Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 516

INTERVIEW >>
You already know I’ve
interviewed Belinda.
According to her, she had
no intention of even doing
another album until she
heard your songs. Did you
write them for her? Did you
have her in mind?
It is weird how things work. I
had just written “Big Big Love”
two weeks before I ran into her
son. First of all, I didn’t even
know she had a son. As soon
as he said that, I said “OK, get
your mom on the phone.” And
I said, “Belinda, bitch, you’re
coming in the studio.” She
came in and I think she was
thinking, “I hope this doesn’t
suck”. I don’t necessarily write
with someone in mind, I just try
to write a great song. But there
was nobody that was better for
that song than Belinda. It’s the
best of girl pop and Belinda is
the voice of that. And by the
way, the song “Big Big Love”, I
want that to be a gay anthem.
Get the word out. I am giving
that to Pride for LGBTQ+
communities. It’s big big love–
it’s all encompassing love. It’s
loving who you want to love
and loving who you are.
When you wrote that song,
the words?
I was playing. I programmed
in a drum and I just started
singing “Looking for a big big
love that takes up all the space
in my heart.” And I thought,
“That is really cool.” It just
sounded like a hit to me and
I just kept working on it. The
Nothing is weak and to me she
sounds better than she did 30
years ago. She has so much
energy in her voice. She is still
a star. She is a great performer,
and if you see her live, she is
still kicking ass.
Are you ever sorry that
you gave an artist one of
your songs and wish you
recorded it instead?
I have never felt that way in
my life. I am not a performer. I
would rather give them to other
people. I’d rather give them to
someone better than me and I
like my job. I like to write songs.
The EP Kismet, I know the
story and I know why it’s
named Kismet, but who
thought of the name?
Oh, that was Belinda. It was
perfect because this whole
thing was kismet. Because her
son never goes to that coffee
shop. And it was the one day
he went there. What if he went
there an hour later or I went
there an hour earlier? It was
kismet. It was meant to be.
The song “Sanity”, there has
to be a story behind it.
It was just a fun song. It has a
‘60s thing to me. Like it could
have been a Petula Clark
song or something. But yet, it’s
modern. It has that ‘60s thing
that I’ve always loved.
Speaking of movies, I want to
talk about “The Fire Inside”.
That’s from the movie Flamin’
Hot. It is a fun song. I love the
song. Working on that was
awesome. And different too,
you know.
When you do a song for a
movie, does somebody say
“I have this movie. Can you
write a song for it?” or do
you say “I have a song for
your movie”?
Both. I get called to do songs
for movies, but if it’s something
I read about that becomes
something I chase. If it is
something I feel like I can do
something for, you know, it
goes both ways. People call me
and I call them. I am not above
calling and saying “Hey, I’d love
to see that script.”