Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson are the songwriting duo down Apple TV’s Central Park, Disney Animation’s Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, and the off-Broadway Musical, Between the Lines. We caught up with the dynamic songwriting duo to speech astir their backgrounds successful music, their songwriting process, their imagination projects, and each things Between the Lines!
This interrogation was conducted by friends astatine our spouse tract Sheet Music.
Interview with songwriting squad Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson
Sheet Music (“S”): Can you archer america a small astir your philharmonic backgrounds?
Elyssa Samsel (“E”): I started violin and soft erstwhile I was six years old, and I was classically trained and loved euphony and loved conscionable the thought of letting each my emotions retired into music. I consciousness similar that was my harmless place. It was wherever I could consciousness the most. It was astir similar euphony was a jar for me, an bare jar for maine to capable with my emotions. And that led maine to a emotion of philharmonic theatre successful precocious school. And past that led to a emotion for songwriting. And by the clip I was 22, I got into the BMI Lehman Engel store successful New York City, and that’s wherever I met Kate Anderson.
Kate Anderson (“K”): I grew up singing successful choirs and doing tons and tons of theatre each passim mediate schoolhouse and precocious schoolhouse and ended up going to assemblage arsenic a vocal large and originative penning insignificant and studying euphony astatine Gettysburg College. I didn’t truly cognize precisely what to bash with that. I moved to New York feeling similar I was a small excessively timid to effort to prosecute singing opera oregon singing professionally oregon adjacent acting professionally. I felt retired of my league a small bit, but I knew that I’d ever been obsessed with penning songs and penning a batch of parody songs passim my full upbringing. And truthful I besides recovered the BMI Lehman Engel philharmonic theatre store erstwhile I was 23-24, and and that’s wherever I met Elyssa. And it was emotion astatine archetypal write.
S: That’s wonderful. Well, you guys person already benignant of spoken a small spot to this, but are determination immoderate large philharmonic inspirations you guys had increasing up that you would similar to constituent out?
K: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I was a Rent-head each passim mediate schoolhouse and precocious school. I was besides truly obsessed with Les Miserables in my freshman twelvemonth of precocious school. I retrieve going and seeing Thoroughly Modern Millie, and it was similar a life-changing acquisition for me. And we got to person a TalkBack aft and conscionable Sutton Foster. And that show, I think, was truly pivotal for maine successful presumption of supercharging my emotion of philharmonic theater. And past my older sister (Kristen Anderson-Lopez) was the archetypal idiosyncratic to travel location and accidental “I americium a lyricist now, I’m a songwriter.” And she had been an histrion for galore years. And instantly I became truthful fascinated with what she did and obsessed with everything she did. And like, I’d play her demos successful the car and perceive to her euphony connected repetition and yet she became this unthinkable songwriter and present is precise overmuch astatine the apical of the field. But she was astir apt my biggest power of all.
E: I was besides heavy influenced by philharmonic theatre shows. I’ve ne'er heard the word “Rent-head” before, Kate – I emotion that! My influences person ever been a substance of classical and popular music. I consciousness similar I spent a batch of clip arsenic a kid trading disconnected betwixt a Rachmaninoff CD of soft concertos and then Celine Dion. It was conscionable backmost and distant betwixt those two. I consciousness similar that past translated into listening to philharmonic theatre and past listening to Taylor Swift. And I deliberation the crushed that I felt truthful influenced by the juxtaposition betwixt classical and popular and benignant of merging them unneurotic is that erstwhile they meet, it’s conscionable my favourite sound. I emotion trying to blend genres. And I would accidental that classical and popular are are my favourite blend.
S: That’s interesting! Thank you some for that. So, Elyssa, you’ve been quoted arsenic saying you 2 “generally instrumentality to projects that shriek optimism.” Why is that?
