Following Amy Allen's back-to-back wins in the Songwriter Of The Year category at the Grammys, here's a chance to revisit our recent interview with the hitmaker who's had a run of success writing for stars including Sabrina Carpenter, Ed Sheeran, Olivia Dean and Rosé & Bruno Mars...
This year, Amy Allen became the first woman to win the Grammy for Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical, and more evidence of her genius swiftly followed in the form of Sabrina Carpenter’s No.1 album Man’s Best Friend. What better time, then, to take stock of her molten hot streak, as Music Week meets the world’s most in-demand songwriter – plus her team at Warner Chappell Music – to discuss “hysterical” laughter in the studio, the importance of advocacy and the women “leading the charge” in songwriting…
WORDS: KAREN BLISS
PHOTOS: CAITY CRONE
Amy Allen has been part of so many recent hits that, by now, her own name pretty much doubles as its own genre.
This year’s evidence of Allen’s hot streak includes Sabrina Carpenter’s seventh album Man’s Best Friend (on which she wrote on every track, as she did on Short N’ Sweet), which sold 85,305 copies on debut in the UK, at the time the biggest opening week for an album by an international artist in 2025. Man’s Best Friend has 163,316 sales to date, according to the Official Charts Company, while Short N’ Sweet has 816,453. Also in 2025, Allen wrote on Ed Sheeran’s No.1 Play and Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving, one of the most eagerly anticipated albums by a new UK act in recent memory. Meanwhile, Apt by Rosé and Bruno Mars – another recent Allen co-write – has a monstrous 1,519,027 sales.
Yet even the winner of the 2025 Grammy for Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical – who has written with a glut of stars also including Harry Styles, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Tate McRae, Selena Gomez and many more – still has pinch-me moments.
“I met Paul McCartney for the first time the other day,” Allen, who hails from Windham, Maine, begins. “He was at the Oasis concert and I was in the same box as him. I introduced myself and it felt like a full out-of-body experience, I didn’t know what to say, I really went into shell shock.”
You might think the former Beatle would have had some words of hitmaking wisdom, only, they didn’t quite get that far.
“I don’t even think I told him I worked in music,” she reveals, breaking into laughter. “There aren’t that many artists where I really am at a loss for words.”
We mention the clip of McCartney filming Oasis playing in LA as part of their huge Live ’25 run that went viral on social media.
“My dad sent that to me!” Allen smiles. “And I was like, ‘Dad, I’m the girl in front of him, playing drums on my knees. I’m right in front of him, losing my mind.’ It’s so funny.”
The music industry tends to pigeonhole creatives, whether by genre or skillset, but Amy is versatile in every way
Gabz Landman, Warner Chappell Music
Immediately, Allen’s passion for music is blindingly obvious. A graduate of the prestigious Berklee College Of Music in Boston, she initially set out to be a performer, fronting the indie-pop band Amy & The Engine and releasing a couple of EPs (the band is no longer, but Allen released her self-titled debut solo album last year via AWAL).
“I saved up enough money to live in a really tiny apartment in New York for one year and if I didn’t figure that out, I was probably going to move home,” she tells Music Week.
While in New York, she met songwriter Scott Harris and her hitmaking career began to take shape. Allen wrote on Selena Gomez’s Back To You and Halsey’s Without Me, both released in 2018. A move to LA soon followed, where Allen met Gabz Landman – who became her manager – and signed her first publishing deal. Landman, who was then working at Artist Publishing Group, later landed a role at Warner Chappell Music (WCM), where she now serves as SVP, A&R. Allen signed to WCM in November 2022, meaning she enjoys a unique position where her publisher and manager are the same person.
“Believing in Gabz has been the best decision that I’ve made,” Allen says. “She’s become a best friend and a mentor and she works as hard as me, which is a really tough task to do because I work really hard!”
Her songs capture the spirit of our times, while being hits that will be played for generations
Ryan Press, Warner Chappell Music
Landman returns the compliment, describing Allen as “one of the most undeniably talented songwriters in history”.
“Amy is a very special person,” she says. “The music industry tends to pigeonhole creatives, whether by genre or skillset, but Amy is versatile in every way. She is a songwriter, producer, artist and advocate.”
Landman points to Allen’s work across genres, “from pop, to country, to dance, to R&B, K-pop and more” and posits that she, “proves the sky’s the limit for non-male creatives in this industry”.
Ryan Press, president, North America at WCM, points out that, the day we speak, Allen has 13 songs on the Hot 100 in the US, which is no mean feat.
“Few songwriters manage to have successes this big, while taking the mainstream in new directions,” he says. “Her songs capture the spirit of our times, while being hits that will be played for generations. That’s true influence.”
With the 2026 Grammys on the horizon, Allen is busier than ever. She has just landed in London, fresh from a writing camp in Las Vegas, where she worked with Muni Long, among others. Before she gets back in the studio, she takes time out to discuss the whirlwind life of a hitmaker in-demand and talk songwriting, her unique relationship with Sabrina Carpenter and much more…
First up, did you ever think you would win a Grammy?
