With hits under his belt like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” Gracie Abrams’ “That’s So True” and One Direction’s “Drag Me Down” and “Best Song Ever,” Julian Bunetta has emerged as one of the most successful and influential producer-songwriters of this era — a status that has landed him on several Variety Hitmakers lists and was recognized Wednesday by the National Music Publishers Association, which honored him with its Non-Performing Songwriter Icon award at its annual membership meeting at New York’s Lincoln Center.
True to his craft, Bunetta — who comes from a musical family and is managed by his brother — stepped up with a speech for the ages on the life of a non-performing songwriter, who might work with superstars and have Grammy Awards on the shelf but rarely gets the spotlight for themselves.
He certainly got his flowers on this day: Amber Mark sang a soulful version of “Lose Control” in Bunetta’s honor, accompanied by his longtime friend and collaborator (and former roommate) John Ryan on guitar, who gave a gracious and grateful induction basically describing him as a big brother.
Bunetta began his speech by saying with a laugh, “I’m gonna leave my sunglasses on, because that’s what all my favorite producers do,” and then asked for some audience participation: Every time he gestured to the audience — which was filled with songwriters, artists and the very top executives in the publishing world — we were cued to say “SONGWRITING IS EASY.” The audience, which knew all too well the irony of that statement, joined in with relish.
“Songwriting is easy. It’s only notes and words. It’s a skill that can be learned like any other craft. Songwriters know this. The more you write, the better you get — simple as that.”
Watching songs you think are the best you have ever written get released and do absolutely nothing is hard.
Admitting to yourself the song was not good enough is hard.
Lying awake at night wondering if your songs will ever be successful is hard.”
Fighting for your idea at the risk of disturbing the peace in the room is hard.
Asking people to stay and rewrite something when everyone wants to go home is hard.
Getting people back in a room to keep working on something is hard.
But if one day you woke up, and you had parents like mine….
If one day you woke up and had all that, I guarantee you would also say that …”