John Ryan is a songwriter who co-wrote on nine of One Direction’s singles. Ross Golan, the interviewer, also wrote with One Direction, and co-wrote “If I Could Fly.” This is the same podcast Savan Kotecha gave his interview on.
Ryan’s interview sheds further light on the writing process of One Direction songs. In addition, one gets a glimpse of bts song production and the atmosphere of touring.
As the band got more famous, security was tightened, and there was increasing scrutiny of their individual movements.
It made me think of Harry’s lyrics, “I can’t touch what I see,” and “We’re not who we used to be.” Their fame gradually became a cage.
Ryan also talked about how Julian Bunetta oversaw production so that there was a cohesive “sound” on each album– down to the details of using the same synth, the same percussion.
I thought about the difference of each song on Harry’s album. He must have been thinking about these various sounds for a long time. The production on “Harry Styles,” done with a deft and unifying professionalism, still allowed the expression of a lot of different rock sounds– glam, stadium, folk, garage. All of these are outside of the 1D spectrum.
And finally, Ryan talked about how the audience of 1D was the first to appreciate how the band was maturing as musicians, how their sound “pivoted.” He made the comparison to The Beatles and their song “Revolution.”
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