Show notes
JP Rende and Kat Raio Rende are a husband and wife songwriting team and founders of Earworm Music. JP and Kat write and produce music for kids television, animation, film, and commercials. They won an Emmy for their song "Friends with a Penguin" sung by Billy Porter on Sesame Street. They've produced music for various shows including Gabby's Dollhouse, Baby Shark's Big Show, Barbie's Dreamhouse Adventure, and more. JP and Kat shared details about their unique collaboration, allowing them time to work together and separately. They gave a glimpse into how the process of writing specifically for kids and how scripts, pitches, and deadlines all play a significant part in their work. Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, YouTube Show Notes: Earworm Music - https://www.earwormny.com/ "Friends with a Penguin" - https://youtu.be/derxRN-ZkMI Mrs. Doubtfire Recut as a Horror Film - https://youtu.be/U71P5FKFqfg Social Story Songs with Brian and Chris - http://www.socialstorysongs.com/ Brian Funk Website - https://brianfunk.com Music Production Club - https://brianfunk.com/mpc 5-Minute Music Producer - https://brianfunk.com/book Intro Music Made with 16-Bit Ableton Live Pack - https://brianfunk.com/blog/16-bit Music Production Podcast - https://brianfunk.com/podcast Save 25% on Ableton Live Packs at my store with the code: PODCAST - https://brianfunk.com/store This episode was edited by Animus Invidious of PerforModule - https://performodule.com/ Thank you for listening. Please review the Music Production Podcast on your favorite podcast provider! And don't forget to visit my site https://BrianFunk.com for music production tutorials, videos, and sound packs. Brian Funk Episode Transcript: Brian Funk: Hello everybody and welcome to the Music Production Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Funk. And on today's show, I have JP Rendy and Cat Rayo Rendy of Earworm Music and they do a lot of cool stuff. Congratulations, first of all, they just won an Emmy for the song, Friends With a Penguin that they wrote for Billy Porter. That was, what a catchy song and fun. Great job guys, JP Rende: Thank Brian Funk: congrats. JP Rende: you, Kat Raio Rende: Thanks. JP Rende: thank you, thank you. Brian Funk: They write for Sesame Street, Gabby's Dollhouse, Princess Power, Baby Shark's Big Show, Barbie's Dreamhouse Adventure. There's a long list of stuff they do. They do a lot of work for kids in animated TV and film commercials. I love the Charmin, Shiny Hiny song they have. That Kat Raio Rende: Ha Brian Funk: was Kat Raio Rende: ha Brian Funk: great. Kat Raio Rende: ha. JP Rende: Hahaha Brian Funk: A lot of fun. Kat, you've sang with Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Ray Charles. A lot of really impressive stuff. You guys are doing great work and it sounds like you're having fun. You've married your music and your lives together. So Kat Raio Rende: Yeah. Brian Funk: it's a really unique combination and I'm very excited to talk to you guys. I had a lot of fun digging into your catalog a bit, getting ready for the show. JP Rende: Sweet, thank Brian Funk: Welcome. JP Rende: you. Kat Raio Rende: Thanks. Brian Funk: So, first of all, congratulations on the Emmy. That's great. JP Rende: Oh, thank you. Brian Funk: That must've JP Rende: Yeah, Brian Funk: been JP Rende: that Brian Funk: a real JP Rende: was Brian Funk: treat. JP Rende: really fun. That was a really fun night. Kat Raio Rende: That was a wild time. JP Rende: Yeah, we didn't think we were gonna win, honestly, because we've been nominated before and it's really a crap shoot. You never know. You really never know how the cards fall. And I remember the first time that we went out to the ceremony, maybe it's just a little bit of arrogance. Of course we got this. We got this. Brian Funk: Hehehe Kat Raio Rende: This is JP Rende: It's Kat Raio Rende: Sesame Street. JP Rende: a great song. Ah, we lost. And it felt so bad. It felt, you know, I'm gonna give it real. A lot of people are like, oh, it doesn't matter. It felt bad to lose. So when we got nominated again, we went out with like, hey, it's probably not gonna happen. Let's just have a great time. And we were up against a Ben Folds song. And it was a really good song. Like, Ben Folds, I don't know you, but I wanna know you and you're fantastic. It was called Kat Raio Rende: little things. JP Rende: The Little Things Charlie Brown. It was for Charlie Brown's special. So I Brian Funk: Oh JP Rende: was Brian Funk: wow. JP Rende: like, he's gonna win, it's all good. And then when Jojo Siwa called Friends With a Penguin, we were shocked. Like, full on that meme with Taylor Swift like this. We were totally shocked and it was a really fun thing. And you know, the song, as silly as it can come across on the surface, has a much deeper meaning about, you know, just say hi to somebody that's different than you and you can become friends and don't be