Benny Blanco Quotes

Well after 'Fast Car' was so huge, everyone was asking me, 'What's the next song?' At the time I just had ideas I was working on, but it was very clear I needed to finish another song ASAP, and that's how 'Perfect Strangers' came about.

I don't sit down to write a number one hit. I'm not that good at my job - I don't know how to do that.

You write a hit the same way you write a flop.

Things like 'Lucky Man' were never written to even be a record, let alone a hit record.

You know, I've released some great records and I've released some dogs. But frankly, the fun is in creating the thing.

There were some times when I just wanted to quit making music.

When I'm doing a session for another artist, it's a very scheduled thing, and it's kind of imperative that I write a song in that time. But if I'm trying to write a song for myself and I don't have an idea that day, I just can't force it.

You start to compete with yourself when your catalog gets bigger and bigger... I mean, everybody wants the next 'Bless the Broken Road,' but you don't write those every day, so it's difficult.

You could have written the biggest hit song, and all eyes are looking to you to write another one. It's not a thankless job; it's just an endless job.

We rushed to finish the album when 'Mad World' became a hit. The pressure was on and it stopped being as enjoyable as it had been; in the end, it wasn't enjoyable at all.

I sort of have various sort of theories when people ask me about songwriting because it is a mystery. You don't really know. Sometimes you can do it and sometimes you can't. It's really peculiar.

I feel like every time I write a song, it feels like the first time I wrote a song. It's just as hard; it doesn't get easier, but that's why I love it: because it's a challenge every time. I also feel like I'm learning new ways.

To create something new is both thrilling and excruciating at the same time. It's great to have all these choices in front of you, and to have the writers in the room so you know exactly what they meant. But the downside is you want so badly not to screw it up!

The first time with artistic endeavors is, if it's working, it was your idea, and if it's not, it's somebody else's idea.

I can't legislate a song into being; it just will not happen for me.

There's a lot of craft that goes into achieving a hit song - at the beginning of your career, you're usually more inspiration than craft, and you get great when those intersect. A skilled songwriter can get you to that intersection.

I wasn't sure I'd ever win again. Every time I got close, somebody seemed to play a little better.

Writing music is not so much inspiration as hard work.

A few years ago my goal was to try and get the goddamned album made, which put me in a real bad frame of mind.

My biggest enemy for the longest time was my head. When I first became successful, it made me anxious because I was overthinking everything, and you hear so many 'fail' stories.

I have a hard time writing music when I'm on tour.

I never have, but I would love to pick R. Kelly's brain.

I try to keep the idea that there's an audience in as little space in my mind as possible, but you can't erase it entirely, the idea that when you're sitting down to write a song, people are going to hear it.

I'd listen to all the stuff that was going on around me and drift off into my fantasies about it. My fantasies have fuelled all the songs I've ever written.

I start a lot of songs and throw them out because the energy is not right. It's almost like the file becomes cursed. I have to delete it.