At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, songwriter Amy Allen became the first woman to win the award for “Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical.” While she had her breakout as one of the most recognized songwriters just this year, primarily for her work on Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” album where she helped write hits like “Please Please Please” and “Espresso,” this marked Allen’s second Grammy win and added to her total of eight nominations — Allen previously won as a co-writer for Harry Styles on his album “Harry’s House.” Even if one may not have been familiar with her name prior to this year, many have likely heard at least one song she has written. Now seems like a great time to take a look back at Allen’s career and some of her best work.
“Back To You” (2018), Selena Gomez
Despite much controversy surrounding the show’s content, Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” always delivered a strong soundtrack. “Back To You,” sung by Selena Gomez, served as one of the singles for the soundtrack for the second season. With over a billion streams on Spotify, “Back To You” is an energetic love song that features Gomez singing about a love that may be risky and painful at times, but one that she will always go back to. With strong production that swells leading up to the chorus, the punch line of the song, “If I could do it all again, I know I’d go back to you,” hits every time.
Other recommendations for Gomez’s songs with Allen: “Vulnerable” and “My Mind & Me.”
“When You’re Ready” (2018), Shawn Mendes
The last track on Shawn Mendes’ third, self-titled album, “When You’re Ready” is like a drunk love confessional — as indicated by the opening lyric, “Maybe I had too many drinks, but that's just what I needed.” The song feels romantic and intimate, with Mendes confessing that he will wait “ten years” to be with the one he loves if that’s what it takes. The song is the perfect closer for an album filled with love songs like “Perfectly Wrong” and “Fallin’ All in You,” with Mendes concluding “Tell me when you’re ready / I'm waitin’, I'm waitin’.”
Other recommendations for Mendes’ songs with Allen: “Isn’t That Enough” and “In Between.”
“Matilda” (2022), Harry Styles
The Roald Dahl book focuses on a girl, Matilda, who is mistreated by those around her, such as her parents and principal at school. In this song, Styles seemingly gives advice and aims to comfort those who may be in similar situations or have had similar experiences, using Matilda as a metaphor. Arguably Styles’ most emotional track, lyrics like “You can throw a party full of everyone you know / And not invite your family ‘cause they never showed you love” and “Matilda, you talk of the pain like it’s all alright / But I know that you feel like a piece of you’s dead insidе” are heartbreaking and painful, yet Styles maintains a sense of comfort and validation through repeating, “You don't have to be sorry.”
Another recommendation for Styles’ songs with Allen: “Adore You.”
“The Wedding Song” (2023), Reneé Rapp
The best way to describe Reneé Rapp’s “The Wedding Song” is beautifully painful. Rapp explained that she wrote the song about a person she saw herself marrying; the relationship did not work out and this version is her trying to remember what she originally wrote. Throughout the beginning of the song, lyrics like, “You are my one, you set my world on fire” and “I'm gonna love you ‘til my heart retires,” make you think it is a love song, until the punchline, “I think it went something like that,” hits and you realize the truth.
“pretty isn’t pretty” (2023), Olivia Rodrigo
Perhaps one of the most relatable and emotional tracks on Olivia Rodrigo’s “GUTS” album, the poignant lyricism of “pretty isn’t pretty” delves into the struggles of adhering to beauty standards and societal norms in a world where that standard is constantly changing. As she sings, “It’s on the poster on the wall, it’s in the shitty magazines / It’s in my phone, it’s in my head, it’s in the boys I bring to bed,” Rodrigo emphasizes how difficult it is to be constantly bombarded by media that tells you to look a certain way. What stands out about the lyrics of the song is how simple yet impactful they are and one of the best examples of that is “You fix thе things you hated, and you’d still feel so insecure.”
Another recommendation for Rodrigo’s songs with Allen: “scared of my guitar.”
