<\/p>\n
New York (AP) \u2014 When songs top the charts, they become inescapable: Cross-genre hits are heard on the radio, on streaming, in lobbies and grocery stores. The artists who perform them become famous. But the people who wrote those earworms? Many do not.<\/p>\n
At least, that used to be the case.<\/p>\n
In the last few years, a new generation of songwriters has begun stepping into the spotlight. Muni Long<\/a> has a successful R&B career; songwriter HARDY has done the same in the country music space. Julia Michaels writes big pop hits and records her own. Victoria Mon\u00e9t went from Grammy nominations as a songwriter and producer to taking home trophies as a solo artist. Amy Allen has become a household name following the ubiquity of her work with Sabrina Carpenter.<\/a> The same could be said about \u00c9dgar Barrera,<\/a> who has dominated Latin music as both a songwriter and producer.<\/p>\n On Netflix, a new reality show, \u201cHitmakers,\u201d follows a group of songwriters as they ship off to writing camps to work on songs for John Legend, Shaboozey, Usher and Blackpink\u2019s Lisa.<\/p>\n The industry has taken note, too. For the 2023 Grammys, a \u201csongwriter of the year\u201d award<\/a> was created to spotlight the talents of those who write for others. That year\u2019s award went to Tobias Jesso Jr., for his songs for Harry Stiles, Adele, FKA Twigs and others. Theron Thomas won in 2024 and Allen in 2025.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how it happened.<\/p>\n A changing tide<\/p>\n Why is there a buzz around songwriters now? The answer is challenging to pinpoint. Allen says<\/a> she\u2019s noticed a shift in \u201cthe past six years,\u201d she told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n \u201cI am so grateful that the general public is starting to take interest in the people behind the curtain of how music is made,\u201d Allen said. \u201cBut I think songwriters have kind of long gone without any type of visibility or recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n She credits fans \u2013 modern music listeners \u2013 for driving attention to her and her colleagues and social media platforms like TikTok for some of this newfound interest. Online, dedicated fans are curious about the names behind their favorite songs, what Allen describes as a desire to \u201cconnect the dots \u2026 like they\u2019re trying to solve a murder mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n PYNK BEARD, an emerging country music artist and a Grammy-award winning<\/a> R&B songwriter under the moniker Sebastian Kole, agrees, but says that crate-digging behavior is reserved for \u201csuper fans.\u201d Algorithms, too, must be credited here: The exposure to other artists \u2014 including songwriters \u2014 emerges from listening to a playlist or online radio.<\/p>\n Michaels says some of the credit goes to the artists they write for, who are making their collaborators known by name.<\/p>\n \u201cI sometimes think songwriters are sort of the dishwater of the music industry. We get the short end of the stick a lot of the time. And so, it really comes down to artists\u2019 recognition of songwriters,\u201d she says. \u201cFor that to happen is really special. And I see it happen more and more nowadays. It\u2019s really great that songwriters are getting their flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n Songwriters are artists themselves<\/p>\n It\u2019s not only that songwriters are now being recognized for their gifts \u2013 they\u2019re releasing music under their own names, too, while simultaneously penning hits for the biggest artists around.<\/p>\n Take Michaels for example. She\u2019s cowritten songs like Justin Bieber\u2019s \u201cSorry\u201d<\/a> and Selena Gomez\u2019s \u201cLose You to Love Me,\u201d<\/a> and has had her own hits with \u201cIssues\u201d and \u201cIf The World Was Ending\u201d with JP Saxe.<\/p>\n \u201cSongwriting is always my first love. Like, I\u2019m always going to want to write songs with and for other people,\u201d she says. \u201cBut there\u2019s also this very strong desire to be able to have my own voice as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The majority of PYNK BEARD\u2019s songwriting career as Sebastian Kole has been in the R&B space, working with Alessia Cara, Legend,<\/a> Alicia Keys, Halle Bailey and more. As a solo artist, he makes country music. He says writing for others and writing for himself are two distinct skill sets, each a unique expression of creativity and empathy. \u201cAs a songwriter, my job is to listen and mimic,\u201d he says. \u201cMy job as a songwriter is to get as close to their voice as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Writing for himself \u201cis completely different \u2026 you have to really get to know yourself again.\u201d<\/p>\n An economic reality<\/p>\n In the first episode of Netflix\u2019s \u201cHitmakers,\u201d the writer Trey Campbell introduces himself by saying that even though he is Grammy nominated, he still drives for Uber to support himself. For many writers, that is the reality of the job.<\/p>\n \u201cThe songwriter position is probably the most glorified, underappreciated job in music, right? Everybody thinks, \u2018Oh, the songwriter, the person that wrote the song, they make all this money,\u2019\u201d says PYNK BEARD. \u201cWell, we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n