And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan
by And The Writer Is
Every week, we sit down with an acclaimed and venerable songwriter to intimately discuss what happens behind closed doors in the music industry. There are millions of singers, thousands of artists, and only 40 top songs per genre at a time... this podcast is about the people who make them. Produced by Joe London & Ross Golan in association with Big Deal Music & Mega House Music. And The Writer Is... ™
Episodes
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Ep. 270: Miranda Lambert | How She Keeps Writing Country Hits 20 Years In
Today’s guest is a three-time GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter and producer behind some of country music’s biggest songs. Across more than two decades, she’s built a career on honest stories, unmistakable songs and doing things her own way. And The Writer Is… Miranda Lambert! Recorded live at…
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And The Update Is…Spotify’s Royalty Fight, Universal’s Bloodbath, and the Week in Music
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 269: RAYE | How She Escaped Her Record Deal and Became a Superstar
Today's guest is the British singer-songwriter behind “Escapism.” and “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” After seven years in a record deal without releasing her debut album, she went independent, landed a UK No. 1 and won six BRIT Awards in one night. This is the story of how she found her own way to...
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Ep. 268: Ilya Salmanzadeh | How The Swedes Cracked Hit Songwriting and Why Most People Won't
Today's guest is the Swedish producer and songwriter behind "Problem," "Into You," "Love Me Like You Do," "No Tears Left To Cry," "Santa Tell Me," and "Unholy,". He finally sits down with Ross for an And The Writer Is interview ten years in the making. He taught himself to make music from a demo…
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Ep. 267: YG Opens Up. Bad Deals, Hit Records, and a Midlife Crisis
Today’s guest is a multi-platinum rapper and songwriter who took Compton to the charts and gave the world “My Hitta,” “Who Do You Love?” and “Big Bank.” From his debut album My Krazy Life to collaborations with Drake, Nipsey Hussle, and Nicki Minaj, he’s built a catalog that’s done serious damage...
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Ep. 266: Tinashe’s Guide to Making It on Your Own Terms
Today’s guest is a singer, songwriter, producer and dancer who has spent her career trusting her own instincts—and building a world around them. From “2 On” to “Nasty” and “No Broke Boys,” Tinashe has kept releasing music through major-label deals, independent projects and viral breakthroughs....
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Ep. 265: How Remi Wolf Built Her Career: Study the Greats, Take the Gig, Say Yes
Today’s guest is one of the most unmistakable voices in modern pop — an artist, songwriter and producer who has built a career by making music that sounds like nobody else. Her catalog has passed two billion global streams. She’s played top billing at festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza…
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And The Update Is...Ella Langley Makes Billboard History, UMG Sues DistroKid & Songwriters Fight for Healthcare
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 264: How Aaron Dessner Became an Industry Favorite and the 3AM Text That Became 'folklore'
Today's guest is a musician's musician who co-founded The National, the Grammy-winning band behind Boxer, High Violet and Sleep Well Beast. He co-wrote and produced Taylor Swift's folklore and evermore, including cardigan and willow. folklore won Album of the Year at the Grammys. He worked on The...
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Ep. 263: Ziggy Marley on Family Rules for Life, Music, and Success
Today's guest is a Grammy-winning songwriter, bandleader and activist who has spent four decades inside the most famous name in reggae — but whose real story isn't the inheritance. It's the set of rules underneath it, the ones the family actually lives by, which turn out to have almost nothing to...
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And The Update Is...The Industry Mourns Dolly, AI Music, $11 BILLION in Ticket Fees & Ella Langley Takes Over the Charts
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 262: Ryan Beatty | How to Make It in Music Without Losing Yourself
Today's guest is an artist and songwriter whose career has taken him from teenage YouTube covers to working with Beyoncé, Tyler, The Creator, Brockhampton, Miley Cyrus and Jack Antonoff. But this conversation is really about something bigger: How to build a career in music without losing yourself...
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Ep. 261: Travis Barker | Survival and Building a Legendary Career out of the Ashes
Today's guest is the drummer who took punk out of the garage, put it on your radio, then on MTV, then on your body. But his real story isn't the discography. It's what he did with everything that was supposed to end him. From a four-piece kit in Fontana to the center of the album cover, Travis...
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Ep. 260: Role Model | Being Discovered by Mac Miller & How Getting Signed Changed His Music
Today's guest is an artist most people meet through the bit: the deadpan internet, the cowboy suit, the one-sided war he's been waging with Harry Styles for a year that Harry Styles knows nothing about. So this is the other version of him. A kid in Pittsburgh with a borrowed mic and beats ripped...
