Bonnie McKee Talks Writing Hits for Katy Perry, Music Industry Hardships and Her Long-Awaited New Album (Exclusive)

• More than a decade after Bonnie McKee recorded her second album, Hot Citythe project was announced on Friday
• The album was originally supposed to come out after she scored hits as a songwriter. 1 for Katy Perry, Britney Spears and more
• She was inspired to finally release an album on her own after seeing fans discuss his songs online for years

Road to Bonnie McKee’s Hot City it was not without problems.

After setting out to make pop albums more than 10 years ago, the 40-year-old singer-songwriter has been at the top of her game, penning No. 1 hits for Katy Perry and Britney Spears while seeking a spotlight of her own. She signed a record deal, released her debut single “American Girl” in 2013, garnered attention and built a fan base ready for more, but her full-length album ended up being shelved — until now.

By this time, McKee was devastated. But she didn’t give up. After years of searching for fans Hot Cityin a rather unconventional move by the pop star, the dancefloor-ready album finally dropped on May 31st.

Cover of Bonnie McKee’s ‘Hot City’ album.

Courtesy of Bonnie McKee

“Like it or not, a big part of my brand, my relationship with my fans and my spiritual journey has been perseverance,” she tells PEOPLE. “You fall, you get up, and that’s been it for me since day one.”

McKee knew music was her calling at a young age. Growing up in Seattle, she recorded demos and gave them to a family friend who worked in the music industry, who encouraged her to write lyrics.

As a teenager, she sent an original song to a friend of a friend and ended up playing it on Southern California radio station KCRW, which led to her first record deal with Reprise Records. There she released her debut album, troublein 2004.

The hit singer-songwriter Bonnie McKee made her own album, Hot City, 10 years ago. Now he’s finally releasing it (exclusively)

However, the pop-rock effort failed to connect with audiences, and McKee soon felt sidelined by Reprise. “So, in a fit of frustration, I’ll say, I went down to Hollywood Boulevard, bought a dagger at the store, burned a CD of my best new songs, went to the CEO’s house in the middle of the night, and stuck the CD in a tree outside his front door,” he recalls. she is. “Needless to say, they kicked me out, which I wanted.”

To make ends meet while looking for her next move, McKee began singing demos and writing songs for other artists. One day she met Perry in line while selling clothes at the Wasteland store in Los Angeles.

“She was a fan of my first album and we were fast friends,” says McKee, who was then asked by Perry to write songs for her second album, A teenage dream. Three of their collaborations (“California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream” and “Last Friday Night (TGIF)”) were #1 on the Board Hot 100, followed by three more from the following projects.

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Bonnie McKee.

Taylor Kahan

Around the same time, McKee hit the top of the charts with Spears’ “Hold It Against Me” and Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite,” among many other hits. “I suddenly went from completely broke, no car, no cell phone, no hot water and scrambling for Taco Bell money to house hunting in the Hollywood Hills,” she says. – It was really surreal.

With huge success as a writer, McKee was ready to become an artist again and soon signed a deal with Epic Records. Then she started making Hot City, released “American Girl” and prepared the follow-up single, “Slay” — but Epic wasn’t a fan of the song. “And when the label and I disagreed on that, I said, ‘I can’t do this again. I don’t want to do this again,'” she explains.

So McKee parted ways with the record company and decided to go independent. She continued to write for others and released an EP, Bombastic, in 2016, achieving success by having his songs featured in several TV shows, movies and commercials. “I thought, ‘Wow, I can really be indie and make a living,'” she says.

After recording another full-length album, McKee was preparing to share it with fans as the COVID-19 pandemic hit 2020 and the timing was no longer right. While sitting at home for a year, she found an online forum with a 500-page thread about it Hot City. After listening to leaked demos and live performances of his songs around 2013, fans still wanted to hear the full project.

McKee looked at her old contract and realized she could legally re-record the songs, so she contacted the other writers and producers and told them she wanted to finally release the album. “Of course, everyone thinks I’m crazy because I’m old,” she says. “But I say, ‘I’m telling you, these songs have stood the test of time in the same way that the songs I wrote with Katy and Britney have proven to be evergreen songs that are still relevant.'”

She revisited each track, gave it “a little face lift” and eventually even got permission from Epic Records to include “American Girl” on the project. The result is a version Hot City it’s both fresh and nostalgic for the period in which McKee created his songs.

Bonnie McKee.

Neilson Barnard/Getty

“I was at the height of my songwriting success and I was also at the end of my party phase, having been sober for 12 years now,” reflects McKee, who has always looked to Hot city as a metaphor for paradise.

“My idea of ​​heaven at the time was to be No. 1, to be super successful, to be in the limelight for once,” she says. “My idea of ​​success has really changed since then. I realized that it’s really about the journey, not the destination, because I’ve already reached the destination. I’ve reached the highest point, and that’s not really solving anything.”

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Now that Hot City is out in the world, McKee wants to see the project reach the potential she always envisioned. She will be taking the album to several LGBTQ+ Pride festivals this summer before embarking on a wider tour in the future and hopes to see the world connect with her work.

“I would love to be able to win a Grammy because, honestly, I feel like this album is a pop masterpiece,” she says. “But being an indie artist, it’s unlikely, probably. But I’m really proud of the work I’ve done and I just want people to hear it.”

The best part of letting go Hot City for McKee? “I fought for it, so it means even more to me now than it would have then,” she declares. “I just can’t believe I got here.”

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Source: HIS Education