'Creating The Soundtrack For People's Emotional Lives'

Among them, they have 61 Grammys, one Oscar and, now, a foothold in Hollywood, as six hitmakers behind songs in this season’s movies reveal what it took to write them, the feeling of ‘blacking out’ (in a good way), the freedom of not wearing makeup and fears over a post-election ‘Divided States of America’

- Janice Min

Gather six of Hollywood’s top singer-songwriters and what you get, not surprisingly, is more like a symphony than an ordinary conversation. Each of the celebrated artists on THR’s first-ever Songwriter Roundtable — Alicia Keys, 35 (who composed “Back to Life” for Queen of Katwe); Justin Timberlake, 35 (“Can’t Stop the Feeling!” for Trolls, in which he also stars); Tori Amos, 53 (“Flicker” for Audrie & Daisy); previous Oscar nominees Sting, 65 (“The Empty Chair” for Jim: The James Foley Story), and Pharrell Williams, 43 (“I See a Victory” for Hidden Figures, which he also produced); and 2015 Oscar winner John Legend, 37 (“Start a Fire” for La La Land) — has a unique voice that came through loud and clear as they shared their artistic and political passions. On Nov. 7, the day before the election, they all were hopeful for a Hillary Clinton victory and concerned about the bruising campaign. “It’s dangerous for us to be complacent” in the face of Trump’s divisive rhetoric, Legend said. But he also noted this group’s place in fighting that complacency. “Part of the power of art and music is that we are able to transcend those boundaries.”

At what point in your life did you first fall in love with music?

ALICIA KEYS I was about 4 years old. I remember the moment that it happened. It was somewhere between Cookie Monster, when he sang this song —

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE “C Is for Cookie”?

KEYS No. “I Left My Cookie at the Disco.” And on the other side was “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”

JOHN LEGEND Oh, I love that song.