Singersroom: Do you ever feel pressure to create songs that get radio play or crafting unique material?
Rodney Jerkins: You know I don’t really feel pressure because I’ve been doing it so long. Actually, I kind of like pressure; I like when someone tells me “we’re closing the album and we’re looking for a first single for ‘em…” or something like that. I’m like ‘okay cool’…I got that kind of attitude and confidence like Michael Jordan used to have where if you gave him the ball with two seconds he’s going to the shot and most of the time he’s going to make it. That’s kind of like my attitude, it’s like you know if I’m doing a record and someone says you know, “we need this record…we need a single” or whatever it is that’s when I perform my best I feel. I really don’t feel pressure like other people. It becomes my reality; it comes natural for me. I like the fact that my phone really doesn’t ring for album cuts, no one is really calling [saying] ‘Yo I want you to do an album cut’ or we got this album to work on…we want you to work on this album. Most people call me for singles, “we want you to deliver us a single…” and I guess that’s pressure in itself, because I don’t think that every song a person writes is a hit. It takes a lot just to get that monster smash and sometimes you write ten to fifteen songs to come up with that great one. I guess that’s the pressure a person can deal with but I kind of take it in stride, when dealing with it and try to perform to the best of my ability.
Singersroom: What is your favorite genre to write/produce for?
Rodney Jerkins: I really don’t have one to be honest. You know I get frustrated that sometimes the music industry puts us in a box creatively. In that, people will say you know, I need a record for Beyonce, so if I do a record for Beyonce then automatically every other R&B act will want me to do a record for them. I feel like I can do anything. I just did a record a few weeks ago that was on some Latin/Pop [sounding] stuff, then turned around and did a record with Robin Thicke that was straight Soul music, then had to do a record for Lady Gaga, which was straight Dance music. Those are three different styles and I was able to do all three in three days…that’s me though I just like that. There’s no particular genre that I’m locked into, I really like the challenge of being challenged to do any kind of genre. I would like for John Mayer to call me tomorrow saying I want you to do something…it becomes more of a challenge for me to go outside the norm, what everybody wants or what everybody thinks I can do.
Read more of the interview here:
Singersroom - Rodney Jerkins: Innovative Stamp On Music
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