“It was such a whirlwind and a dream come true, but a dream I don’t even know if I allowed myself to have because it just seemed so surreal. I’ve loved writing songs since I was nine and I have poured my whole heart and soul into it and followed the dream so wholeheartedly. It was an amazing feeling, but did I ever imagine it would happen? Absolutely not.”
What is it about your personality that makes you such a successful collaborator?
“It came pretty naturally because I’m one of three sisters and I’m the youngest, so I’ve always been a born listener and a team player. The thing that keeps me inspired to keep doing it is how I can work with somebody that’s country, or R&B, or pop. The thing that we all have in common are these core human experiences and emotions. Regardless of genre or age or how long they’ve been in the game, we all come back to the same things and find new ways to talk about those. I work with Sabrina all the time and just get to pick up where we left off and talk about these really human things. It’s cathartic and grounding.”
Some of the lyrics on Man’s Best Friend are hilarious. What were some of your funniest studio experiences with her?
“[Laughs]. Being a part of every song on Short N’ Sweet and Man’s Best Friend has changed my entire relationship with music. Honestly, there are endless memories from both of those albums. One minute we’d be talking about something really vulnerable, and then the next we’d be laughing hysterically. We’d look at each other like, ‘Oh my God, are we going to say that?! Okay, we’re going to say that.’ Sabrina’s so talented and funny and it feels like two best friends sitting down. We have so many shared experiences, Sabrina and I. So many women, and people in general, can tap into wanting to trust somebody, and that person giving you very little reason to trust them, but you want to keep trusting them, so you keep putting your faith in them. The self-awareness that she has to be able to put out a song like Manchild, which is beautiful and melodic, but also filled with witty remarks and pokes fun at herself as well, it takes such a special artist to pull that off.”
Ed Sheeran’s album hit No.1 here shortly after Man’s Best Friend. What was it like to work with him for the first time?
“It was so amazing because I’ve been a fan of his for so long. I remember going to an Ed Sheeran show when I was a teenager. I don’t even know if I’ve told him this, I might have, but it was in Boston. I’d never even seen somebody use a loop pedal before. Some of his songs are some of the best written pop songs ever, so getting to be a collaborator was incredible. He’s in a place in his life that is really different to a lot of artists that I work with. He has a beautiful family, he’s a father and a husband. I’m not in that stage of my life. I’m not married and I don’t have children, so that was really nice. He can write big up-tempo bangers like Shape Of You, but he also is a really honest, vulnerable man and songwriter. He was ready to have a song [For Always] on the record that felt really heartfelt and was an ode to his loved ones. I had done some harmonies on it in the UK, then when Ed asked me if I wanted to add some more, I was over the moon because to get to do any background vocal with Ed Sheeran is amazing, let alone on a song that I really love.”
You’ve also co-written for Olivia Dean and Inhaler. Are more acts coming to you from the UK and Ireland?
“For sure. I also had a song come out this year with Dua Lipa [Handlebars with Jennie Kim], who I’ve been a fan of for a long time. In terms of Olivia, she is great, 10 out of 10, I absolutely love her. She’s a phenomenally talented artist and songwriter; so genuine, intimate and real and I loved getting to write with her. I’ve also worked with Charli XCX, Niall Horan, one of my dearest friends, and Sam Smith, who I’ve been close with for ages and worked with many times. Even a lot of American artists that I work with have been wanting to write in the UK, so I’ve really got to spend a lot of time here.”
What has your experience been in terms of representation in studios and sessions?
“When I first started, I was so focused on getting my career off the ground that I had blinkers on as to what exactly the situation was. It took me about a year-and-a-half of going into sessions every day to be like, ‘Oh, I don’t think I’ve seen another woman.’ I was living in a little studio apartment and I didn’t have a lot of friends in LA. I would oftentimes go six or seven months without working with another woman. That was when I didn’t have control deciding what rooms I was in, and now I have a lot more control. My favourite songwriters predominantly have always been women. There are so many amazing female songwriters of my generation, and obviously before me, and there will be more coming after me. I work with more women probably than I work with men now. But it’s been interesting. I definitely notice in the seven years I’ve been doing it, there are more female producers that I’m working with. Laura [Sisk] engineered pretty much all of Man’s Best Friend, and she works closely with Jack Antonoff. She’s a phenomenal engineer and producer, and I feel so lucky to be with women that are leading the charge. I can’t wait to see in 10 years how she has been a trailblazer for female engineers and producers.”
Have you always felt respected doing what you do?
“Most women have a shared experience being in music in general. I remember when I was touring, a lot of times guys would be running the sound, or if they were helping the stage set-up, they’d be shocked if I knew how to plug in my set-up or if I had my guitar in an alternate tune. In the studio, I’ve had a few moments where men seem to be shocked if I know how to do a certain thing, like, ‘Comping my own vocal, yes, I can do that.’ I take them as they come, and each one can be a learning experience.”
Is there an important issue for songwriters that you don’t think is talked about enough?