afraid of anything that's dissimilar because that's how we learn from each other. Brian Funk: Is that the Emmy behind you, Kat? I see. Kat Raio Rende: I know, I was trying to cover it up because I don't want it to look like a douche. I'm sorry, I don't want it to look like a jerk, but Brian Funk: No, that's great. Kat Raio Rende: yeah. Brian Funk: You should Kat Raio Rende: So. Brian Funk: have that proudly displayed. Kat Raio Rende: Ah ha Brian Funk: Yeah, Kat Raio Rende: ha! Brian Funk: that's awesome. JP Rende: Yeah, sorry, I have one too. It's not in my studio. I gave it to my parents. And partially I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna look at that and become complacent. So I always gotta stay hungry, so. Brian Funk: Yeah, yeah, right. That's a big part of it. You know, you mentioned being silly. And this is like something I kind of wanted to talk to you guys about because there's, I think, a different mindset that goes into writing songs like this compared to like being an artist. You know what I mean? Like Kat Raio Rende: Yes. Brian Funk: a serious artist. So just to give you a sense of where I'm coming from with this. I have my serious artist side, Kat Raio Rende: Hehehe Brian Funk: where I write my songs and stuff. But a few years back with a friend of mine, we wrote songs kind of directed for kids with special needs, specifically autism, for social behavior stuff. And it's called social story songs. And that's something that's often used to help teach proper behavior in places, restaurants, how to interact with people. We had a song similar. to the concept of yours, the perfect greeting for who I'm meeting. So it just teaches JP Rende: Oh Brian Funk: you Kat Raio Rende: Yes! Brian Funk: how JP Rende: wow. Brian Funk: to say hello and stuff. But what I found with that was it was very liberating to write in that way where you didn't have to be so artistic about everything and so serious about it. I had a lot of fun with that. And I wanted to ask you guys a little bit about just that mindset and that way of writing and getting free to be silly with it a little bit and have fun with the songwriting process. Kat Raio Rende: That is the most fun that I think that you can possibly have, especially when it comes to like, I'm neurodivergent and like writing from that perspective and writing, there's like that is a really great, it's a really good place to come from, but also like a really great way to like get all of that out. You know, like you said, like being an artist, I started off as an artist and And it's just not as much fun. It's so much fun writing for like to be silly. And like, you know, there are some artists that do it now. And there's, especially for like, you know, they're for kids movies, but like the recent Barbie movie had a song by Lizzo that I thought was so funny. Like it started off as, I did not write it, but it was a song that was. the first time it came around, it was very serious and happy. And the second time around, it started getting panicked because Barbie was changing as a person. And, JP Rende: Poiler alert. Kat Raio Rende: spoiler alert, sorry. But it's so fun to write like that because like, as writing for kids and knowing their parents are also watching it, it's so fun to like, add adult content in it. Like, we wrote a song for Baby Shark's big show called call me Billiom and where Billiom, Baby Shark's best friend, was trying to be an adult and he said I'm not William now from now on call me Billiom and then the song is like this very serious like rap song and there was like a funny little I don't know if it's an Easter egg but for the adults where it's like I have a cute sign in my living room that says live splash love I'm Billiom it's like You can get to the parents, the silly side of the parents. It brings out the silly side of the parents too. And it's so fun to like add like, I love puns, adding Brian Funk: Uh... Kat Raio Rende: puns and I dream of fish puns. But it's so fun to add, I JP Rende: True Kat Raio Rende: do. JP Rende: story. Kat Raio Rende: I wake up in the middle of the night and like, JP, I'll be right back, I gotta go. Sometimes I'll like go hide Brian Funk: Thanks Kat Raio Rende: in Brian Funk: for Kat Raio Rende: the Brian Funk: watching! Kat Raio Rende: laundry room and just like write, you know, write things down or sing into the voice recorder. But. There's nothing like, I think of it as like neurodivergent writing, but it's just you get to write what you actually want to write, whereas everything else has to be in this like serious box and Brian Funk: Hmm. Kat Raio Rende: kids music you just do, like kids think like that and they enjoy it, so I really love it the most. Brian Funk: It's something I've taken to my artist side too. You know, playing in a band when we're trying to come up with music, a lot of times it does start out kind of silly and it's gibberish or blabbering or just placeholder