While it's likely you've never heard of English musician Jamie Scott, it is very likely you have heard more than a few of his songs.
Whether Enrique Iglesias, One Direction and Justin Bieber to Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Macklemore or Rudimental, Jamie has worked with some of the biggest (and most diverse) names in music, whether as a writer or producer; often both.His writing and production credits amount to 50 million albums sold and 10 billion streams on Spotify. Yeah, that's major league.
But late last year, Jamie took stock of his own career (his own projects, Jamie Scott & The Town and Graffiti6, have clocked up an impressive 65 million streams on Spotify), returning to a batch of songs he'd written across the previous few years.
The result is 'How Still The River', Jamie's first studio album of his own material since 2014's 'My Hurricane', that he released earlier this month.
Trust you’re well Jamie… despite the travails of 2020, how are you keeping yourself occupied (away from music) within the madness and intensity of a brutal year?
I’m lucky, because having three young kids has kept us pretty occupied throughout the whole thing really.
Children just get on with it and you’ve kind of got to go with their rules. But we have definitely had our work cut out homeschooling and trying to work at the same time. We also know that we are very lucky to be out in the country and not in the middle of all this.
COVID has steam-rolled the entire planet… how surreal have the past few months been to experience?
Yeah it’s crazy. I guess you can’t really put into words how surreal it is because it’s something that we’ve never seen before and never witnessed. It’s as if we are living in a weird and bad film, but it’s for real and we have to try and find a way through.
Your new studio album; it’s a collection of songs written the past few years you revisited late last year, recording everything in five weeks; the creative energy must’ve been zinging around the studio?
Yeah, it really was and it was such a great feeling to be making my own record again after such a long time so I think the energy of that alone was crazy.
I also have an amazing team of people around me who I’m very thankful for and definitely couldn’t make the album without, so I’m very lucky that way.
How does this record represent Jamie Scott the 2020 musician?
I think the best way of describing it is just freedom, in the way that I didn’t have any rules for this record.
I simply played most instruments myself, wrote a lot of the songs myself or with artists whom I've really enjoyed working with over the last four to five years and recorded them without any real thought.
Being your third album, did you approach the creative process any differently this time around?
Yeah, I definitely did. I tried not to overthink anything and let go of the songs and the production a lot sooner than I would have before.
Your latest single, ‘New York Nights’, is dedicated to your wife; what inspired the track?
It was a weekend we spent in New York where we didn’t have the kids for the first time and we had this crazy 48 hours just watching shows, having amazing food, walking the streets. It was really incredible and we felt this amazing freedom that we hadn’t felt for a while.
The death of Jamiroquai’s Toby Smith; the press release says it spurred your decision to focus on your own music; how influential was Toby on your career, especially as you were first making your way in the industry?
Toby was the most important person ever to me in the music industry.
He was my mentor when I was first signed to Sony when I was much younger and he later became a true friend, someone that I would run everything past because of the experience he had. He was also someone that I put up on a pedestal in terms of his musicality and he really inspired me to become the best musician I could be.
Your production resume, song credits and the artists you’ve collaborated with is the top shelf of the top shelf. . . you must hear songs you’ve written all the time – does it still feel weird?
You know it’s funny how quick you get used to things and it’s probably easy to get a little bit blasé, but you shouldn’t because it’s always such an amazing honour to write music with great artists, and even for yourself, and hear your songs on the radio.
With so many writing credits to iconic songs to your name, have you ever hustled anyone out of $$, maybe as a lark or while out on the town with the lads?
No, I can’t say I’ve ever done that.
Surrounded by so many superstar egos, when you’re in the studio how do you manage the expectations of those artists who are used to getting what they want, when they want?
Fifty per cent of success in this industry is knowing how to manage the minds and egos of artists you work with. It really does help also being an artist I think.
How does writing your own music compare to penning a song for another artist?
It’s a lot simpler task as I am the judge on everything and therefore there are fewer barriers to finishing a song. So I guess that makes it easier, but then I love the challenge of writing for other people as well.
Surely there’s been a number of songs you’ve written for other artists that must’ve been hard to hand over given the emotional connection created?
Yeah, but you write a lot of songs with the artist themselves as well. So I’m used to feeling love for a song but knowing that you have to let go of it.
A few fun questions: If we were coming over to your place, what would you cook us?
Beef Wellington.
No matter the expense, send me a case of?
Laphroaig 30 'cos it’s beautiful.
What’s the one chore you dislike the most?
Hanging up wet washing.
