Diane Warren can’t understand the amount of co-writers credited on today’s chart hits.
The songwriting legend has penned some of the biggest singles of all time, including Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time and Toni Braxton’s Un-Break My Heart, for which she’s credited as the sole writer.
So when it comes to tunes with multiple writers, Diane is curious to know their individual contributions.
“You have 10 writers on a song now,” she told the Daily Star. “I look at the credits and think: ‘What the f**k did you guys all do? Why isn’t this song 10 times better?’
“Prince, by himself, wrote songs 10 times better than these songs where everyone in the room gets a writer’s credit.”
Diane has just released her debut album ‘The Cave Sessions Vol. 1’, featuring vocals from stars including Celine Dion, Leona Lewis and more.
And her experience of promoting her own material opened the songwriter’s eyes to how artists are having to market their music in the modern age.
“To me it’s like, ‘This is a great song, let’s get it on the radio!’ But it’s like, ‘Well, no, you have to build a story.’ F**k that,” she said.
“If The Beatles or Prince existed now, I have no idea how that would have worked. They would have had to do TikTok campaigns and if that didn’t work, the label wouldn’t push their music.
“Who the f**k knows? But it still comes down to an undeniable song. I still believe that.”
Speaking about her new album, Diane says in a press release: “I am so excited to release this album which is like a microcosm of my career – writing songs in all kinds of genres of music for a wide range of amazing artists, many of whom I am thrilled to be working with for the first time and others with whom I’ve been delighted to work with before.
“I just love writing songs that reach across all genres…each song is like casting a role in a movie. But in the end, I always leave it up to the artist and how they want to do it.”
‘The Cave Sessions Vol. 1’ is available to pre-order now
