Dr. Luke

The first record with an artist oftentimes can be the most exciting. When it's not routine for them, when it's really new is the best moment in their careers.

My music isn't Leonard Cohen. But people are going to smile when it comes on.

A hit record is a matter of a million things going right.

Kesha and I made a lot of songs together and it was often good but there were creative differences at times.

I have 3 sisters, a daughter, and a son with my girlfriend, and a feminist mom who raised me right.

I feel like if you can make music, and get people to, you know, evoke that feeling out of other people through writing songs, that's a pretty cool thing to do.

I don't want to disappoint people. Especially with an icon like Britney. You don't want to be the one who messed it up.

The hardest thing, and the most difficult thing, is to do the most simple thing. Because that means that you've had to weed out every other option. I kind of feel like that about a good pop song, too. When it's right, it's perfect, you know?

I'm looking for voices that are distinctive. That's the most important thing to me. I mean, obviously they have to be able to sing.

For me to just be a face on something, I'd look at myself and be disappointed. I'd rather be the person behind the scenes making the show.

I think there are records that will sell, and I think what makes a record sell is a continuity of sound.

I've read that I'm ruining music. It makes me kind of laugh.

I grew up in New York.

A list songwriters and producers are reluctant to give Kesha their songs because of her weight.

I feel like Britney kind of has her own genre: If you look at songs like 'Toxic' and 'Piece of Me' and 'Oops! I Did It Again,' they all were sort of influential and led the way.

I really love Stuart Price, he's a great producer and beat maker.

There's no amount of money that would make me do something that I didn't want to do.

I do believe that music will change and has to change in some capacity, and I'll either change and reinvent or sink or swim.

For me, I'm more a fan of the songs than of the artists because often, it's not worth getting the whole album. There's usually a few singles and the rest of it is politics or something.

Howard Shore, who's an amazing film composer, told me once that it's 10 percent inspiration, 90 percent perspiration. So I think even within the creative process, like being a producer, you're really managing people and getting the best out of them.