lyrics. But being free enough to do that has opened the door to actually get into some of those other areas too. And I find Kat Raio Rende: Oh yeah. Brian Funk: it's something I encourage people to do is like. Don't be afraid to be silly. Don't be afraid to make bad music. And I try to remember that with myself because a lot of times things that might not seem like my masterpiece after I work on it for a little while starts to come together a little bit Kat Raio Rende: Mm-hmm. Brian Funk: when I'm not so judgmental about it. Kat Raio Rende: Oh, it'd be so nice to add that into it. Like Primus and Macklemore and Eminem and who else? There's some artists that really do it well. Brian Funk: Yeah. JP Rende: Harry Grip. Kat Raio Rende: Well, Perry Grip is a kid's artist, but JP Rende: Yeah, but Kat Raio Rende: he's JP Rende: he's Kat Raio Rende: like JP Rende: amazing. Kat Raio Rende: the king. Brian Funk: Yeah, and you mentioned too, I guess, the concept of just capturing ideas whenever you get them at the moment. So you're jumping out of bed. I think that's such a smart thing to do because I think they disappear so fast. Kat Raio Rende: I JP Rende: Yeah, Kat Raio Rende: mean, JP Rende: have Kat Raio Rende: sometimes, JP Rende: you, have you, oh sorry Kit. Kat Raio Rende: I was just gonna say sometimes, the whole song is there. Sometimes we'll read a brief when we get a song, and we will read a brief at night, or in the afternoon on a Sunday, and then wake up on a Sunday morning at two o'clock and be like, here, here's this, and there's the whole song. Or the main idea of the song usually comes in the middle of the night. And it's JP Rende: Yeah. Kat Raio Rende: so much fun because it's like you didn't write, I didn't, you know, like your subconscious writes it and you're like, that's a good idea, subconscious. Thank you. Brian Funk: Thanks for watching! JP Rende: Well, mine is sometimes I write the most amazing songs in my dreams and then like I wake up and they're fucking horrible. But in your dreams, like they're the greatest song ever. You're like, oh my God, I'm gonna Brian Funk: Yeah. JP Rende: change the world with this song and then you have all these accolades and people are singing your song and then you wake up and you hum a tune, you're like, what is that? So, but fortunately, cats middle of the night stuff is always. Brian Funk: Well, I think Kat Raio Rende: Most Brian Funk: it's Kat Raio Rende: of Brian Funk: important Kat Raio Rende: the time. Brian Funk: that you're comfortable with letting that stuff in. Even if it is, it turns out to be bad. Just let the music in or let it out, however you want to look at it. And Kat Raio Rende: You know what, Brian Funk: then Kat Raio Rende: writing, Brian Funk: later, judge. Kat Raio Rende: yeah, writing lyrics too. The way that I personally write lyrics is I'll write, and it goes for ideas in general. Even if you have really bad ideas, you kind of have to like. Expel them first so I'll write all the worst stuff and knowing it's not going to be possible knowing that like if you're writing for a specific character who's an octopus and you really need to change it, you know, it's and it's an octopus specific Line and it's definitely not going to work for them. You write it out anyway, and then Once you get all the bad, you know, once you get all the stuff that doesn't work out first, you know you have it like for some reason it just sticks in your brain until you let it, until you're like, okay, I'll give you some attention, you know, write it down, and now after that's done, the other stuff comes to mind for whatever reason. You know, you put your bad rhyme down, you put your... It's not like you have it as a placeholder either. You just literally have to like write it on a piece of paper, write it on a, you know, a Word document. And then... once you've given it the attention that it needed, it goes away and leaves room for other things, I think. Brian Funk: Last weekend we had a party at my house and it's like this thing we do once... JP Rende: Thanks for the invite, Brian. Kat Raio Rende: Hahaha! Brian Funk: Yeah, I'm JP Rende: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Brian Funk: kind of sad because you guys aren't that far away. Kat Raio Rende: hehe Brian Funk: But we have just music outside, so we just set up drums and guitars Kat Raio Rende: Yeah. Brian Funk: and stuff. And there's a lot of jamming that happens. And it's very spontaneous, but... Sometimes you want to try to develop it a little bit and you sing a little bit and you just sort of have to be okay with whatever fits whatever works and just get stuff out and Sometimes the thing that might even have felt silly or dumb in the beginning starts to actually make sense and work That and I think that freedom That you give yourself to be okay with that Is so important because then if then the good stuff can…
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