Nuno Bettencourt Quotes

You never know until a song comes out and becomes what it becomes, obviously you can't predict how the masses will react.

Mike Campbell and Don Henley and I wrote 'The Heart of the Matter,' which was a huge hit for Don.

When you finish a song, your first thought is going to be, 'Is this song a hit?' I hate that we think that way, because it kind of takes a little bit of the meaning out of the songs that are being written, but you're definitely going to think, 'Can this song be put on the radio?'

You don't just go to the studio and say, 'I'm going to write a hit.' It becomes a hit when people like your compositions.

I had no idea 'Big Green Tractor' was going to be as big a hit as it was. You just can't predict those things.

Nobody ever knows how big a song is going to be.

Adele ultimately did well in such a large way because she affects everybody, and the way that she writes seems to be popular music, not because of her skin color but because she writes great music, and it's popular in that way.

If the song makes it and people like it, then I guess that's all that matters, really.

Even in the early stages, you can tell who thinks you're an idiot singing songs someone else has written for you. We never wanted to be two producers and a girl who wears some shoes.

Look, when a song becomes a hit, it happens because of its tune and melody, and not for the lyrics in the first place.

Any song that does well, we're happy with. All we can do is keep writing great songs and hope that one catches on.

I don't care about the word 'pop'. The Beatles were pop; it's just what's popular.

I can promote until I am blue in the face, but ultimately nobody knows what makes a hit.

I'm more surprised than anyone that 'Spamalot's done so well. You can never predict what's going to be a hit.

When 'I'm Sorry' came out and became such a huge hit, that made 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' start selling. Then that became a huge, huge hit.

Pop music has always been about the mainstream and what appeals to the public.

I think in a way I was probably completely naive about what it takes to make something become a hit.

We call 'Ain't No Mountain' the golden egg that landed us at Motown.

I know that when I make a record like The Delivery Man as a contrast to even Il Sogno, this is going to reach a wider audience, because it communicates in that very direct way.

If you're a pop singer, you don't need to evolve. You just get a set together, have some hit songs and play them over and over.

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

I write the songs and hand it over to the world and see what happens. But the things that I've written for people that have been hits, I don't know that I would have directed them in the right path, but they definitely wound up on the right path.

Every song I put on a record could be a single and I just pack my bags for it... and the minute it takes off, I'm not gonna be home for a while.

I never really think so much about commercial success; I usually just think about records that move me, and 'Baby Got Back' was one that moved me.

I don't ever have the pressure of making a hit, because I've never had a hit song, per se. The closest thing to a hit song was 'Shiraz,' and it's not your prototypical hit song, with a catchy hook and all this other stuff.