Cleo Tighe Is Probably Behind All of Your Favorite Songs

Cleo Tighe is probably behind all of your favorite songs. She’s crafted hits for artists like Calvin Harris, Kehlani, Zedd, Renee Rapp, Charli XCX, Dolly Parton, and Keith Urban. Despite working with some of today’s biggest acts, she remains incredibly humble. As someone whose career revolves around helping others write music, it’s surprising that this is one of her first written interviews. We recently had the chance to speak with Cleo about building her career as a songwriter and it’s easy to see how she’s done it. She’s hardworking, kind, intelligent, and offers incredible insight into what it means to create a life around making music.

Read our interview below.

How did you discover that songwriting was a career? 

I grew up wanting to be a pop star. I feel like that’s all any person wants to be when they are just starting out in music. I started working with a guy in a band doing background vocals for them. Then their band broke up and he started to write for other people. I used to turn up at his house with lyrics and song ideas and we just started working on them together, along with his girlfriend. Then, we added in my friends Danny and Pablo from University and started a collective called The Six. We wrote these amazing songs together and that’s when I was like “Oh, maybe songwriting is a thing I could do.” It kind of happened randomly and it’s really incredible that I can just write songs and not have to perform them. 

Walk me through a day in the life of a career songwriter? 

I wake up. I write three pages every single morning – stream of consciousness. Apparently, it helps your creativity and I’m too afraid to not do it in case it works. Sometimes I go do a little workout, but a lot of the time I walk. I love walking. Sometimes I listen to music and walk, but a lot of the time I just like to be in silence. I try to start my mornings in silence as much as possible. I have this weird thing where I get irritated if I’m too overly stimulated by noise before I go into a studio. I try really hard to limit how much noise there is in my life. Then, I’ll have breakfast. Usually, it’s some sort of cottage cheese with maple syrup. Then I go to the studio and I write. Sometimes I’ll spend the morning prepping ideas, but usually I just turn up and see what happens. I’m either with an artist or I’m writing for pitch. In LA you usually finish up around 6 or 7pm, sometimes earlier. After, maybe I’ll see friends or do something creative. If it’s summer, I’ll try and go for a sunset walk at the end of the day to say goodbye to the sun. Now that the sun’s going down quicker, I don’t really get to see the sunset anymore, which is a shame because I love saying bye to the sun and thanking it for the day. It makes me feel like a good human.  

 
What makes a session good? 

When everyone in the room is kind. When you’ve laughed a lot – that always feels really good. When I know I’ve brought my A game and pushed a room creatively. Nothing replaces the feeling of leaving the studio with a great song. For me, it’s more about how it felt getting to the song, rather than whether or not anyone else likes it. The days I’ve been happiest are not the days I’ve got a cut or made a lot of money, but when I’ve left the studio with a song I absolutely love. You don’t even care what happens to the song afterwards, you are just like “Oh my God, I can’t believe we just wrote that.” And a lot of times those are the songs that never come out! 

Is there a song you love that hasn’t come out yet? 

There’s a song called “Wallpaper” that I did with two of my best friends, Lostboy and Starsmith. We did it years ago in London and I just love that song so much.  I think it’s amazing, but nobody wants it! If it ever came out it would be because I put it out.  

Would you ever release your own music as an artist? 

 I am working on something at the moment that I would like to put out. I was just talking to my sister about it this morning. I feel so inspired by all the people I’m around. I have incredibly talented friends who have amazing music, so some days I’m like, “There is no point in me putting anything out because it’s never going to be as good as theirs.” Other days I’m like, “This is so good. I love this.” Then it’s, “What was I thinking! I can’t put this out!”  So, nothing out yet, but hopefully at some point there will be.  

You have had amazing cuts as a writer. Obviously, those don’t happen right away. How did you build up your credibility as a songwriter?  

