“If I’m going to write a song with an artist, I’m probably going to end up doing most of the work anyway, to be honest”: Super-songwriter Diane Warren on why she prefers to work alone, and can't understand it when "maybe an OK song" has "eight writers"

While the trend these days is for big pop hits to have multiple songwriters, Diane Warren is happy to remain a creative lone wolf.

In a recent interview with Vulture, Warren - the woman behind songs such as Celine Dion’s Because You Loved Me, LeAnn Rimes How Do I Live? and Toni Braxton’s Un-Break My Heart - suggests that, being such an experienced songwriting hand, there wouldn’t be a lot of point in going down the co-writing route.

“If I’m going to write a song with an artist, I’m probably going to end up doing most of the work anyway, to be honest,” she confirms. That said, she doesn’t completely rule out the possibility of collaborating with one of the current crop of successful female stars - the likes of Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter - all of whom like to write or co-write their own material.

“It’s ‘Never say never,’” says Warren. “As long as they’re a real writer, and as long as it’s something they’re serious about.”

What Warren won’t accept, though, is having an artist change a word on one of her songs and then demanding a co-writing credit.

“People have tried that with me a couple times,” she says. “You just have to be strong. It’s something that’s been going on a while, to be honest.”

What of those songs that have huge numbers of writers, though? “If it’s not all samples, what did those people do to get that credit on the song?” asks Warren. “I’ll hear something that’s maybe an OK song and I’ll look and see who wrote it, and it’ll have eight writers. I’m like, Really? Wow. What did you guys do?”

Diane Warren: Relentless | Official Trailer - YouTube

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Which isn’t to say that Warren thinks that everything she writes is great. Elsewhere in the interview, she admits that even she has penned a few ‘duds’ in her time: “I mean, I try not to write ’em, but of course,” she confirms.

And, looking back, she concedes that one of the lines in one of her biggest hits - Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing, from the movie Armageddon - doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

“Why do you kiss someone’s eyes?, she wonders [‘Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we’re together’, sings Steven Tyler at one point]. “I mean, I’ve never really thought about that until just now.”

Aerosmith - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (Official HD Video) - YouTube

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