Writing Hit Songs, Avicii, Life Balance, Philosophies on Creativity, and the Journey from Artist to CEO
Aloe Blacc has written some of the most widely heard songs of the last decade -- songs that crossed genres, climbed charts, and found their way into moments that people actually remember. His collaboration with Avicii on "Wake Me Up" was one of the defining pop moments of its era. But the story of how he got there, and what he chose to do with the platform it gave him, is more interesting than the chart position.
In this conversation with Elmo, Aloe opens up on the songwriting philosophy that has guided his career -- what he believes a great song does, how he thinks about craft versus inspiration, and what the Avicii collaboration taught him about the relationship between an artist's voice and a producer's vision. He also speaks candidly about life balance, the philosophies he has developed about creativity and sustainability, and what it has meant to evolve from being an artist into being a CEO -- someone who not only makes music but builds the infrastructure that makes a meaningful musical career possible for himself and others.
"The best songs I've written came from a place of being honest about something I didn't fully understand yet. The writing figured it out for me."
Aloe's songwriting philosophy: what he believes separates a song that connects from a song that is technically well-made, the process behind the music that has found the largest audiences, and his honest account of what he is actually thinking and feeling in the room when a song starts to become something more than a collection of good parts.
The full story of the collaboration that produced one of the most-heard songs of its decade: how the partnership with Avicii came together, what the creative dynamic was like, what Aloe contributed that made the song work, and how he thinks about Avicii's legacy now -- both the music and the person behind it.
Aloe's direct philosophy about sustaining a creative life over the long term: the habits, the boundaries, the decisions about time and energy that he has developed over a career, and why he believes the artists who last are the ones who figure out how to protect the conditions that make good work possible rather than burning through them in pursuit of momentum.
The deeper principles that guide how Aloe approaches his work: his views on inspiration and craft, the role of intention in the creative process, and what he believes about the relationship between an artist's inner life and the quality of what they put into the world -- the connection between who you are and what you make.
What it means to take on executive responsibility alongside the creative work: the skills that transition required, the mindset shifts, the specific challenges of being the person who makes both artistic and business decisions, and why he believes the separation between the creative and business sides of a music career is less clean than the industry pretends.
Aloe's honest perspective on what it takes to sustain a career across multiple decades in an industry that moves fast and forgets quickly: the decisions he made that extended his relevance, the mistakes he's observed other artists make, and what he believes about the relationship between artistic integrity and commercial sustainability.
Aloe on "Wake Me Up" and Avicii: the full story of the collaboration, what Avicii brought to the song that Aloe couldn't have produced alone, what it felt like to watch a record he had a major role in become one of the most-streamed songs in the world, and his honest, thoughtful reflection on Avicii as a person and an artist after his death.
His songwriting process in full: the specific things he does and doesn't do when he sits down to write, the questions he asks himself, the moment he knows something is actually working versus just technically functioning, and the single thing he believes most songwriters get wrong about what makes a song connect with a wide audience.
On life balance as an artist: not the platitudes, but the specific practices and boundaries he has built into his life -- what he protects, what he has learned to say no to, and the particular mistake he made earlier in his career about the relationship between productivity and output that he had to consciously unlearn.
The CEO transition: what it actually required, the specific skills he had to develop that had nothing to do with music, and why he thinks the most forward-thinking artists of the next generation are the ones who learn to think about their work as a business without letting that thinking compromise what makes their work worth making.
His philosophy on creative inspiration: where he believes great songwriting actually comes from, how he has learned to access that source more reliably over time, and his honest answer to the question of whether inspiration can be cultivated or whether it simply arrives -- and what to do in the long stretches when it doesn't.
What he would tell a younger artist today: specific, grounded, and honest -- the things he wishes he had known earlier, the advice he finds himself giving most often to artists who are earlier in their careers, and his direct perspective on what the music business looks like right now for someone trying to build something real from the ground up.