INTERVIEW: Sean ‘The Pen’ Garrett Talks Career, Beyonce, Chris Brown & More
Though you may have heard of him only in recent years as a singer and rapper, Atlanta, Georgia native Sean Garrett has enjoyed being a songwriter and record producer behind the scenes as well.
Garrett, who has created #1 hits such as Beyoncé’s “Check On It,” Fergie’s “London Bridge,” Nelly’s “Grillz,” Chris Brown’s “Run It!,” Ciara’s “Goodies,” and Usher’s “Yeah!” has earned the nickname, “The Pen” and the fifth spot in Billboard’s list of producers with the most number one hits.
He has penned 17 number one hits in only 7 years making him the only producer to gain this level of success in under a decade. We had a chance to chop it up with Sean in New York to ask how he feels about his success, his craziest fan moments, some of his biggest influences and what’s next for him in his career.
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Who are some of your musical influences and how have they influenced you? Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie are my biggest influences with Lionel Richie at the top from a production standpoint because of the creativity they had working together. Some of my biggest influences musically are L.A. Reid and Babyface and from an artist perspective I would have to say Beyonce, Usher and Jay-Z. I could go on and on because I’m a student of life and I pay attention to those who have come before me and learn from their mistakes and their achievements.
How did you get your start as a songwriter? I never wanted to be strictly a songwriter but an artist and producer as well. It was my nature at an early age and my family found that I was musically inclined around the age of three. I would sing songs that were on the radio and change them to make them my own and my mom thought it was funny the way I could do that. She saw my talent and put me in my first talent show when I was 4. I also wanted to be an actor so music and acting were two talents I decided between because I could only do one of those and focus on my education too. So I chose music because it was something that was already in my veins.
What’s your songwriting process, do you like solitude, or can you write anywhere? The funniest thing about it is I just sing what’s in my heart, I rarely write things down if I write them down at all. Melody is my real gift and I think that is a blessing for me. It’s hard to thumb down my style because it is instinctual and unpredictable. I’m liable to come off the cuff with some theatrical pop type stuff, some real urban Old School or maybe some young viby rap kind of stuff. That’s why it’s really difficult for my competition to copy my style.
We hear that you will have a few webisodes coming out about your life. When and where could we see those? My new website is called SeanGarrett.com and we’re constantly updating the site with groundbreaking stuff that the world as a whole hasn’t seen yet. In the webisodes you get to see what’s going on in my life, like going to award shows to accept awards, spending time in the studio with some of the greatest entertainers, going to Japan and flying back to the U.S. It’s incredible to have the opportunity to work with Beyonce who is one of the biggest entertainers in the world right now.
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