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And The Update Is...Suno Loses Copyright Case, Spotify Hits 300M & YouTube Music Dominates
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 259: Jessi Alexander on Writing "The Climb" The Week She Almost Quit... + What It Takes To Last as a Nashville Songwriter
Today's guest wrote "The Climb." She also wrote "I Drive Your Truck," "Mine Would Be You," "Don't Think Jesus," and "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma." But her real story isn't the hits. It's the ten years before the first one, the five years after it when the phone stopped ringing, and what she figured...
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Ep. 258: Suki Waterhouse on Loveland, Motherhood, and Finding Her People
Today's guest is a songwriter four albums deep, with a song that's been picking up new listeners for nine years and Mick Fleetwood playing on her latest record. But her real story isn't any of that. From weekend stage camps in West London to opening Wembley for Taylor Swift five months after…
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And The Update Is…Spotify Goes MTV, Triller Gets Sued & AI Floods the Industry
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 257: Adam Lambert on Idol, Fronting Queen, and Opting Out of the Industry Game
Today's guest is one of the great voices of his generation — the theater kid who auditioned for American Idol with Michael Jackson, watched the judges' faces fall, and demanded a second song because he'd just quit his job and had no health insurance. But his real story isn't the voice. It's the...
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SUNO Sued, Ai Labels, Resale Ticket Act, Choosin Texas Stays Ontop
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Rewind: The Benny Blanco Episode [Patreon Exclusive]
Today's episode is a rewind to our conversation with Benny Blanco. To hear the rest of this episode, join our Patreon, where you'll find our full library of archived episodes with legends like Babyface, Shania Twain, Sabrina Carpenter, Benny Blanco, and many more. Members also get access to our...
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Ep. 256: Gavin Rossdale (Bush) | "Glycerine" & Surviving the '90s
Today's guest is the frontman of Bush, one of the defining voices of '90s alternative rock and the "feral," self-flagellating songwriter underneath them, who still claws through every blank page 30 years in and can't tell you how he does it. From a broken home at 12 to painting dentists' offices...
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And The Update Is...Fake Streams, Billion-Dollar Deals & Ed Sheeran's Biggest Career Move Yet
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 255: Brittany Howard | How Alabama Shakes Went From a Garbage Truck to Playing with Prince
Today's guest is Brittany Howard — four-time Grammy winner, the voice of Alabama Shakes, and one of the most singular artists of her generation. But her real story isn't the accolades or the sold-out rooms. It's a single-wide trailer, a junkyard full of animals, and a garbage truck — and a woman...
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And The Update Is...Spotify Deletes 500K Streams ,TIDAL Takes a Stand Against AI,The Charts Have a New Enemy
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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And The update Is...AI Lawsuits Are Coming, Clive Davis Remembered & Olivia Rodrigo Makes History
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 254: Zooey Deschanel | Her Secret Identity + The Journey of She & Him
Today's guest is one of the most recognizable faces of her generation — an actor whose voice you'd know in a single frame. But her real story isn't the one you've watched. It's the one she kept secret: for 20 years she's been a songwriter, and barely anyone — even people who know her — knew it....
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And The Update Is...Heartbreak In The Writing Community, Chart Toppers & Goats
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 253: Nessa Barrett on Fame, Music, and Finding Herself in Public
Today's guest built an audience of millions before she was old enough to sign a record deal, turned a 30-minute crying freestyle into her debut single, and made one of Gen Z's defining breakup anthems out of a phrase that became its own internet language. But her real story isn't the viral fame…
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And The Update Is...Taylor & Drake Make History, AI Makes Headlines
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 252: Lizzo | Rock Bottom, #1, and the Game Nobody Explains
Today's guest is a Grammy winner, a two-time Billboard #1 artist, and one of the defining pop voices of the last decade. But her real story isn't the anthems or the awards. It's the part that plays like a rollercoaster and teaches like a masterclass: how she almost quit, what going #1 actually…
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The Realest Conversation About Songwriting In 2026 | Gino The Ghost | Patreon Exclusive
Today's guest is a multi-Latin-Grammy-winning songwriter and producer with a wall of platinum records — and one of the few people in music willing to say the quiet part out loud. He came up as an actor and a rapper, moved to LA broke, stumbled into songwriting, and turned it into the kind of…
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And The Update Is…Drake, AI, and a $5.4 Billion Question
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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And The Update Is...Universal's Big Week: AI, TikTok While Drake Dominates
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 251: Myles Smith | Stargazing, Therapy, and The Secret Cost of Success
Today's guest is a rising star who's risen so fast he's not really rising anymore — he's just a star. From a bedroom in Luton playing $50 nylon-string covers and open mics playing for 4 people... Three years later: a billion streams, "Stargazing" on President Obama's summer playlist, two singles...
