July 5, 2025 • 11 mins
Amy Allen is a name you hear a lot from us and rightfully so! Lisa and Ryley discuss what an amazing songwriter she is, and the lyrics to songs she has written for Sabrina Carpenter and Harry Styles. They also chatted about their comfort movies!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, welcome in everybody to the Saturday Bonus Chapter edition
of the Lisa's book Club podcast. And we are about
to go on a little vaca. So we're here. We're
kind of in a good mood, right Riley, Absolutely, summer mood.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yes. The weather yeah, I was gonna say, the weather's
looking up. Yeah, no rain for the fourth of July weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Let's go. We're going to play our tunes. And that's
why we decided to talk about songwriting. We haven't given
it enough attention. I don't think I really like I've
always said I want to book a songwriter for Lisa's
book Club and really delve into what it's like being
a songwriter. So one of our favorite current songwriters is
Amy Allen. You know all of her songs Espresso Taste,
(00:50):
Adore You by Harry Styles just to name a few.
These are mega hits. She is the Grammy winner this
year for Best Songwriter of the Year. She's from Wyndham, Maine,
which is so cool. Local girl, local girl. She started
out as a nursing student at Boston College. Didn't work
(01:10):
for her, crazy, transferred to Berkeley and the rest is history.
But we wanted to play for you a snippet of
an interview she did recently talking about sort of her
journey into songwriting.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
The game plan was like, take label meetings for this
band and get the band signed. And I went to
my first one, don't even remember what it might have been,
like RCA or something, and I went in and they
were playing the songs like overspeakers like this. I just
remember sitting at the end of this long table just
being like, this isn't it. I need to get better
at songwriting before I do this, Like I need to
(01:44):
write better songs than what I'm listening to right now.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
And what did that mean exactly better songs to you.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I just felt like like they were enjoying the songs.
I was just listening back to them, being like, I mean,
I'm so self critical, which is maybe why I've had
any type of success in my life, because I'm always
push myself very hard to get better at what I do.
But just listening back to the songs, I was like,
I grew up listening to Stevie Nicks and to John
Prine and Dolly Parton. I was like, I want to
(02:10):
write way better songs that I'm writing. I need to
learn how to do that, and I need to put
in more hours to get better at it.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, So she mentioned Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac obviously,
and one of her favorite songs is Landslide, and she
quotes it as I saw my reflection in the snow
covered hills till the landslide brought me down. And the
fact that Stevie Nicks was able to write these lyrics
as a twenty seven year old woman is quite amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I love her song or their song Silver Springs, the
lyrics of that I will if I listen to that once,
I will be going around singing that song for like
three days straight, just in my head out loud.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
It's really amazing because Stevie Nicks and Landslide, it's one
of the most poignant and astute meditations on how people
change with time, and the fact that she was able
to like know about that and in her twenties is impressive.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm always very impressed by people who can write lyrics
that kind of like outage them, almost like you're writing
about something that you're thinking in your head. How can
somebody of your age know so much about that and
not to like, I know everybody knows I'm a swifty
and not to bring her into it, but like, I
feel like Taylor has a lot of lyrics like that
(03:33):
where you're like you were twenty five writing nothing new,
like even younger than that. I think, like, you, poor thing,
are thinking in your head like when I'm done and
dusted and nobody likes me anymore, like I hope that
you like remember me and stuff. It's like it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, she could be a whole other podcast talking about
Taylor Swift lyrics. But I know that Amy Allen going
back to her for a second. I love the fact
that she said that she knew that she needed to
get better, and then you fast because this interview was
done a few years ago, and then you fast forward,
(04:11):
and then she wins the Grammy for Best Songwriter this year.
But she also said this interview that we're not going
to play, but she said that she just draws from
just like stuff happening around her, like just in her
daily life, whether it's a relationship with her boyfriend or
like one of her friends and you know, their breakup
or whatever. And I just love that because that's how
(04:32):
we all live our lives. And I think that's why
all of her lyrics are so relatable. We're talking like Espresso,
which was Sabrina Carpenter's Song of the Summer number one
song last year. And yeah, like she writes, I'm working
late because I'm a singer. I mean we know that
(04:52):
lyric now, It's like embedded in our brain. Oh he
looks so cute wrapped around my finger. My twisted humor
makes him laugh so often. My honey bee, come and
get this pollen. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, I feel like that's what makes a great songwriter,
is something that you're maybe writing about something specific, but
it can be taken a lot of different ways. Obviously
maybe not Espresso, but well.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Amy Allen's lyrics, you're right, can be taken in a
lot of different ways literally, but also there is like
a sexual undertone to all of her lyrics.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, I mean, working with Sabrina, I feel like they
probably brought that out of each other because Amy Allen
wrote on a lot of songs on Sabrina's newest album.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, the the little lyrics that I just I'm working
like because I'm a singer. Oh he looks so cute,
wrap round my finger. There is sort of a sexual
under that we talked about it on the show before.