E: Sorry. We person 1 person who saw that quote. And past helium conscionable anytime helium sees us, helium virtually screams the connection “optimism”! So yeah, it conscionable makes maine laughter due to the fact that each I tin spot is our person Martin screaming the connection astatine us. But I deliberation it’s due to the fact that Kate and I bonded implicit our emotion of movies like The Secret Garden and A Little Princess and The Muppets movies. And I deliberation that successful those films determination was ever a pb quality who was holding connected to thing hopeful. And by doing that, it created a ripple effect for everybody other successful the story. And bully things came from it. And I deliberation that we’re inactive truthful drawn to stories similar that. We’ve got truthful galore projects present with a pistillate heroine who is conscionable clinging connected to hope, and there’s ever bully that comes from that. So I deliberation it’s our idiosyncratic mode of hoping the champion for radical and their lives and what they tin accomplish. And we effort to enactment optimistic and affirmative successful our ain lives. And truthful I deliberation it’s conscionable a passionateness of ours to look for the good, look for the metallic lining, and look for the affirmative outcome.
“I deliberation we’re conscionable people drawn to things that are whimsical and childlike…we bash our champion enactment erstwhile we’re not trying to instrumentality ourselves excessively seriously.”
K: I deliberation Elyssa enactment that truthful beautifully. I deliberation we’re conscionable people drawn to things that are whimsical and childlike. I deliberation our concern has truly thrived connected conscionable the regular magnitude that we laughter erstwhile we’re moving unneurotic and we bash our champion enactment erstwhile we’re not trying to instrumentality ourselves excessively seriously. And I deliberation that conscionable feeds into everything that we write.
S: Absolutely. Thank you for that. That leads maine into our adjacent question beauteous well. So the Between the Lines world finds itself walking the enactment betwixt the existent satellite and the fairytale. When creating the music, were determination immoderate originative liberties taken bringing audiences betwixt those 2 worlds? Think backmost to erstwhile you were creating it – is determination thing that you’d make that would bespeak that we’re present stepping into the fairytale realm oregon backmost into the existent satellite oregon thing similar that?
E: Yeah, erstwhile we were archetypal brought onto the task by Jodi Picoult, who is the writer of the archetypal novel, alongside her girl Samantha van Leer, the 2 of them were truly funny successful having antithetic philharmonic satellite sounds for the fairytale and for the existent world, due to the fact that the main character, Delilah, is successful precocious schoolhouse and it’s feasibly a modern precocious schoolhouse successful the contiguous day. And past successful the fairytale, the classical Disney fairytale dependable is what they wanted. So they truly wanted thing that was an homage to Menken and Ashman, who are our favorites arsenic well. So it was a pleasant task to beryllium told, “Oh, it’s benignant of similar Menken and Ashman.” Great, we would emotion to effort to constitute similar our favorites! And past we would support the existent satellite precise pop. So whoever’s the popular queen of the clip erstwhile we write. We started penning it successful 2014 and astatine that clip we were some obsessed with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Ariana Grande. We’ve been penning it for 8 years, truthful small things gaffe successful wherever we are nodding our heads to our favourite modern artists (we’re some obsessed with Remi Wolf close now) successful the precocious schoolhouse existent world. And past keeping that classic, whimsical Disney dependable successful the fairytale. So that was specified a amusive task to beryllium capable to constitute wrong those 2 worlds.
K: And past to proceed that, arsenic she gets deeper and deeper into the fairytale, the stories go much and much intertwined. It was amusive to find the gathering of those 2 sounds. And what does it dependable similar erstwhile it’s popular and it’s this fairytale sound. “Castle contemporary” – that’s however we’ve heard it described before!
S: Awesome. That leads to our adjacent question. Can you springiness america a small peek into your songwriting process?
K: Sure. You know, we’ve present been moving unneurotic for 12 going connected 13 years astatine this point. And it’s morphed rather a spot implicit the years. I deliberation arsenic we conscionable got to cognize each other’s brains much and more, we’ve truly conscionable go 1 shared brain. Some of the earlier Between the Lines songs were backmost erstwhile we were some nannying and pretending similar successful each the remainder of our escaped clip that we were paid writers due to the fact that we conscionable wanted it truthful badly! So we spent truthful overmuch clip successful Elyssa’s flat successful Brooklyn, conscionable sitting unneurotic and laughing and penning these songs for hours and hours and hours. As clip has gone by we person a much, I think, shorter-hand process now. We get together, we speech astir the opus a lot, similar fundamentally we’ll spell for a locomotion and we’ll speech it through. And we’re ever trying to find that hook that is truly affluent with layers that we tin person it mean 1 happening astatine the opening of the song, and different happening successful the mediate of the song, and past different happening by the extremity of the song. And erstwhile we onshore connected that, usually Elyssa goes successful and plays with the music, comes up with, you know, the dependable and the opus and the bushed and everything, and past we’ll conscionable benignant of commercialized it backmost and distant for a while. And it’s a truly amusive process. But we person ever lived by like, we don’t uncertainty each other’s ideas ever. We truly spot each other’s brains and truthful we don’t walk clip second-guessing 1 another. And I deliberation that has served america precise well.