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And The Update Is... AI Covers, Drake’s New Era & Why Michael Jackson Is STILL Charting in 2026
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 250: Niall Horan | Outlasting Pop's Biggest Band, "Dinner Party" & More
Today's guest came up in the biggest band in the world at seventeen, watched it pause at twenty-two, and built a solo career almost no one in his position has ever managed to sustain. From success, to tragedy, and back... This Irishman makes his triumphant return to the stage and our hearts with...
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And The Update Is...Pop Stars, Lawsuits & Billion-Dollar Moves
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Rewind: Jack Antonoff | How to Pick the Artists Who'll Define Your Career
Today's guest is a Grammy Producer of the Year who's tied with Babyface for the only three-in-a-row run in the award's history — and whose real story isn't the trophies, the radio, or the run of hits. It's the decision he makes once every few years that almost no other producer at his level…
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And The Update Is…May the 4th Be With the Charts: Hits, Headlines & Industry Chaos
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .
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Ep. 249: Rick Beato | Songwriters Got Poorer. AI Is Next. So Where Is Music Going?
Today's guest is a multi-instrumentalist, music educator, interviewer, producer, and songwriter. He is also one of the most influential independent music voices online. His real story isn't the channel he built after a 90-second video of his son's perfect pitch hit 80 million views overnight…
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And The Update Is...No Fakes Act, Trademark Protection, and Today's ChartToppers
And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry . This week Ross dives into No Fake Act, Justin Bieber's comeback to charts since Coachella, Country & KPOP chart toppers & more. Tune into this weeks episode of ATWI with Roget Chahayed.
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Ep. 248: Rogét Chahayed | From Pianist to Sicko Mode, Kiss Me More & APT.
Today's guest is a prolific producer behind Sicko Mode, Broccoli, Bad at Love, Kiss Me More, Laugh Now Cry Later, First Class, and APT. — but whose real story isn't the catalog. It's how most of those songs happened by accident. A classically trained concert pianist who spent his teens grinding...
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And The Update Is...The Charts Are Country. The Industry Is AI. Now What?
Every week, And the Writer Is brings you the most important news moving through the music industry — straight, sharp, and no fluff. This week Ross Golan opens the weekly And The Writer Is… news update (week of April 20, 2026) by highlighting major chart wins: Swimf by BTS is #1 on the Global 200...
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How Dan Nigro Builds Superstars | Ep. 195 | Rewind
Today's guest is the Grammy Producer of the Year who built the two biggest pop breakthroughs of the last five years back to back — and whose real story isn't about the hits. It's about the three years he spent making nothing and the rule he wants every producer in the game to understand. From…
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And The Update Is… Live Nation Ruled an Illegal Monopoly, D4VD Arrested for Murder, Udio Pays Up on AI
Every week, And the Writer Is brings you the most important news moving through the music industry — straight, sharp, and no fluff. This week: a jury ruled Live Nation and Ticketmaster violated antitrust laws and operate as illegal monopolies, with a judge now weighing whether to force a breakup…
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Ep. 247: Billy Corgan | How He Built Smashing Pumpkins Into a 30-Million Album Empire
Today's guest is the architect of alternative rock who sold 30 million albums and defined the sound of an entire generation — but whose real story begins after the hits stopped mattering to him. From the suburbs of Chicago to the apex of 90s mainstream success, Billy Corgan built an empire. Then…
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And The Update Is… Rap Lyrics Banned in Court, AI Deals Stalling, and a $64B UMG Bombshell
Every week, And the Writer Is brings you the most important news moving through the music industry — straight, sharp, and no fluff. This week: Maryland just passed the RAP Act, making it illegal to use rap lyrics as courtroom evidence, potentially setting the stage for federal law. Suno's…
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Ep. 246: Dermot Kennedy | How an Irish Busker Became a Worldwide Phenomenon
Today's guest is the Irish troubadour who sold out arenas across the world and built one of the most durable careers in modern music, entirely on his own terms. From Dublin street corners and busking for strangers to headlining Madison Square Garden, this conversation is about what that actually...
About this show
Every week, we sit down with an acclaimed and venerable songwriter to intimately discuss what happens behind closed doors in the music industry. There are millions of singers, thousands of artists, and only 40 top songs per genre at a time... this podcast is about the people who make them. Produced by Joe London & Ross Golan in association with Big Deal Music & Mega House Music. And The Writer Is... ™
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