New Podcast: “Hey Human,” with Susan Ruth

New Podcast: “Hey Human,” with Susan Ruth

I love doing podcasts. There’s list of the ones I’ve done so far here, and I’ve made a Spotify playlist of about 14 hours (so far) of me talking my talk, if you’re planning a long drive to hell, lol. You never know what’s going to happen when the host, most likely a stranger, hits the red light. You could call it “just a conversation,” but it’s a little more loaded than that; it’s more like improvisation, knowing that an audience will eventually be inserted, and maybe even entertained. So, it’s extra-great when you get on a roll w the interviewer, especially when they are also fans of “Contact,” the best sci fi film ever made. Long way of saying: Thanks Susan Ruth, and Hey Human podcast E304 Hey Human podcast available now: “Mike Errico is a recording artist, educator (teaching songwriting at Yale, Wesleyan, the New School, and NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music), journalist, and author. His book; “Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter,“ is in its second printing.  He was recently on the show Billions, and has had numerous song placements in film and tv. We discuss the importance of threes, the movie Contact, the “X” factor, and more!” Find it on iOS and Android podcast apps, Spotify, Google podcasts, iHeartRadio, HeyHumanpodcast.com or iTunes:...
“All of It with Alison Stewart” on WNYC

“All of It with Alison Stewart” on WNYC

This was awesome. We laughed a lot, and wow, turns out a LOT of people have heard it. I love it. Here’s the link. A truly thoughtful question: “Where can I buy your book so that it’s most advantageous to you, the writer?” Thank you for asking it. The answer: Bandcamp. It’s the only place for personalized and signed copies, WITH a matching decorative bookmark.   Q: “What if I bought the book already, but would love you to sign it?” On the Bandcamp page, you can buy also bookplates, which are adhesive and stick right into the signing...
Advance praise for “Music, Lyrics, and Life”

Advance praise for “Music, Lyrics, and Life”

    PRE-ORDER HERE: AMAZON | BOOKSHOP | BARNES & NOBLE | TARGET | BOOKS ARE MAGIC Advance copies going out now (FYI: if you write reviews/ features/ podcasts, please hit us up for a review copy), and here’s what we’re hearing back: “Mike Errico opened my eyes to what songwriting could be. His methods took any fear I had of writing and turned it to fun and joy. He is the perfect guide to finding your voice.”—Blu DeTiger, recording artist “This is a manual for better living through creativity, and vice versa: playful, rigorous, challenging, inviting, weird, practical, mind-expanding, focused, and truly kind. It’s a genuinely loving book that overflows with soul and wisdom from a wonderful teacher and artist. I’m really blown away.”—Paul Giamatti, actor “A page-turning guide for creative problem entrepreneurs in any field, no matter the stage of their journey.”—Jake Schwartz, co-founder, General Assembly “Mike Errico possesses a keen understanding of how to teach something that simply cannot be taught. This is the book we’re all in need of.”—Madison Cunningham, recording artist “Mike Errico changed my life. His unwavering belief and support made it possible for me to take leaps of faith that otherwise felt impossible.”—Hana Elion, Overcoats “Mike Errico can inspire the most timid songwriter and invigorate the most tired. Using curiosity and practicality as tools of equal weight, he challenges readers to create without self-judgment. It was through his class that I started to think of songwriting as a practice.”—Mia Berrin, Pom Pom Squad “What a glorious life raft of a book. Songwriters, artists, anyone working in any creative arena will be inspired and lovingly stripped of their own art-killing excuses.”—Emily Flake, New Yorker cartoonist, author, essayist “Others may...
Some early reactions to “Music, Lyrics, and Life”

Some early reactions to “Music, Lyrics, and Life”

I’m so grateful to hear back from mentors and heroes on their reactions to the book. Here are the first to get back to me:   “Others may have written Bibles on songwriting. This is the Talmud.” — Eric Bazilian, writer, “One of Us” (Joan Osborne); founding member of the Hooters; collaborator, Cyndi Lauper, Ricky Martin, Bon Jovi, LeeAnn Rimes, Jonatha Brooke “Songwriting is a mystical art, and Mike Errico joins all the dots, helping us visualize the process as well as igniting our passion for the ultimate freedom of creativity.” — Martin Page, cowriter, “We Built This City” (Starship); “King of Wishful Thinking” (Go West); writer, “In the House of Stone and Light”; collaborator, Chaka Khan, Heart, Earth, Wind & Fire, Robbie Williams, Josh Groban “Mike Errico’s book on songwriting (and more) is an inspirational tool and a wonderful reference for artists and musicians involved in a creative effort. Highly recommended.” — Patricia Barber, composer, songwriter; Guggenheim Fellow, Composition; American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2019) Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter “The songwriting class you always wish you’d taken, taught by the professor you always wish you’d had.” Coming November 1, 2021 on Backbeat Books PRE-ORDER HERE: Amazon  | Bookshop | Goodreads  |  Books Are Magic...
“Minor Fits,” the new album by Mike Errico

“Minor Fits,” the new album by Mike Errico

Long story short: Initially, I had planned on recording a five-song, tight, straightforward EP that I would be proud to give to you. However, as soon as we started recording, I knew something special was going on, and that an EP was not going to cut it. That’s not bragging, it’s just that when you do something long enough, you kinda get a feel for when it’s the real thing, and in this case it was obvious. It also meant that an EP was not going to cut it. So I crashed through the DEAD END sign and kept on driving. I now have a full-length record that is edgy, Americana-leaning, story-based, and deeply connected to all my work that came before it. Minor Fits is being fueled by a Pledge campaign, and I’m asking you to help me see it through to completion. In addition to the finished product, I’m psyched to offer a bunch of things I’ve been itching to give you, including many other studio and live recordings, podcasts, interviews with the people who worked on the record, a quarterly subscription to the all-new and still infamous Tallboy magazine, and more. You’ll be a part of the first-ever non-holiday expansion of the Holiday Omens, which is explained below. And hey, if you don’t see something that you want, just ask me. Let’s make this work. For decades, you have been there for me and I have tried to express my gratitude by making the best possible work I can. I hope you’ll join me now, and continue to play along. So that’s it. Let’s do this. Related show...
Beyonce’s “Formation” and the Rise of the Superchorus

Beyonce’s “Formation” and the Rise of the Superchorus

Check out my conversation with Fast Company about “Formation,” songwriting, and the rise of “The Superchorus.” Excerpt, plus lyric and structure breakdown, which got kind of complicated…: “It feels new because you get a little bit lost in the form—you’re not being catered to,” says Mike Errico, a singer-songwriter and adjunct instructor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. “[Producer/songwriter] Max Martin is very much a caterer—he’s a good escort and he’s a reliable narrator, musically. But this is actually pushing it. You don’t have control of the plane. That’s something that’s exciting about this.” What’s happening in “Formation” is what Errico describes as not necessarily a break from the traditional verse-chorus form, but an evolution of it. “I do suspect that the way present-day songs are conceived does impact the ways writers chose to innovate,” Errico says. “For instance, if you are writing a melody over a groove that is static, looped, and extended out—a process referred to as ‘toplining’—a creative mind will accept the track as an unmovable parameter and generate interest by changing up the melodies and hooks. At the end of a topline session, the writing team may have several sections they love, but instead of tossing them out in order to preserve preconceived notions of song form, they will line them up and make multiple hook-laden sections out of each.” VERSE 1 Y’all haters corny with that Illuminati mess Paparazzi, catch my fly and my cocky fresh I’m so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress I’m so possessive so I rock his Roc necklaces PRE-CHORUS My daddy Alabama, my ma Louisiana...