UK TV isn't known for its focus on music-based programming. Besides Later ... With Jools Holland, music is somewhat relegated to chat shows and 10-minute artist features, so I was intrigued to watch BBC2's recent three-part documentary Secrets Of The Pop Song. The concept of the program was a pretty simple one. World-renowned producer/songwriter Guy Chambers (most famous for his work with British singer Robbie Williams) would team up with artists to create a certain type of "pop" song each week. The first week saw Guy and Rufus Wainwright try to write a hit ballad. The second week saw Mark Ronson and Tawiah join forces with Guy to write the ever-elusive "breakthrough hit." The theme for the final episode was "anthems" and saw the Noisettes on board to lend a hand. The second episode was of most interest to me -- as a massive Tawiah fan and a some-time Ronson fan -- and it was great to get an insight into the mechanics of creating a song from scratch. The whole concept of "manufactured pop music" was explored, with input from esteemed songwriters Lamont Dozier and Sting, amongst others, and Motown was talked about at length in reference to their production line approach to creating hit pop records. The aim of this episode was to see if Chambers, Ronson, and Tawiah could craft a song suitable for Tawiah's upcoming album. If the thoughts of her label rep and PR guy are anything to go by, the inclusion of "Ghost" is unlikely, however I will hold out hope. Check out her first live performance of the track below.
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