Bonnie Mckee

It’s no surprise Bonnie Mckee was born and raised on the west side of America as she helped re-write “California Love” by 2Pac with a summer-y urban beat, bubbly lyrics and a cute songstress on lead vocals.

In the summer of 2010, you could not get a popsicle from an ice cream truck, check someone out at the beach or buy a pair of new Diesel denim shorts without hearing Katy Perry’s “California Gurls.”

God-forbid on behalf of the pop fans, Valley Girls and hipsters who loved the Passion Pit remix; let’s take a moment to thank Bonnie Mckee for contributing to creating Generation Z’s catchy cherry-soda-flavored California anthem.

Some might only know Bonnie for her insane pen game for pop songs but she was also a part of the 2004 Fefe Dobson/Avril Lavigne pop/rock movement, being signed to Warner’s imprint “Reprise Records.” Where is she now as a musician? Well, she is conjuring up a self-proclaimed sound that is described as something “Katy Perry’s evil twin,” would be making.

Wait like one sec? Didn’t she also write Britney Spears’s new single “Hold It Against Me” ?

Yep, she did and it is safe to say her and Lukasz wrote the majority of Spears’s seventh studio album dropping this spring. We got around to clear rumors about who she has been working with so far on her sophomore album, what it was like working with Swede-pop masterminds Bloodshy & Avant and all things Britney.

Alex Kazemi: [Laughs] I see that you re-tweeted my “Popstep” tweet about the dub-step part in “Hold It Against Me.”  Do you like that term?

Bonnie Mckee: [Laughs] Yes! You are very inventive!

Kazemi: Was there a lot of pressure when you found out you were assigned as a writer for the Britney Spears project?

Bonnie: Well, believe it or not, for the past year and half everyone and their grandmother have been writing for her project. I had been pitching songs with Britney in mind for a while. I wanted to be prepared and when I finally got the call, I was ready!  “Hold it Against Me” was actually written about a year and a half ago.

Kazemi: When you and Luke were creating the song, did you know that Urban Outfitter manufactured hipsters all over the world would be pouting on their Facebook and Twitters about “Dubstep” being used in a Britney Spears track?

Bonnie : I’m not surprised; people take their subcultures very seriously. Cry me a river hipsters!  You don’t own it! Let the world enjoy it, it was created for a reason.  Even if it’s not perfectly “true” to the genre, it’s just a fun little taste of something different!  Oh come on, Brit has to keep it fresh after all. POPSTEP!!! [Laughs]

Kazemi : [Laughs] Well, we all knew it was going to cross over at some point. I feel that  “Hold It Against Me” was a perfect way for Dubstep to be introduced to the Top 40 type of audience. I know when you were a teenager you were a misfit and went to raves, so at some point in life you must have had an experience listening to “Ministry Of Sound” and “Hed Kandi” from Europe. Did Tiesto or any house producers inspire the lyrics for the track? “You feel like paradise” and “I need a vacation tonight.”  Many of these kinds of elements are found in European tracks.

Bonnie: Actually, Katy Perry inspired the lyrics. I was working with Katy on her album and she came in one day in a little slutty dress. We all know what a bodacious figure she has… So I said to her, “Damn, Katy- If I said you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?” A light bulb went off in my head and I was like, “I have to go!” The rest is history! [Laughs]

Kazemi: “Hold It Against Me” isn’t your only offering for the Britney sessions; I dug around Twitter and saw you were in the studio with Magnus and Bloodshy too! I nearly had a heart attack upon hearing of the Bloodshy Britney reunion.  Was it an honor working with Bloodshy & Avant ?! It’s amazing how the Swedes employ some of the best pop songs like  “Piece Of Me,” “Toxic,” and not to mention  “AM to PM” by Christina Milian! The list goes on!  He also did a Dubstep-esque track called “Freak Show” with Britney on a previous album. So maybe “Hold It Against Me” wasn’t the first?

Bonnie: Yes, working with Bloodshy was insanely fun! There must be something in the water in Sweden, because they seem to have an ear for melodies and hooks. Bloodshy, Magnus, and the whole team are so talented. They are always thinking out side of the box when it comes to writing, it was quite the honor to be working with them. Nicole Morier and I wrote a bunch of stuff together, she has done a bunch of other songs for Britney in the past. I love her! She is epic.