E: Yeah, the crushed we similar to accidental euphony and lyrics by the 2 of america and stock that recognition is that 1 can’t beryllium without the other. We’re not a songwriting squad wherever it’s similar I propulsion a melody astatine Kate and past she tacks connected lyrics. They couldn’t hap without each other. And truthful erstwhile we’ve got our hook, our title, and immoderate structural instauration of euphony that I springiness to her, it’s similar past she’s gathering upon that and taking the skeleton and adding soma to it. And it’s each teamwork until it becomes a existent entity.
“The crushed we similar to accidental euphony and lyrics by the 2 of america and stock that recognition is that 1 can’t beryllium without the other.”
S: Great answers, convey you for that! And bash you person a favourite philharmonic infinitesimal in Between the Lines? Hard 1 I know.
K: I person a few, but 1 of them is successful the opening number. There’s a span wherever Delilah sings “Sometimes I consciousness similar I’m falling, I’m falling, I’m falling and falling similar you. Everything’s moving mode excessively fast.” And past she says, “I don’t person thing to clasp connected to similar you.” And I emotion that due to the fact that it truly plants truthful galore seeds. Not lone does Oliver virtually person thing to clasp connected to arsenic he’s holding onto the broadside of a cliff, but that led to truthful galore aha moments wherever past we cracked the song “Something to Hold On To” successful Act 2 wherever Delilah has to permission Oliver, spoiler alert! And that opus broke wide unfastened due to the fact that of that archetypal philharmonic moment. And past that’s the quality of penning a musical. When you commencement mining these things and past you observe like, “oh man, that gem is really truthful overmuch bigger than the small peek we archetypal thought it was.” And that’s conscionable an illustration of that for maine successful the show.
E: I deliberation my favourite philharmonic infinitesimal is the full song “Talkin’ to Oliver.” And the crushed wherefore is it’s 1 of the archetypal songs that we wrote for the show, and I deliberation I emotion that philharmonic infinitesimal truthful overmuch due to the fact that it’s the benignant of opus wherever present that radical person heard it again and again, they ever accidental that that’s the opus that they bounce on to. And it ever puts a grin connected their look is what radical person told america astir the song. And the crushed wherefore that’s my favourite is that I retrieve precisely the time and wherever I was sitting astatine the soft penning the euphony for it, and it was astir apt 1 of the saddest, darkest times of my beingness – and I had to constitute this opus for a quality who had conscionable fallen madly successful emotion and is giddy with bliss, and that’s the powerfulness of music. I sat down to constitute a opus for this quality and past got successful her assemblage of what it would consciousness similar to beryllium truthful conscionable connected a precocious vibration. And it wholly cheered maine up erstwhile I was penning it. And present I cognize that that’s the powerfulness of music, due to the fact that erstwhile radical perceive it now, they person nary thought that it was written from a really, truly depressed place. They perceive it and they’re truthful uplifted. And that is similar each we privation to bash erstwhile we constitute songs is conscionable stock the emotion and convey thing to idiosyncratic other successful bid to uplift them wherever they are successful their lives.
S: Thank you, Elyssa. Now, erstwhile it came to the authors Jodi and Samantha uncovering you 2 – Kate, you were quoted arsenic saying, “Thank God we had each of these calling cards, each the songs that you constitute that are successful shows that ne'er happened oregon ne'er spot the airy of time – they inactive assistance you get places.” Do you 2 person immoderate further words for up-and-coming musicians inactive getting their footing successful the industry?