“For the longest time, I had this sentiment of being so grateful for anything that happened to me in music that I often didn’t advocate for myself. A lot of times, you’ll be in the room and there’ll be three people creating the song and the next thing you know, the song comes out and the producer has somehow added three other people that maybe, I don’t know, are his friends or have touched the track in some way that wasn’t the actual songwriting of it. All of my friends have gone through this; in the songwriting community that’s just been how it goes. And you’re encouraged to be, like, ‘I’m grateful that the song is coming out, so I’m not going to fight for the fact that I’m not being treated equally or respected here.’ Something switched when I turned 30, and one of these things happened. It was a pretty upsetting one for me. I spoke to Gabz [Landman] and was like, ‘I’ve been doing this long enough where I have a voice now, and I can call up whoever I need to call and fight for why this is unfair.’ So my two cents is to try to have the courage to find your voice in an industry that doesn’t favour songwriters, even though it feels hard, and you might be told you don’t have that luxury yet to be treated fairly. I wish I’d had the courage to advocate for myself way earlier because I think you are respected if you do.”
Are you concerned about how AI might impact the craft of songwriting?
“There’s this video of a female news broadcaster, I think it was when the internet was first becoming a thing, and she was like, ‘I don’t think it’s going to catch on…’ I’ve been like that about AI for years now. And I’m like, ‘I can’t be that woman, I have to embrace this new wave that is coming.’ Somebody just told me a stat the other day that 28% of all songs uploaded to Deezer are AI-generated now, which is really wild. However, I have so much faith in the artists, songwriters and producers of this generation and the next. I will always stand by the idea that humans can offer something that computers can’t. And even if things turn into a big AI world for a bit of time, people are going to crave watching somebody play a live guitar solo, or listening to an artist that is saying a lyric that is so personal and undeniably unique to them as a human, that a computer could not have come up with it. But that’s just me.”
Have you ever asked AI to write an Amy Allen song?
“I haven’t done it yet. Terrified!”
Earlier this year, UK major labels committed to a per diem allowance and expenses for songwriters at their sessions. What is your position on songwriters making a sustainable living?
“Per diems sound great, as long as it’s in addition to what the writer will be getting anyway, in terms of publishing and things like that. When I graduated from college, I worked at Lululemon for a year-and-a-half to save up money to move to New York. I also saved throughout college from playing with my band, I was playing so many shows. I had enough to live in a really tiny apartment in New York for a year and within that time I wrote my first song and ended up signing my first publishing deal, which then gave me a lot more runway in terms of finances and being able to move to LA and become a full-time songwriter, as opposed to working numerous jobs, which I know so many people have to do. That’s why everything with how songwriters are compensated with streaming platforms and so on is heartbreaking because there are so many phenomenally talented songwriters out there that can’t really ever fully get both feet in the door because they are financially struggling. They could be doing six sessions a week, but they’re doing one a month because they have to be working multiple jobs.”
Do you think there’s a misconception about the life of a songwriter in that sense?
“I feel like a lot of people think of it as a glamorous lifestyle. It can be lucrative when you get to a certain point, but for 99% of songwriters, it’s really hard. Or, you sign a deal that seems really great one minute and you get a bulk of money, but a lot of people don’t fully recognise that is all you’re going to get paid until you recoup your deal. And some people don’t recoup the deal for 12 years.”
In terms of your team, how has Gabz Landman helped move your career forward?
“I couldn’t have more respect than I do for Gabz. She approached me, right when I had written my first song and I wasn’t published yet. She really took a chance on me because I hadn’t had any success. I’d been living in New York for nine months at the time and was coming up on that window, which meant I would maybe have to move home, and I was doing double sessions. She heard one demo of mine and believed in me – and she’d heard some of my college band songs and put two and two together that maybe there was some potential there. She took a chance on me and I signed to her. She was working at a company called APG [Artist Publishing Group] and she pitched what ended up becoming a Selena Gomez song called Back To You. I think it reached the Top 5 on Pop Radio, which, for my first song to ever come out, was a huge, huge, huge deal. It changed my entire life. She eventually left APG and then she started managing me.”
What is your relationship like with Warner Chappell?
“I love Guy [Moot, co-chair and CEO], Ryan Press, Gabz and everyone at Warner Chappell. They have been so kind and so encouraging. When I signed there, I was at a place in my career where I really wanted to be challenged. I feel like I’ve really got my footing in the pop space, but I really want to start working in country, start branching out to R&B; I’d love to start working with some Latin artists. They really took that and ran with it. They’re constantly trying to push me because they know I like to push myself. An easy thing would just be to slot me in with all the pop girls all the time, but they consistently are pushing me out of my comfort zone, and I’m getting to learn and become a better songwriter because of it. So I am very grateful for them.”
Finally, do you have any dream collaborators?
“For sure. I mean, I’m the biggest fan of Rosalía and I’m a huge fan of SZA. Stevie Nicks would just break my brain if that ever happened. Carole King… I mean, so many!”
For more on the November issue of Music Week, out October 14, click here.
