SPOTLIGHT
Katharine McPhee
Every song tells a story. In well-crafted songwriting, the
performer sheds light on their own emotions and experi-
ences and when done right opens a window of feelings to
the audience as well. Katharine McPhee along with other
seasoned songwriters and musicians has captured this
in her new CD called Unbroken set for release on January
5. The Rage Monthly spoke with her on a bright and bushy
tailed Monday morning to discover a very personal take
on the process of creating this new work, her new look
and how one very bad morning brought forth a joyful
philosophy on life with her song “Lifetime.” As the newly
blonde Katharine McPhee aptly put it, “Blondes do have
more fun. But I think the brunettes could give them a run
for their money!”
The Rage Monthly: First, I really enjoy the new music and the
new look.
Katharine McPhee: Oh, thank you.
Rage: I read that you just wanted to explore another side of
your talent with Unbroken and part of that journey took you to
Nashville. What did you learn from that experience?
KM: Well, that’s nice. You did some reading up on me so
I didn’t have to explain all that. It was really an amazing
experience. I went like four different times. I learned a lot
just as far as writing goes. I hadn’t done a lot of writing.
I got to go through an experience of being with a lot of
people. Almost like a betting experience of getting to
see whom I worked with great and whom I connected
with and what styles were going to come out of these
writing sessions. And ultimately be who I wanted it to be
which is…me. I really felt like I got a chance to grow on
this. To take the time away from L.A. and Hollywood and
the limelight…take myself away from all the events. Just
really figure out where I wanted to go musically.
Rage: You have song credits on six of the 13 songs. Was it lyrical or
melodies that you mostly created?
KM: I think it’s just dependent on each song. Some
songs, I contributed equally, lyrically and melodically.
Rage: “Lifetime” sticks out just for the sheer joy of the lyrics
and the upbeat tempo that is something that Hal David/Burt
Bacharach could have written, but Boots Ottestad and you did…
tell me the back story of this song…what sparked it?
KM: That’s awesome. That was really a collaboration
of melody. It was one of the first songs that I wrote. It’s
almost two years ago it feels like. It’s hard even to remem-
ber. Looking at that song now, I can’t even believe that I
wrote that. There was a writing session set up with Boots
Ottestad and me. He’s a British songwriter but he lives
here in America. It was literally the first writing session
set up by my management here in L.A. to begin…making
my record. I was like “Okay. I don’t even know what this
process really is.” I didn’t really get to do that on my first
record…very little. I did it very quickly if I did. I was kind of
in a bad mood. I was kind of hesitant to go. It was like, “All
photography by Ellen Von Unvwerth
28 RAGE monthly | january 2010
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