Kazemi: How many tracks have you done so far for Femme Fatale?

Bonnie: I’ve done six, but we are still in the process of recording, so I’m not sure how many will actually make it onto the album. Hopefully all of them! They’re so much fun! I’m very proud of the work we’ve done. I think her fans will love it.

Kazemi: Six is the magic number!  Is there anyone else you’ve been working with, other then Britney that you’re excited about?

Bonniee: Yes, I did a bunch of work with Kelly Clarkson last summer, it’s looking like that will make the album. She really has an incredible voice and I’m excited to see what happens, I have high expectations for that album!

Kazemi: ADHD moment! What inspired “Teenage Dream?” While writing, did you have any idea that it would become the album title ?

Bonnie: Katy and I have always had a mutual fascination with the adolescent state of mind. When we met six years ago we were both really into Lolita, we both explored those themes on our first records. Her song “One of the Boys” touched on the early stages of discovering that boys can be more than just friends, and my song “Confessions of a Teenage Girl” was about realizing my power as a young sexual creature and using it to my advantage. So, it was fitting that we would end up writing a song like this together. I had no idea it would go on to be the title of the album.

Kazemi: What was the song like in its rough/early stages?

Bonnie: Katy and I wrote and rewrote the song 4 times; we wanted a “forever young” type of feel. Katy started with a lyric about Peter Pan, that was cool, but it just kept feeling too young. We wanted it to have more edge, more sex. There was a version that included the line, “and the next thing you know, you’re a mom in a minivan” it kept us laughing uncontrollably for an hour. We literally wrote it beginning to end three times while rolling around the studio floor delirious.

Finally, we thought we had cracked the code. We wrote something that was based on the metaphor of “trying me on”, comparing the feeling of wearing new clothes to sex, kind of a “Dress You Up in My Love” deal. We swore we had it, then Benny Blanco came in, he was like “Uh, no.” Luke always makes us “Benny Proof” everything. He says that if Benny doesn’t get it, America won’t get it.

Katy and I looked at each other in dismay, knowing we would have to start all over again. He said, “something more like this” and played us The Teenagers “Homecoming”, but at that point we were so over it, we just called it a night. The next week Katy invited me to Santa Barbara to write with her, Doctor Luke, and Max Martin. I really wanted to bring my best, so I took it home and sat with it. I thought about my adolescent years, my first love. I thought about watching Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo and Juliet”, putting on a mini disco ball, and just dreaming of Leo. I thought about my friends and I having slumber parties in the 90’s, giddy at the mere THOUGHT of boys, a time when love and sex only existed in magical stories and movies. I thought about what Benny had said, I listened to the song again. The Teenagers, what a great word, teenager! A powerful word; our entire adolescence condensed into just three syllables.

That’s what songwriters are always looking for – powerful yet familiar themes, and there it was. I couldn’t believe after all of our agonizing over “youth” themes, that we had overlooked such an obvious one- the teenage condition. That night I had to leave for Santa Barbara and with that single word under my belt, I was confident I could piece it together from there. I was texting myself rhyme schemes all the way up PCH, trying to unscramble the puzzle before I walked into that studio. When I arrived, I was so excited to tell Doctor Luke about how I’d finally cracked the code, but he was pissed, we had so much time on the chorus alone that and banned us from spending another second on it, so I bit my tongue. We went immediately began working on the verses. Katy had already mapped out some beautiful images; building forts out of tents, running away and never looking back, etc. From that we wove a beautiful story together. I’m really excited how the video turned out because it’s exactly what we spoke of when writing it. Finally she went in to lay down vocals, I was freaking out that I wasn’t able to reveal my “Teenage Dream” version yet, and it wasn’t until she had recorded the whole thing that I pulled Luke and Max aside and told them about my idea. When I sang it to them they said “Well why didn’t you say that in the first place?!” I had tried! Anyway, we re-cut the chorus and Katy was much happier with it. That was the most important thing to me. The “Skin tight jeans” line in the bridge was a scrap that came from our “Try me on” version, it happened to rhyme with Teenage Dream, so I guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time!

When we listened to the play back we were all so pumped that it had paid off. I remember Max sitting back and saying, “I wish we could bottle this feeling”. It was really magical.

Kazemi: The youth inspiration clearly came out to be a success! This may be difficult, but do you have a favorite track on the record that you wrote?