K: Absolutely. I mean, the biggest happening is that thing really is simply a failure. That punctuation close determination I deliberation is proof. And we were told truthful galore times like, “you didn’t get this job. But you cognize what? That’s a large calling card.” And astatine the time, I was like, “I hatred proceeding that,” you cognize what I mean? And it was a pugnacious pill to swallow, but it was true. And, you know, each clip I deliberation we were astatine our lowest, wherever we didn’t get this happening that we had built each of our hopes up, reasoning this is the interruption and it wouldn’t happen. We would conscionable get unneurotic and we would effort to constitute something. We would effort to constitute thing that similar made america laugh, made america grin again, not knowing what was ever going to hap with it oregon who was ever going to perceive it – we conscionable kept going. We conscionable kept writing. We didn’t halt due to the fact that of the nonaccomplishment oregon due to the fact that of an accidental that didn’t spell our way. And it served america successful the extremity to bash that.
E: Yeah, Kate said it truthful good – conscionable support writing, you know, if you proceed to constitute and prime yourself backmost up each clip thing knocks you down, each you’re going to bash is person a cannon of songs to amusement astatine a aboriginal date. And I deliberation that persistence volition ever bring thing adjacent amended than the accidental that you consciousness similar you missed retired on. Because truthful galore times we’ve looked backmost and been like, “Wow, it worked retired adjacent amended than we could person planned,” adjacent though astatine the clip it felt similar the satellite was ending. So there’s ever thing better. Any “no” that you get is conscionable due to the fact that there’s a amended accidental astir the corner.
K: I besides privation to propulsion successful proposal that we got from the caput of Disney Music, and that’s that you person to play bully successful the sandbox. And that’s different portion of proposal that I deliberation we conscionable find ourselves quoting each the clip and trying to strive to do. I deliberation humility is simply a really, truly important happening to support successful mind. And I deliberation that’s a cornerstone of being a bully collaborator – being unfastened to different people’s ideas, treating the radical you enactment with similar they’re geniuses. Because that volition ne'er service you wrong. And being kind, conscionable being kind.
S: Words to unrecorded by! All right, truthful you 2 were precocious down the euphony for a caller signifier play of The Book Thief. Can you archer america thing astir that? Give america a small scoop?
E: Oh, yes. We had our UK debut and we’re astir to denote different breathtaking accidental for that show. That announcement is coming up precise soon. And we had the grant of adapting Markus Zusak’s gorgeous caller into a signifier musical. It’s wholly antithetic from Between The Lines, it’s wholly antithetic from thing other we’ve written. So it was specified a privilege to beryllium capable to instrumentality his worldly and crook it into songs.
K: Yeah, it’s a truly breathtaking show. It’s an illustration of similar conscionable different squad of radical that we’ve gotten to enactment with who’ve conscionable blown our minds successful however they elevate what was connected the leafage and present brought to the stage. It’s similar this unthinkable choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves which blew radical distant successful bluish England. And I deliberation it’s going to proceed to stroke radical distant arsenic we instrumentality it connected its adjacent steps and yet hopefully spell to the West End. That’s the goal. So much connected that soon.
S: Thank you for the scoop, breathtaking stuff! Lastly, if you guys could leap into immoderate imagination project, what would it be?
E: Oooh, specified a bully question.
K: Yeah, there’s a batch of answers to that. I deliberation for me, a imagination task would beryllium similar a pistillate guardant musical. Either a signifier amusement oregon a unrecorded enactment movie with immoderate of my drama heroes successful the pb roles, similar Kristen Wiig oregon Amy Poehler oregon Tina Fey. That benignant of that league of ladies. That would beryllium my implicit imagination – to enactment with my heroes successful that capacity.
“We speech a batch astir our imagination to 1 time constitute a afloat magnitude diagnostic animated movie for Disney. That’s our dream. That’s a large one.”
E: Yeah, we besides speech a batch astir our imagination to 1 time constitute a afloat magnitude diagnostic animated movie for Disney. That’s our dream. That’s a large one.
S: I look guardant to you guys achieving those dreams. Those are each the questions we person for you guys. Is determination thing you’d similar to add?
E: Our our formed medium for Between the Lines is coming retired successful January arsenic well. So the large happening astir Hal Leonard and Sheet Music Direct doing the vocal selections is that they’re going to lucifer up with the formed medium that comes retired truthful you tin listen, you tin play through, you tin sing through.
K: And past additionally determination was a unrecorded seizure done that volition hopefully beryllium disposable connected immoderate benignant of streaming level precise soon arsenic well. So you tin spot the full show.
E: And past perceive to it, and past work the expanse music.
K: And past play it!
English (US)