One may not expect Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor to be a fan of pop music, however, he’s recently shared that he’s grown a new appreciation for some of it. The music of one artist, in particular, actually made him tear up.
Reznor explained that his kids opened his eyes to some pop music during an episode of Rick Rubin‘s Tetragrammaton podcast. The rocker admitted that he initially tried to shield them from listening to pop, because he thinks it “sucks” — or at least, he used to. But then he recalled hearing his 6-year-old daughter sing along to Dua Lipa (who sings the hits “One Kiss,” “Don’t Start Now”), and he was in awe over how much she loves the music.
“She’s so into it and was so cool. This is her music, you know? This is her thing,” Reznor said. “And I’ve kind of turned on and immersed myself in just what’s happening out in culture now… It really reminded me that the art of writing a well-crafted song — I teared up listening to a Dua Lipa track the other day because it was just a really well-done piece of music. It was clever, it felt good.”
“It’s difficult [to write a good song],” he continued. “I don’t know how to do that, because when I’m trying to think of what to say or how to say it, I’m saying it from the unvarnished me, and that requires me thinking about who I am and where my position is now. And all of that together becomes something, feels like the stakes are higher.”
Rubin asked whether songwriting has become easier throughout Reznor’s life, in which he responded that he’s grown to accept that a song he comes up with may not be the best, and might actually be bad. He just allows himself to have fun while crafting music rather than putting pressure on himself to make the best material in the world. Additionally, he cares more about creating music that reflects who he is in the present, instead of who he used to be — and he’s found that to be more difficult over time. And that’s part of the reason he started working in the film industry, because then he didn’t have to focus on writing lyrics.
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Reznor teased that he’s currently working on projects that aren’t music or film-related, but still involve “storytelling,” because he wants to challenge himself and see whether he’s capable of it.
Listen to the full discussion below.
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