Ep. 237: Philip Lawrence | How a $5 Bus Pass Created Bruno Mars

Today's guest is a Grammy-winning songwriter, producer, and performer, best known as one-third of The Smeezingtons and a foundational creative force behind Bruno Mars’ career. He has co-written and helped shape some of the most influential pop songs of the last two decades, including Just the Way You Are, Billionaire, Locked Out of Heaven, When I Was Your Man, 24K Magic, Nothin’ on You, and many more...

And The Writer Is... Bruno Mars!

In this episode of And The Writer Is…, Philip Lawrence tells his story in full—for the first time

- How a $5 bus pass led to Bruno Mars

- The hidden cost of early success

- Real stories behind pop’s biggest records

- The pivot that made everything 'click'

- A breakdown at the peak—and the call that brought him back

and much more...

A special thank you to our sponsors…

Our lead Sponsor, NMPA— the National Music Publishing Association. Your support means the world to us.

And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

4:00 “I Just Might” and Bruno Mars

10:31 Childhood and Not Feeling Good Enough

14:00 Early Career

20:00 Leaving School and Auditioning for Disney

26:00 The Disney Break Room: The Beginning of His Journey

27:00 His First Session

30:00 Meeting Steven Seagal

34:00 Moving to LA

37:09 Losing Everything He Had So Far

39:00 Finding His Manager

43:00 Finding His Way Through the Industry

44:42 His Ego Death

45:50 The Pivot That Really Started His Career

46:50 Be Friends With All the Assistants

47:20 NMPA and Splice

48:45 How to Write for Radio

49:30 Developing His Songwriting Ethos

50:29 Spending His Last $5 to Meet Bruno Mars (Before He Was Bruno Mars)

1:05:09 How Bruno Stayed on His Early Hook Placements

1:07:28 The Story of Nothin’ on You

1:09:20 Billionaire

1:11:50 Just the Way You Are

1:19:15 Talking to the Moon

1:20:49 Ross’s CeeLo Story

1:23:00 “F*** You” Was Not Supposed to Happen

1:28:00 How Locked Out of Heaven Happened

1:33:22 When I Was Your Man / Flowers (Miley Cyrus)

1:36:50 Five Songs He Wishes He Wrote

1:38:34 24K Magic

1:40:36 His Breakdown at the Peak of Success

1:48:45 The Comeback Phone Call With Bruno

1:50:18 APT

1:52:39 Advice for Songwriters + Rapid-Fire Questions

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Post-Production VFX by Pratik Karki

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.