{"id":7250,"date":"2025-12-08T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/amy-allen-on-the-five-songs-that-changed-everything\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T15:00:00","slug":"amy-allen-on-the-five-songs-that-changed-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/amy-allen-on-the-five-songs-that-changed-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Amy Allen on the Five Songs That Changed Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/AmyDigi12.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" alt=\"Amy Allen. (All photos by Caity Krone)\"><figcaption>Amy Allen. (All photos by Caity Krone)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>The best thing that happened to pop music in recent years<\/strong> is that Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Allen watched that insipid <em>Twilight<\/em> saga and was revolted by the sight of the childbirth scene. This experience spurred Allen to leave \u201creal school,\u201d as she calls the nursing program she was enrolled in at Boston College, and go to \u201cfake school,\u201d that is, Berklee School of Music for songwriting.<\/p>\n<p>Allen shares this story during a Q&amp;A conducted by fellow Grammy winner St. Vincent at the Grammy Museum a few days after her third nomination for songwriter of the year, an award she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammy.com\/artists\/Amy-Allen\/37881\" target=\"_blank\">won<\/a> handily at the 2025 Grammy Awards. This is one of four nominations for Allen in the upcoming Grammys. She is also in the running for song of the year for \u201cAPT.\u201d and \u201cManchild,\u201d and album of the year for <em>Man\u2019s Best Friend<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/12\/robert-smith-teenage-cancer-trust\/\">Robert Smith Lands MBV, Garbage For Teenage Cancer Trust<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/12\/i-shot-david-bowie\/\">\u2018I Shot David Bowie\u2019<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/12\/lily-allen-west-end-girl-on-tour\/\">Lily Allen Taking \u2018West End Girl\u2019 On Tour<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s fascinating to hear the two discuss the behind-the-scenes of song creation, in a way exposing how the sausage is made. Sometimes this is intriguing, at other times it feels like the <em>Twilight<\/em> childbirth scene in that maybe we don\u2019t need to know that much about how the biggest songs of the day came to be.<\/p>\n<p>But Allen\u2019s music story began long before she became the go-to songwriter with credits ranging from Sabrina Carpenter to Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Halsey, and Tate McRae. She cut her musical teeth during car rides with her sisters and father, who drove them to school an hour each way, playing classic rock the entire time. She jumped into her sister\u2019s band at the age of 10 to take on bass player duties and even auditioned for \u201cThe Voice.\u201d She was later signed with her own band, yet when listening to their debut album at the record label, she realized, \u201cWho the hell is going to believe in that if I don\u2019t even think it\u2019s that great?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She focused on songwriting and spent time in \u201cpitch sessions\u201d where songs are crafted without an artist attached to them. It was from these sessions that \u201cBack to You\u201d was brought to Selena Gomez, and Allen\u2019s name started to receive recognition in music circles. That early experience is in Allen\u2019s rearview, but it is not forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>She says, \u201cI need to start from scratch every day and relearn what a great song actually is, because that\u2019s really hard to do. Because music is so subjective and everchanging, there\u2019s never an end. You can\u2019t complete a level. There\u2019s no finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There certainly seems to be no end in sight for Allen, who released a self-titled artist album last year. Here she traces back to where it all began for her with the songs that inspired her to become a songwriter.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1210\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/Amy63.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-648884\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/Amy63.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/Amy63-340x343.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/Amy63-768x774.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/Amy63-498x502.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-wild-horses-the-rolling-stones\"><strong>\u201cWild Horses,\u201d The Rolling Stones<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>My mom said that when she met my dad, all his jeans had the same faded\/ripped part right on the right front pocket. She eventually realized it was because he played air guitar in the car so much while listening to his favorite band, the Rolling Stones.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, my first music memory is my dad driving me and my sisters all around rural Maine, screaming every lyric of \u201cStart Me Up\u201d and playing the lead riff on air guitar. I, of course, fell head over heels for the band, and so it only made sense that my first concert (at age 9) would be road-tripping to Boston to see the Stones with my family (ZZ Top and the Pretenders were the openers). To this day, I think that night is one of the strongest core memories I\u2019ll ever have.<\/p>\n<p>I probably knew the entire Stones discography front to back by the time I was 11, and the song I\u2019d always ask my dad to put back on was \u201cWild Horses.