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Justin Tranter On Writing Your Favorite Pop Songs, “Girls” & Being An Ally

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BMI’s Pop Songwriter Of The Year is equally enthusiastic about his work on Gwen Stefani’s This Is What The Truth Feels Like. “Being involved with Gwen, I can’t even fucking tell you,’ he raves, waving his hands in the air for emphasis. “She’s literally one of my top five artists of all time, maybe even top three. I don’t even know what to tell you… you get to work with one of your heroes and she’s so talented and so specific and her vocal tone is sent from baby Jesus.”

I wonder if Gwen is always as chic and put-together as she seems. “She’s always that glamorous,” Tranter howls in the affirmative. “She takes her family very seriously, so a lot of times we’re working at 10 am and she’s serving you full superstar. Red lipstick, perfect hair, the eyeliner, the everything! She’s just the real deal, old-school rock star where it’s like you live it and breathe it, honey. You don’t show up in chap stick and sweatpants.”

I ask if ageism played a role in the way Gwen and Britney’s albums were received outside of the gay community? “Ageism for women in pop music is really bad,” he says after a pause. “I think there’s also a thing too where we look at, it’s not even just the actual age, it’s how long someone’s been famous. Kids want ownership of things. Their generation wants to have ownership of it. So that plays a part in it too.”

“But I don’t even think about that, because we were all so happy. I listen to Gwen’s album and it still blows my mind. I still cry. When the love songs start showing up about [Blake Shelton], I still get a huge fucking smile on my face thinking about how happy she was,” he continues. “In terms of the art, we’re all so satisfied and I think it did exactly what it was supposed to do.” Tranter also points out the ecstatic fan reaction to Britney’s “Slumber Party” video as another example of the projects hitting the mark.