Bonnie::  Teenage Dream. California Gurls is amazing too though, Katy was brilliant to bring that title back and spin it the way she did. We had a lot of fun thinking up 90’s themed lyrics for that one, the gin and juice line was a must and the Jeep line was pretty funny. Jeeps are SOO 90’s!! Haha! When I heard Snoop was on the song, I could have died. It was a dream come true- Teenage Dream comes true! Literally! Haha.  TGIF is pretty much a word for word description of our trip to Santa Barbara, so I love that one. It’s really kitschy, fun, and fills me with nostalgia. Another song I wrote, “Part of Me”. That one is beautiful. Katy sings with so much emotion and when I heard the chorus for the first time it gave me chills. It is a very real and raw song. I didn’t write on ET but I wish I did. That is my fav besides Teenage dream. But Teenage Dream is my ultimate because it felt extremely personal to me. I feel like I contributed to it the most of the four songs I worked on with and I seriously wanted to cry when I heard it was the album title.  I had so much fun working with Katy, Luke and Max. We make a great team! Who knows? You might just hear some more from us on my own upcoming album…

Kazemi: Enough about Britney and everyone else!! Rumors are circulating that Dr. Luke will be producing your sophomore follow-up from 2004’s debut  “Trouble.” You obviously have grown as an artist, 7 years later and you kind of already covered the youthful stuff on Trouble and expressed the rest of ideas on “Teenage Dream.” How does it differ when you are writing for yourself and for another artist?

Bonnie: The rumors are true; Dr. Luke and I are just starting to put together ideas for my second album. I think the main difference in writing for myself versus other artist is that lyrically, I take more chances. I’ve learned through my time in the songwriting trenches, that when I write something ballsy, a lot of the labels will be like “Oh, so-and-so would never say that” or “It’s too smart”. I tend to simplify and sweeten a majority of the things I write for other people, I like to take risk on my own stuff, go a little bit ‘left field’.

Kazemi: You have credits for all the music and lyrics on your debut album “Somebody.” That is quite impressive, you must be meticulous, a perfectionist, or have some type of OCD! [Laughs]

Bonnie: Funny you should say that, my whole life I was kind of a fuck up and everyone thought I’d never amount to anything. Now I am so driven and a total workaholic!! I was obsessed with writing every word and every note, which is impressive I suppose, but it didn’t do me much good, did it? I’ve learned that two heads are better than one and now I love to collaborate. I’m proud that I created a piece of art that came completely from myself, I now prefer working with others to get out of my head a bit.

Kazemi: So for your sophomore album, is Luke the only producer who’s signed up so far? You’ve worked with Ke$ha in the past, do you think she will grab the pen for your record too? Have you been working on material for it yet?

Bonnie: I will be working with Dr Luke, Max Martin, Greg Kurstin, Josh Abraham, and Oliver Goldstein, who is my main collaborator. He is kind of my musical soul mate because he can do so much; he can do the really hard electronic stuff and then can sit down and create something beautiful on live instruments. He’s my favorite producer right now. I would love to collaborate with Ke$ha on this project, and Katy as well, I have a top-secret plan for us… She doesn’t know it yet though!  [Laughs] I actually have bazillion songs I’ve written; it’s just about narrowing it down to one cohesive sound. I will probably just start from scratch and write all new stuff.

Kazemi: What kind of pop sound are you going for? The first album wasn’t your typical pop record; it had more of an acoustic sound but was still radio friendly. People have said that you are going to be the next Katy Perry, I feel like that is just a generalized statement considering you have worked together. Will your sound be anything different then what we’ve heard lately? It would be nice to hear you contribute to the pop revolution everyone is raving about; we still haven’t heard it yet.

Bonnie: I take being the “next Katy Perry” as a compliment, because I really love her work. But I will probably be more like Katy Perry’s evil twin. It will have the poptastic dance-ability but with more of an edge. I want to borrow from some of the eighties glory… big, anthemic sing along songs with crazy modern production. I am also toying with the idea of changing my name for this project, since I’ve kind of already done “Bonnie Mckee.” I’m interested in reemerging with a completely new identity, sound, and perspective. So don’t freak out, if my Twitter name change! I can’t wait to get on stage again!  It’s going to be fresh, fun, and ballsy!