Hey there,
I want to comment on the piece that ran in today’s USA Today about the Song of the Year Grammy nominees. I was asked to do an interview about them, which I did a few days ago. All of us in show business know that a 20 minute phone interview is usually edited down to a piece that takes two or three minutes to read, and we can only hope that what’s left in the article is accurate. The printed quote attributed to me about Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” is actually the opposite of what I said. I made the point that the song tackles an age old theme but DOES, indeed, say it in a way I haven’t heard before. And my quote about Kanye’s “All of the Lights” is not exactly what I said, either. In my interview, the only connection I made to Eminem was that while his 2004 Song of the Year nomination for “Lose Yourself” was a lyric about overcoming odds and what I considered to be a universally relatable theme, “All of the Lights” is not a lyric which I can relate to personally.
I’m not sure where the miscommunication between the me and the writer occurred but I wanted to make this clear.
Thanks, and good luck to all the nominees.
-RM
