Jamie Scott: “Set your bar higher than you think possible and make sure you always try to achieve that bar and keep going.”

We are excited to share an interview with songwriter, producer, and artist Jamie Scott. Throughout his career, Jamie has written chart-topping songs for artists such as One Direction, Rudimental, Rag’N’Bone Man, and many others. He has sold over 50 million albums, 50 million singles, as well as achieving numerous UK No.1 albums and singles. He has toured the world as a member of Graffiti6, a group he formed with a music producer Tommy D.

In the interview, Jamie Scott talks about his creative process, working with the world’s top artists and musicians, providing advice to upcoming music creatives, and discussing his new album How Still the River. Team Studio Talks interviewed Jamie Scott over the phone from his recording studio. The interview was conducted by Rudy Manager and Eethan Bello.

"You never really know what is going to be a hit."

Jamie Scott

Were you always into music or was there a specific moment when you realised that music was what you wanted to do?

I always loved music but I was also a really keen tennis player when I was younger. So it got to the point that I had to choose between music and tennis. When I was about 15 or 16 [years old], music became the obvious choice because tennis felt like I was working too hard. It was too much practice and I was becoming more obsessed with music. That’s all I could really think about and so it just became a natural progression with the music taking over from the tennis.

Did you ever envision yourself as an artist instead of a songwriter before signing with Sony in 2002?

I saw myself as an artist, but it’s funny because when I first signed to Sony, the music that I was signed on was a song I had written for another artist. I definitely didn’t see myself singing it, it was way more soulful. I was in a band when I was younger, that was a bit more folk, indie, with harmonies like Paul Simon, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, that kind of music. I wrote a few songs and one of them was a song called ‘Shameful’ which was quite soulful, pretty R&B and I got signed on the basis that I did that kind of music. I had to leave the duo I was in and venture out on my own. That was the start of my career.

Was there a learning process for you when it came to songwriting especially early on in your career?

I think songwriting did come naturally but it helped that I grew up listening to a lot of amazing songwriters. My mum was into a lot of folk music like Karl King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Paul Simon – that kind of biographical, truthful songwriting; authentic and honest music. That probably helped develop my songwriting a lot, but I also think you can learn a lot – and that’s a really important thing for up-and-coming songwriters to know. I’ve learnt a lot in the last 10 years of my career writing. I got signed when I was 20, but at that point I was really still concentrating on my own music. But when I was 26 or 27 years old, I started writing for other people - I wrote for Enrique [Iglesias], JLS and then One Direction. It was at that point that my career really took off and I learnt a lot at that time. That said, I do ultimately think that pop songwriting, and the ability to write good songs, is an art - one that you are born with. From that basis you can then work on the art of pop songwriting, which I think is something that I’m always striving to do. I’m still learning all the time and bestowing that learning on the people that we sign to our publishing companies.