trying to figure out what that, what it was, you know, like what the song was and what it was gonna say and feel like. And it was weird. I'm trying to remember during that time, I was so in like One Direction world, I think, and all of that, that like,
I just remember we, it took a while to get it done and get like the words right and get it all feeling right. Um, like song wise, um, that I barely recall. I wasn't there when I was in, I think I was in Sweden when Max was here recording Justin on it. And again, it was during a time where we're on such a like wave that like, it was just like, yeah, another one. You know what I mean?
Like it was, it was such a strange time. time to like now looking back i'm like gosh that all that all feels like a blur because i remember going to scooter's office and him showing me the video um and i was like wow that's really good and nikki's verse was amazing with the selena when we got those files back it was like
got Nicki Minaj on the song this is so cool you know it was at a time where it was like everything was sort of opening up for us all to not just doing like the standard pop stuff to do things where like a Nicki Minaj will jump on and like do you know do you know what I mean and like um Aaron Usher would record or like Maroon 5 would record you know like with those things were like all of a sudden opening up and to me I think I just remember being
so overwhelmed by excitement that all this stuff was happening. Like all the work put in on these songs, like Beauty and the Bee wasn't easy to write. It was like, you know, getting the phonetics and getting the like melodies and rhythm, like all those things, a lot of like time and care was spent.
So the fruits of that labor and all those things that I was around, you know, and learning from Max, the amount of work you put into the song was, Um, cause that's the thing with someone like him is that he also just works harder on every song than most people, you know, it's, it's, it's like, and that's what we did during our run after that.
We just worked on those songs like, and made them tried our best to make it as bull. Of course we can be wrong, but try our best to make it bulletproof to us as possible. Um, So every second felt like it mattered and didn't let go. We challenged each other and we kept trying to better everything in the song constantly.
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Chapter 5: How did Savan Kotecha find his voice in the competitive music industry?
So a song doesn't become a Christmas hit or a classic until around 20 to 30 years after it comes out. And I feel like that's happening with three songs in particular. One is Santa Tell Me. Another is Mistletoe, Justin Bieber. And the other is Underneath the Tree, Kelly Clarkson. I think those are the three songs we're going to see also become classics.
Listen, thank you. I'm so proud of that song and what it's done. You know, so I think, you know, really proud of One Last Time and, you know, God is a Woman and... you know, it's also some, to me, some of them are like, it's also about the time, like what it meant to me and how I grew as a writer from those songs, if that makes sense. Um, so yeah.
And there's, since I've been back to work, you know, there's a, there's a couple of things coming out, hopefully at the end of the year that I'm really excited about and proud of, um, that I can't talk about, but I I'm really proud of those things.
Well, when you can, I'm very excited to watch and see them and be a part of it as well, because, you know, you've done so much and you're a huge inspiration to everyone out there, but especially me. So thank you so much. Thank you so much for everything that you've done being a part of this.
I want to ask, what's a piece of advice you have for songwriters, producers, anyone that wants to get in this industry? Be a creative.
Well, one advice I'd say, and this is going to sound pessimistic, but I just mean it because it weeds out whether you are really meant to do it or not, is that you have to be willing. You have to go in knowing that you're going to starve for it. You know, you have to be willing to sacrifice and starve for it because it's not easy.
But you have to love making music enough that it doesn't matter if you make a living making it. You just want to make it. And those are the people that end up being the big ones. Yeah. Um, and second is, is cliche, but it's, it's perseverance. Um, if you really believe in it and believe in something, you gotta push it through.
Um, you can tell me one of my big, my big, my songs, and I'll tell you like an artist or label person or someone who didn't believe in it. You know what I mean? Um, and then melody, melody, melody, melody is a universal language. Um,
and um don't forget that melody there'll be there'll be cycles in america where lyrics will matter more but globally traditionally melody melody melodies that's the universal language and um and yeah and you know listen it's tough nowadays right with streaming and and i sometimes fear that music is becoming like photography you know when it becomes easy for everyone to do it
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