But yeah, you're right working with someone like Sabrina who
loves that kind of stuff like em muendo and sort
of like tongue in cheek wink wink, yep. I think
(05:58):
they're like the perfect like, yeah, like songwriters.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, I pulled a couple songs of hers, of Amy
Allen's that she's written on that I really like, and
I'm very much like, I love a slower song, like
a very like heartfelt song. And one of the ones
from Sabrina's album that I really like that Amy wrote
on is Sharpest Tool, where she's like talking about like
basically like you're so stupid, And I just I like
(06:26):
that she can write. Amy Allen can write these amazing
like pop hits that are gonna hit every time on
the radio. You're gonna be dancing along to it. But
she can also write other songs like Matilda by Harry Styles,
who has it's like so such a sad song, like
the the chorus just like, oh my god, I'm always
(06:50):
so like you can throw a party full of everyone
you know and not invite your family because they never
showed you love. You don't have to be sorry for
leaving and growing up, Like, I to this song and
she can do both.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
She's incredible. She can she can be really cute and
sassy and she can also be really heartfelt.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yes, so it's crazy to listen to that album or
that her that back and her be like, I need
to work on it. It's like, girl, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
But I love the fact that she knew that she
needed to work on it. Like she's she dry, she's
self driven. And guess what she won the Grammy.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, that's that's like the true testament of somebody who
wants to be great.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It's range. It's range exactly. Yeah. Absolutely, And bringing this
all back to books, we mentioned uh Fleetwood, Mac and
Stevie Nix. While you guys have to read the book
Daisy Jones and the Six and then watch the series.
Oh my god, absolutely so great. So moving on, we
want to talk about something else, right Riley?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yes, Well, actually I was going to say Amy Allen
speaking of her wrote a song for the Twisters movie,
and so I watched that movie the other day and
I was thinking of my head least, like do you
have a movie or like a book that's just like
your comfort, You're always returning to it.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I have a couple of movies. One is going to
shock you, okay, and don't judge me because it's like
it's weird. One of my most one of my most
favorite comfort movies is Contagion, and it's the it's the
virus that kills everyone and Keneth Paltrow ends up dying
and Matt Damon ends up surviving. I hope I not
(08:26):
ruining for anyone who hasn't seen it. I've literally seen it,
I think probably twenty times. I don't know why that
movie is of comfort to me. I have absolutely no idea,
but I love watching it. Yeah. A more recent movie
that's replaced Contagion for me as a comfort film is Air.
It's the Michael Jordan movie that Bed Affleck and Matt
(08:49):
Damon produced and starred in with their production company Artist Equity.
I have literally seen it ten times and I love
it because it's in the eighties and the soundtrack is amazing.
It was all of my favorite songs and just like
all of the fashion, they totally nailed it. So I
(09:09):
just put it on all the time, all the time.
It's weird.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I love a movie with a good soundtrack. My three
like the ones that popped into my head immediately were
ones with like incredible soundtracks. So, like I said, Twisters,
like the recent one. I like that movie we used
to the theater. I don't know something about it, just
really like it.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Love the cast.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
And then Top Gun Maverick is the other one that
I just I love that movie. I love something that
can really keep my attention. I mean, I love the
original too, but for some reason, Maverick really is the
one that I go to the most. And then the
remake of Footloose I with Julianne Huff, I love.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I have to tell you, I like the original better.
I have to tell you because it was like it
was a moment. I mean that that dance scene is
and Kenny Logans singing Loose like it doesn't get old.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That's so funny. Obviously we're of different generations, so the
new one, to me, I feel the exact same way.
I'm like, they're dancing is incredible because julian Huff is
a dancer. The guy who plays the main character drawing
a blank on his name, I'm pretty sure he's from Massachusetts.
He was a dancer. He was on So you think
you can dance? Just Miles Teller, young Miles Teller.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I love Miles Teller, who is also in Faverick. Let's
hear It for the Boy. So it's such a good song.
I still have it on my playlist. I run to
the original and I still run to the Kenny Loggins
foot Loose. It never gets old. So this was kind
of a really a fun topic. But yeah, like weird
comfort movies.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, the ones that you always return to.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, but if you haven't seen Air, check it out.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I haven't seen it, so I'm gonna see it.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
It's really good. It's all about Michael Jordan's mother. Like
they changed the industry, they changed how athletes can make money.
It's really significant. It's a really cool movie.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I love movies like I love a sports movie. So
I'll check it out.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Really well done. Anyway, Well this is fun. So what's
your comfort movie? Comfort book? Comfort lyric? Anyway, dm us
let us know this is fun awesome. Coming up July seventeenth,
we will have doctor Paracone. He is the dermatologist to
the stars. He will be joining us at Lisa's book club.
