{"podcast":{"title":"And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan","slug":"and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan-221813","podcast_index_feed_id":221813,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/05db9598-9baf-443a-ab69-21a77284c034","website_url":"http://www.andthewriteris.com","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/61b76666169562d85de9508f/show-cover.jpg","author":"And The Writer Is","episode_count":113,"summary":"Every week, we sit down with an acclaimed and venerable songwriter to intimately discuss what happens behind closed doors in the music industry. There are millions of singers, thousands of artists, and only 40 top songs per genre at a time... this podcast is about the people who make them. Produced by Joe London & Ross Golan in association with Big Deal Music & Mega House Music. And The Writer Is... ™ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-18T06:20:04.443931+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan-221813"},"episode":{"title":"Ep. 252: Lizzo | Rock Bottom, #1, and the Game Nobody Explains","slug":"ep-252-lizzo-rock-bottom-1-and-the-game-nobody-explains","published_at":"2026-06-09T16:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan-221813/ep-252-lizzo-rock-bottom-1-and-the-game-nobody-explains","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan-221813","url":"https://shows.acast.com/andthewriteris/episodes/ep-252-lizzo-rock-bottom-1-and-the-game-nobody-explains","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/andthewriteris/e/6a2763d8ec7c103dca73724e/media.mp3","summary":"Today's guest is a Grammy winner, a two-time Billboard #1 artist, and one of the defining pop voices of the last decade. But her real story isn't the anthems or the awards. It's the part that plays like a rollercoaster and teaches like a masterclass: how she almost quit, what going #1 actually felt like, and everything about the music business nobody explains until you've survived it. The press version skips the touring deficits, the depression at the top, and the moment in an Echo Park apartment when she nearly took a job at Smoothie King. The question underneath everything she says: once you stop chasing the metric and the moment — who do you become? And The Writer Is... Lizzo! In this episode of And The Writer Is, we go deep on: • Why she wanted to quit music the day \"Truth Hurts\" went #1 — and the 2017 low point that was actually worse • The touring economics no one explains: how you gross $1M and still finish the year in the red • Why the indie grind that built her, in her view, no longer leads to the mainstream • \"She stopped giving a fuck about what we wanted\" — Beyoncé's self-titled as a blueprint for artistic autonomy • Why she only talks to people who buy her music — and what comment sections do to her nervous system • The bumper-sticker hook theory — why \"Truth Hurts\" works when it breaks every rule • Writing \"About Damn Time\": 83 versions of the chorus, and how the simplest line won • Robert Glasper's lesson: there's no such thing as a wrong note • Why good songs don't sound great at first — watching \"Good as Hell\" go from silly to gospel • \"I make whatever the f*** I want\" — and why arriving at that sentence took everything before it And much more... 🔓 Want in the room? We just launched our Patreon — monthly Zoom hangs where we listen to your demos and giv…","meta_description":"Today's guest is a Grammy winner, a two-time Billboard #1 artist, and one of the defining pop voices of the last decade. But her real story isn't the anth…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5351,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan-221813/episodes/ep-252-lizzo-rock-bottom-1-and-the-game-nobody-explains/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan-221813/ep-252-lizzo-rock-bottom-1-and-the-game-nobody-explains.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}