\u201d I think that song is the origin point of my love of lyrics. I didn\u2019t know why it hit me so hard back then, but now I look at it as one of the best examples of expressing a sincere and vulnerable sentiment so uniquely and, somehow, simultaneously, so directly and conversationally. Something I\u2019ll spend the rest of my life trying to do even half as well as Keith and Mick did.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-the-world-needs-now-dionne-warwick-written-by-burt-bacharach-and-hal-david\"><strong>\u201cWhat the World Needs Now,\u201d Dionne Warwick (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>My grandparents\u2019 love of dancing introduced me to this song, and eventually to the inspiring world of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.<\/p>\n<p>My Nana and Chief lived on Long Island, Maine, and we\u2019d take the ferry boat there every weekend as kids, collecting sea glass and dancing in the kitchen to an endless yet very curated collection of their favorite songs. Some of which were Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys, and many of which were Dionne Warwick songs, including \u201cWhat the World Needs Now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I think falling in love with that song is such a pivotal music moment for me because, as a kid, I just loved how it made me feel when I was dancing to it in the kitchen with my grandparents. I eventually grew to learn how timeless and important the sentiment is, how brilliantly Burt and Hal expressed it in their writing, and eventually learned that not all artists write their own songs and that songwriting is a profession (which, of course, was a life-changing revelation for me).<\/p>\n<p>I also feel like this song opened my eyes to all the works of Burt and Hal, like \u201c(They Long to Be) Close to You,\u201d which is lyrically one of the best songs ever written, in my humble opinion. Also, my favorite childhood movie was <em>My Best Friend\u2019s Wedding<\/em>, which is soundtracked almost exclusively by Dionne songs written by Burt and Hal.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/AmyDigi7.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-648885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/AmyDigi7.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/AmyDigi7-340x227.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/AmyDigi7-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/AmyDigi7-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/11\/AmyDigi7-498x332.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-god-only-knows-the-beach-boys\"><strong>\u201cGod Only Knows,\u201d The Beach Boys<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This is another song I fell in love with because of my dad and grandparents, who all continuously had <em>Pet Sounds<\/em> on constant rinse and repeat. This song is significant to me because Brian Wilson\u2019s writing is a constant reminder that there are no boundaries in \u201cpop\u201d music, and of how expressive and emotional chords and melodies can be. I\u2019ve spent the better half of my life now learning how to play (and therefore intensely studying) Beach Boys songs, and I\u2019m continuously amazed at the genius behind all of them but \u201cGod Only Knows\u201d was one of my first true music loves.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-long-long-time-linda-ronstadt-written-by-gary-white\">\u201c<strong>Long Long Time,\u201d Linda Ronstadt (written by Gary White)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This song breaks me every time I listen to it. I\u2019ve known it and loved it for as long as I can remember, and no matter what season of my life I\u2019m in, it always hits me and makes me feel painfully human in the best way.<\/p>\n<p>I love how conversational yet cutting the lyric is, and the chord changes and soaring melodies just make me want to spend the rest of my life in pursuit of writing a classic like this. I learned this song on guitar when I was probably 10 or 11, and it\u2019s still one of my favorite ones to just sit and play when I\u2019m alone in my room.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-strong-enough-sheryl-crow\"><strong>\u201cStrong Enough,\u201d Sheryl Crow<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Even though all the other songs so far have been from the \u201960s and \u201970s, I am, at the end of the day, a child of the \u201990s and I wouldn\u2019t be half the writer I am today if it weren\u2019t for the women in music of the \u201990s. And for me, that leading woman was Sheryl.<\/p>\n<p>The first song I remember hearing of hers (my dad had her self-titled album in his car) was \u201cIf It Makes You Happy,\u201d and I immediately went home and taught myself how to play it on guitar. That started my deep dive into her whole discography, and it wasn\u2019t long before I discovered \u201cStrong Enough\u201d and fell deeply, madly in love with it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s funny to think about how innately drawn to it I was back then, I was probably only 12 and years away from having my first boyfriend, but I felt every word of it for some reason, and I still do. You can just feel what a real and raw place that song came from, and it will always be one of my favorite songs to go back and listen to and fall in love with over and over again.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amy Allen. (All photos by Caity Krone) The best thing that happened to pop music in recent years is that Grammy-winning songwriter Amy Allen watched that insipid Twilight saga and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4702,4281,31,4703,24,4704,1546,1659],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amy-allen","category-dionne-warwick","category-features","category-linda-ronstadt","category-pushly","category-sheryl-crow","category-the-beach-boys","category-the-rolling-stones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}