(11:30):
Hope to see there.
Hey, welcome in everybody to the Saturday Bonus Chapter edition
of the Lisa's book Club podcast. And we are about
to go on a little vaca. So we're here. We're
kind of in a good mood, right Riley, Absolutely, summer mood.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yes. The weather yeah, I was gonna say, the weather's
looking up. Yeah, no rain for the fourth of July weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Let's go. We're going to play our tunes. And that's
why we decided to talk about songwriting. We haven't given
it enough attention. I don't think I really like I've
always said I want to book a songwriter for Lisa's
book Club and really delve into what it's like being
a songwriter. So one of our favorite current songwriters is
Amy Allen. You know all of her songs Espresso Taste,
(00:50):
Adore You by Harry Styles just to name a few.
These are mega hits. She is the Grammy winner this
year for Best Songwriter of the Year. She's from Wyndham, Maine,
which is so cool. Local girl, local girl. She started
out as a nursing student at Boston College. Didn't work
(01:10):
for her, crazy, transferred to Berkeley and the rest is history.
But we wanted to play for you a snippet of
an interview she did recently talking about sort of her
journey into songwriting.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
The game plan was like, take label meetings for this
band and get the band signed. And I went to
my first one, don't even remember what it might have been,
like RCA or something, and I went in and they
were playing the songs like overspeakers like this. I just
remember sitting at the end of this long table just
being like, this isn't it. I need to get better
at songwriting before I do this, Like I need to
(01:44):
write better songs than what I'm listening to right now.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
And what did that mean exactly better songs to you.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I just felt like like they were enjoying the songs.
I was just listening back to them, being like, I mean,
I'm so self critical, which is maybe why I've had
any type of success in my life, because I'm always
push myself very hard to get better at what I do.
But just listening back to the songs, I was like,
I grew up listening to Stevie Nicks and to John
Prine and Dolly Parton. I was like, I want to
(02:10):
write way better songs that I'm writing. I need to
learn how to do that, and I need to put
in more hours to get better at it.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Okay, So she mentioned Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac obviously,
and one of her favorite songs is Landslide, and she
quotes it as I saw my reflection in the snow
covered hills till the landslide brought me down. And the
fact that Stevie Nicks was able to write these lyrics
as a twenty seven year old woman is quite amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I love her song or their song Silver Springs, the
lyrics of that I will if I listen to that once,
I will be going around singing that song for like
three days straight, just in my head out loud.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
It's really amazing because Stevie Nicks and Landslide, it's one
of the most poignant and astute meditations on how people
change with time, and the fact that she was able
to like know about that and in her twenties is impressive.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm always very impressed by people who can write lyrics
that kind of like outage them, almost like you're writing
about something that you're thinking in your head. How can
somebody of your age know so much about that and
not to like, I know everybody knows I'm a swifty
and not to bring her into it, but like, I
feel like Taylor has a lot of lyrics like that
(03:33):
where you're like you were twenty five writing nothing new,
like even younger than that. I think, like, you, poor thing,
are thinking in your head like when I'm done and
dusted and nobody likes me anymore, like I hope that
you like remember me and stuff. It's like it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, she could be a whole other podcast talking about
Taylor Swift lyrics. But I know that Amy Allen going
back to her for a second. I love the fact
that she said that she knew that she needed to
get better, and then you fast because this interview was
done a few years ago, and then you fast forward,
(04:11):
and then she wins the Grammy for Best Songwriter this year.
But she also said this interview that we're not going
to play, but she said that she just draws from
just like stuff happening around her, like just in her
daily life, whether it's a relationship with her boyfriend or
like one of her friends and you know, their breakup
or whatever. And I just love that because that's how
(04:32):
we all live our lives. And I think that's why
all of her lyrics are so relatable. We're talking like Espresso,
which was Sabrina Carpenter's Song of the Summer number one
song last year. And yeah, like she writes, I'm working
late because I'm a singer. I mean we know that
(04:52):
lyric now, It's like embedded in our brain. Oh he
looks so cute wrapped around my finger. My twisted humor
makes him laugh so often. My honey bee, come and
get this pollen. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, I feel like that's what makes a great songwriter,
is something that you're maybe writing about something specific, but
it can be taken a lot of different ways. Obviously
maybe not Espresso, but well.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Amy Allen's lyrics, you're right, can be taken in a
lot of different ways literally, but also there is like
a sexual undertone to all of her lyrics.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, I mean, working with Sabrina, I feel like they
probably brought that out of each other because Amy Allen
wrote on a lot of songs on Sabrina's newest album.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Well, the the little lyrics that I just I'm working
like because I'm a singer. Oh he looks so cute,
wrap round my finger. There is sort of a sexual
under that we talked about it on the show before.
