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As I started reading the words to the chorus (“Is this how you pictured it?/Is this how you thought it would be?”), the melody began to form in my head at the very same time. These were the first set of lyrics that Michael sent us. Finally, while we were mixing the song in New York, Tom Elmhirst (the mix engineer) took some of our synths and made this crazy drop happen around 4 mins 13 seconds. Then I added some synths with Riton and James Ford, and Kirin J Callinan laid this insane guitar solo. When he came to Memphis to work on the album, he sat in a corner and wrote the lyrics with Michael. Kevin sent me a demo of this riff and vocal idea maybe a year and a half ago, and I instantly loved it. But we had a very specific vocalist in mind and when Keyone came in the room in Jackson, MI and started singing, we realised she was the one. We went to a lot of churches, a few nightclubs, some bars and community centres and heard a few hundred amazing singers. I loved the idea of discovering a new talent so we went to New Orleans, rented an Astro Van and drove up the Mississippi, stopping in Baton Rouge, Jackson, Memphis, Little Rock (which got snowed out), St Louis & Chicago. And then he had the idea that we should drive through the deep south to find someone to sing it. Six months later we finished the song in Toronto. We got the basic groove and, with Phil Smeeze joining in, we wrote the lyrics to the first verse. He was on drums, Jeff on synths, me on bass. This came out of a jam in Bruno’s studio in LA. The backing track was something that me and the band had recorded on a whim a few weeks back but it worked out to be so well suited to his vocal style. When we got to Memphis a few weeks later, Mystikal came up and we cut this song. We got there and kicked it with Mystikal and KLC for a bit. When I was in New Orleans (at the start of mine & Jeff’s trip to find a singer for the album), the jazz musician Trombone Shorty told me I should look up Mystikal when I got to Baton Rouge and gave me his number. It kind of went under the radar but I loved it. In 2012, Mystikal put out a song called Hit Me that a lot of my DJ friends went crazy for. Michael then wrote the lyrics and Kevin made it cool. I think I was trying to write something I thought would impress Jeff, because I wanted him to think I was good or worthy or something as it was early on. It’s something way more complex than anything I’ve done before, I don’t really even know the names of the chords – they just sort of came out of me. One night, he left early and I wrote the chords and melody to this song. Anyway, I went out to his house in Venice, LA to start working on my album. He’s also a Berklee-trained jazz pianist. In his music, I could hear someone who equally loved hip-hop, Earth Wind & Fire and even a bit of weird prog.
MYSTIKAL ALBUM 2015 PLUS
Plus I also dug all his chords and synths on Kanye’s 808’s & Heartbreak. I sought Jeff Bhasker out because I loved the song Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart that he wrote and produced for Alicia Keys.
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I’ve listened to it a hundred times and it still messes me up when I play it. I still can’t believe somewhere in a studio in Chicago one night, Stevie Wonder actually recorded a piece of music that I wrote. I was dumbfounded, speechless, whatever word you want to use, I was all of those things.
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and a few months later, he recorded it! When I first heard it, it was one of the most emotional experiences I’ve ever had. Anyway, I thought what the hell and sent a “hail-mary” letter to his manager with the song. His harmonica playing can really turn me inside out, just as his singing does. And although I loved the lyrics, for some reason I kept hearing the melody as if it were being played by Stevie Wonder with his signature harmonica tone. The melody to this piece was completely inspired by the first set of lyrics that Michael sent me. Mark Ronson reveals the secrets behind the songs. And of course, let us know what you make of it all in the comments section! So have a listen using the player below and then scroll down for Ronson’s own take on the record. We would tell you more, but Ronson himself has offered to do that for us by writing his own track-by-track guide.