Multi-hyphenate, Greg Scott has loved music and writing since he was a kid shadowing his father to studio sessions. Most recently, he brought this passion to NBC’s Songland.
His song “Miracle” captured the panel’s attention and was selected as the song of the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
We chatted with the Songland winner about being on the show, writing virtually and what to look forward to next!
Excerpt from the podcast:
What was your experience like on the show?
Oh my gosh. It was unreal! It was like a dream – the whole thing was very surprising. Just every turn, it was like, ‘is this really happening to me right now?’ It was hard to believe. You’re told that your song is going to be used for the Olympics and you’re like ‘No…that can’t…no… that can’t possibly be right.’ Once I started working with Ryan Tedder and all these folks, meeting Bebe Rexha – it became more and more real. It was crazy.
When you first performed your song for the panel, they immediately began brainstorming. What was it like to see them so enthusiastic about your song?
It was awesome, really. The only thing you could ask for with these shows- Is this going to spark their creativity? Is it going to get them going? Are they going to be excited about that? Going in, obviously, I’m excited about it. it’s my music and it’s something I’ve worked on, something that I was inspired by. To see them get that same bug and be basically like this is the hook, this is what’s going to drive this song, you can’t ask for more than that.
Were you nervous to hand over your song to the judges and for them to possibly make changes to something that was so personal to you?
It’s crazy! The nerves were basically about how I’d never sung this song live before. The first time singing this song is me on national television. That was literally the first time I performed it live in front of anyone. So that was definitely in the back of my mind. And luckily, I’ve been performing for a long time so I went into auto pilot when it comes to entertaining. The nerves were going crazy. As far as having them rip it apart or adding their two cents in, I was ready for it. Personally, I really thought that the song needed a little bit of extra juice, extra hands in the fire, and people in the kitchen cooking on it. It was missing something. As a collaborator, that is something you have to be open to. Obviously, if they’re trying to change something that is really, really personal to you then I might have spoken up, like if they wanted to change the hook or something. I was just grateful for them to be able to take what I did and just make it that much better.