But yeah, you're right working with someone like Sabrina who
loves that kind of stuff like em muendo and sort
of like tongue in cheek wink wink, yep. I think
(05:58):
they're like the perfect like, yeah, like songwriters.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, I pulled a couple songs of hers, of Amy
Allen's that she's written on that I really like, and
I'm very much like, I love a slower song, like
a very like heartfelt song. And one of the ones
from Sabrina's album that I really like that Amy wrote
on is Sharpest Tool, where she's like talking about like
basically like you're so stupid, And I just I like
(06:26):
that she can write. Amy Allen can write these amazing
like pop hits that are gonna hit every time on
the radio. You're gonna be dancing along to it. But
she can also write other songs like Matilda by Harry Styles,
who has it's like so such a sad song, like
the the chorus just like, oh my god, I'm always
(06:50):
so like you can throw a party full of everyone
you know and not invite your family because they never
showed you love. You don't have to be sorry for
leaving and growing up, Like, I to this song and
she can do both.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
She's incredible. She can she can be really cute and
sassy and she can also be really heartfelt.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yes, so it's crazy to listen to that album or
that her that back and her be like, I need
to work on it. It's like, girl, I know.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
But I love the fact that she knew that she
needed to work on it. Like she's she dry, she's
self driven. And guess what she won the Grammy.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, that's that's like the true testament of somebody who
wants to be great.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It's range. It's range exactly. Yeah. Absolutely, And bringing this
all back to books, we mentioned uh Fleetwood, Mac and
Stevie Nix. While you guys have to read the book
Daisy Jones and the Six and then watch the series.
Oh my god, absolutely so great. So moving on, we
want to talk about something else, right Riley?
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yes, Well, actually I was going to say Amy Allen
speaking of her wrote a song for the Twisters movie,
and so I watched that movie the other day and
I was thinking of my head least, like do you
have a movie or like a book that's just like
your comfort, You're always returning to it.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I have a couple of movies. One is going to
shock you, okay, and don't judge me because it's like
it's weird. One of my most one of my most
favorite comfort movies is Contagion, and it's the it's the
virus that kills everyone and Keneth Paltrow ends up dying
and Matt Damon ends up surviving. I hope I not
(08:26):
ruining for anyone who hasn't seen it. I've literally seen it,
I think probably twenty times. I don't know why that
movie is of comfort to me. I have absolutely no idea,
but I love watching it. Yeah. A more recent movie
that's replaced Contagion for me as a comfort film is Air.
It's the Michael Jordan movie that Bed Affleck and Matt
(08:49):
Damon produced and starred in with their production company Artist Equity.
I have literally seen it ten times and I love
it because it's in the eighties and the soundtrack is amazing.
It was all of my favorite songs and just like
all of the fashion, they totally nailed it. So I
(09:09):
just put it on all the time, all the time.
It's weird.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I love a movie with a good soundtrack. My three
like the ones that popped into my head immediately were
ones with like incredible soundtracks. So, like I said, Twisters,
like the recent one. I like that movie we used
to the theater. I don't know something about it, just
really like it.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Love the cast.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
And then Top Gun Maverick is the other one that
I just I love that movie. I love something that
can really keep my attention. I mean, I love the
original too, but for some reason, Maverick really is the
one that I go to the most. And then the
remake of Footloose I with Julianne Huff, I love.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I have to tell you, I like the original better.
I have to tell you because it was like it
was a moment. I mean that that dance scene is
and Kenny Logans singing Loose like it doesn't get old.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
That's so funny. Obviously we're of different generations, so the
new one, to me, I feel the exact same way.
I'm like, they're dancing is incredible because julian Huff is
a dancer. The guy who plays the main character drawing
a blank on his name, I'm pretty sure he's from Massachusetts.
He was a dancer. He was on So you think
you can dance? Just Miles Teller, young Miles Teller.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I love Miles Teller, who is also in Faverick. Let's
hear It for the Boy. So it's such a good song.
I still have it on my playlist. I run to
the original and I still run to the Kenny Loggins
foot Loose. It never gets old. So this was kind
of a really a fun topic. But yeah, like weird
comfort movies.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, the ones that you always return to.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, but if you haven't seen Air, check it out.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I haven't seen it, so I'm gonna see it.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
It's really good. It's all about Michael Jordan's mother. Like
they changed the industry, they changed how athletes can make money.
It's really significant. It's a really cool movie.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I love movies like I love a sports movie. So
I'll check it out.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Really well done. Anyway, Well this is fun. So what's
your comfort movie? Comfort book? Comfort lyric? Anyway, dm us
let us know this is fun awesome. Coming up July seventeenth,
we will have doctor Paracone. He is the dermatologist to
the stars. He will be joining us at Lisa's book club.
(11:30):
Hope to see there.
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