When I first started writing with the writing collective, the luckiest thing happened. One of our A&Rs was dating Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne’s A&R. We ended up placing this song they did together called “Real Love.” The song was a big deal for me. It reached #2 in the UK and the only reason it wasn’t #1 was because Bob Geldof did a charity Christmas song. I was like “Wow this is so easy, why doesn’t everyone do this!” Then I literally had nothing for 3 or 4 years and I was like, “Wow this is actually really hard!”  But I don’t think that credibility comes from the songs you have out. I think it’s more about showing up and being your authentic self. When I think about the rooms I was in years ago and the rooms I’m in now, I feel so grateful for them all. So much of your reputation comes from word of mouth and I think I’ve just shown up to every session, been myself, and tried my hardest.  

You have a publishing deal and a management team – has that changed the way you work? 

Honestly, it changes everything. I can’t believe how lucky I got. I decided to come to LA for three months. I was married and I broke up with my husband and told myself I was just going to go. I got to LA and I was just like, “What am I doing!” I was speaking to Gabz, who ended up being my publisher at Warner Chappell along with Paul Smith. Paul had introduced me to Sam, one of my now managers, about a year prior and then Gabz reintroduced us. I met Kelly, my other manager, in a meeting at Atlantic records.  She had loved my songs for ages and all of the demos she had heard. At the end of my three-month trip Gabz was like “Why don’t you ask Sam and Kelly to manage you together?” And I was like “That sounds amazing!” It just changed everything for me. They are the nicest, most hard-working people ever. Kelly literally has my demos organized into genre folders and has memorized every single one. When you have a team that is so excited about you it really helps you believe in yourself.  

How do you deal with self-doubt?  

Everyone has self-doubt in this industry. I have friends that, in my eyes, are the biggest writers in the world and I know for a fact that they still feel like they don’t know what they are doing. We all have this “Am I even good?” questioning sometimes. Having people who you can call up is so important. It’s so nice to have people tell you that what you’re doing matters. I got so lucky that right when I moved to LA I had Gabz and Paul at Warner Chappell and Kelly and Sam as managers and my best friends. It's so nice to have a team that supports you and vouches for you. 

How can the music industry better support songwriters?  

I just talked about this yesterday! I feel like I’m the worst person to ask because I hate focusing on the negative. I feel so insanely lucky that I get to do this as a career. Obviously, I am very aware that songwriters aren’t getting paid properly. I just sometimes have a hard time saying it because it feels ungrateful when I look at how amazing my life is because of songwriting. Songwriters do need to get points from the labels. That’s the main thing.  I think we just need to keep having the conversation.  

What advice would you give to someone who just started writing songs? 

I feel like the advice I always give, and it feels so cliche, is that you have to enjoy it. As soon as you stop enjoying it there is no point. To your point before, unless you have a massive song that gets on radio, you’re not making money from it. And if money or ego is what you’re doing it for, then it’s never going to work. Money is not guaranteed happiness. You have to wake up every single day and make music because you love music. You have to turn up, be true to yourself and trust that it happens. That has always helped me. I went through a phase where I got rid of all my stuff, stopped spending money, wore the same outfit every day, and just focused on writing songs. That was when I was writing the best songs I’ve ever written. I honestly don’t know why I’m not doing that now! 

What are you excited about right now? What are you working on? 

Honestly, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but have you heard of Whitney Woerz? I’m kind of obsessed with her. I’ve been doing so much with her and one of my best friends Chris Smith, who is a producer named RISC. I got sent her demos a while ago and I was like, “I have to work with her.” And then we finally worked together, and it was everything I’d been waiting for. I’ve been doing songwriting for 12 years now and that day was everything to me. I was just like I have to work with this girl forever. Something just happens energetically in the room when we’re together. It’s just the easiest day and the most interesting song. I think she is a true superstar. And the music is my favorite music.  

What do you like to do outside of songwriting? 

I feel like we all have to have these extra creative things that keep us alive. Lately I’ve been really into buying old photos and painting lyrics over them. I started this thing where I paint my lyrics onto nice paper or canvas when there is a lyric that I really, really love. I recently started doing it over old photographs. I just enjoy doing it and sometimes I need to remind myself that my lyrics aren’t complete shit! There’s one I love that says, “Whatever happened, happened, and it happened for a reason.” I’m not sure if I’m good at the painting part, but the songwriting part is enough for me! 

See below or click here for songs written by Cleo Tighe. Go listen and make sure to follow @twentyminuteslater for more!