Hitmaker benny blanco on Failure, Creativity and Cooking

The Martha Stewart Podcast

Martha Stewart interviews hit producer Benny Blanco about his new book 'F*ck Failure,' his music career, marriage to Selena Gomez, and passi

Key takeaways

• Benny Blanco emphasizes embracing failure as essential to creativity and success.
• He shares how he transformed from a shy Virginia teen into a global hitmaker by persisting through rejection.

Main topics

• Creative failure and resilience
• Music production and songwriting process

Notable quotes

"I fail every day. You failed. I know you failed. Of course I failed."

"Just pick one thing and just do that one today. Even if it's the easiest thing... inch it forward every day."

Conclusion

Benny Blanco reveals that success stems not from perfection but from r

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Speaker 2 (0:04) What's Speaker 1 (0:04) a Speaker 2 (0:04) man got to do to sweep you off your feet? Just talk to me. That's it? And touch me a little bit. Okay, okay. So he has to like pet. You're like a cat. Speaker 1 (0:13) I'm interviewing you. I'm interviewing you. No, you're not allowed to. This is my podcast. This is Speaker 2 (0:17) a once in a lifetime. This is our podcast. You're Speaker 1 (0:19) gonna Speaker 2 (0:19) make me Speaker 1 (0:20) blush. Speaker 1 (0:28) Welcome to the Martha Stewart Podcast. My next guest is one of the most successful music producers of all time and composers of all time. Benny Blanco has worked with just about everyone, from Rihanna to Ed Sheeran to SZA. And yet his new book is called F Failure. F for what? I Speaker 2 (0:49) don't know if I'm allowed to say it. Speaker 1 (0:50) Here, I'll show it and you can guess what it says. See, that's his new book. And it is a very interesting book. Now, I'm anxious to talk to you because I had no idea that you have written 1,300 plus songs. I Speaker 2 (1:06) didn't either. 1 Speaker 1 (1:07) ,300 songs is a lot of songs. Where do they come from? Speaker 2 (1:10) I wish I knew. You know, everyone... What Speaker 1 (1:12) age did you start writing songs? Speaker 2 (1:14) My mom was annoyed by me very early. I was, I was, whenever we went out to dinner, I was banging all the, the glasses and making a symphony. And, you know, she said, she said, I guess I was wrong that whole time telling you to shut up. I should have just let you do it. Honestly, it always comes at the worst time. It'll be like a person will be talking to me and we're. having like the most important conversation and then they say something that sparks something in my head so I have to listen to them and then like slowly write down a note in my pocket like on my cell phone that says like breakup song about yada yada and really Speaker 1 (1:52) yeah Speaker 2 (1:53) it's it's it's never the right time who Speaker 1 (1:55) did you like working with the most who delivered your music the best Can you say that or is it too much favoritism? Speaker 2 (2:01) I think I like working with my wife the best because I get to make music and then I get to kiss her. It's a pretty good situation. Speaker 1 (2:08) And his wife, of course, is the actress, performer Selena Gomez. You got married just a year ago. I Speaker 2 (2:15) know. It's almost our one year. Speaker 1 (2:17) What day? Speaker 2 (2:18) We got married on September 27th. Speaker 1 (2:21) That's my daughter's birthday. Speaker 2 (2:22) Really? Yeah. Did you know this thing? I want to know if this is true. She told me we had to save a piece of the cake and then eat it the following year. She said, Speaker 1 (2:34) okay. Tradition. Okay, so Speaker 2 (2:36) I did it. Did you put it in the freezer? I put it in the freezer. I cryo-wrapped. Yeah, yeah. I will tell you one thing. We almost didn't have a cake because... The Speaker 1 (2:45) electricity went out? Speaker 2 (2:46) No, no. Okay. Martin Short is very good friends with both Selena and I. Did he Speaker 1 (2:50) come over and try to eat it? Speaker 2 (2:51) He ate the cake before we cut it. Speaker 1 (2:53) Oh. Speaker 2 (2:53) He literally... And the people had to come out. And my wedding planner says, where's the cake? And there was a big piece taken out of it. And we said, who ate the cake? And they said, Marty thought it was like a display cake. And he took a bite. So then they'd go to the back and fix it and do like movie magic. But Speaker 1 (3:12) no one eats the Speaker 2 (3:14) cake. How Speaker 1 (3:14) dare he? How dare him? I would have killed him because I used to cater weddings all the time. If somebody had touched my cakes, oh boy. Despite his youth. Benny Blanco has already evolved his professional career more than once, moving from hitmaker to artist, now author and cookbook creator. His cookbook, Open Wide, and this is a very nice book, by the way, Benny, and it even has a recipe with my name on it. I know. Open Wide, look at that, was produced using one of my favorite food editors and recipe creators. Speaker 2 (3:51) Yeah. Speaker 1 (3:52) Just havoc. Oh, Speaker 2 (3:53) my God. And so many people. Johnny Miller helped on it. Oh, Speaker 1 (3:55) yeah. Basically a copy. Speaker 2 (3:58) Everybody from Speaker 1 (3:58) Martha Stewart Living Magazine got Speaker 2 (4:00) involved. Speaker 1 (4:00) I just copied you. Well, it's a very nice book. And the recipe name for me is a latke, which I love. I love latkes. Of course. So welcome to my farm. Did you take a little trip around the farm? Speaker 2 (4:11) I took a little trip. I think after this, me and you need to take a longer trip and go to Galeris together. And not flip over. Safely, Speaker 1 (4:17) we're not flipping over. Yes, yes. So this is a very special book for you because it's kind of a memoir, but it's also kind of a rule book. Speaker 2 (4:24) Yeah. Speaker 1 (4:25) And it's also, it's you, you. telling us what you really think. Speaker 2 (4:30) I didn't come from a place where I didn't have like a gajillion dollars. I didn't have any connections. I wasn't in LA. I was in Virginia. What Speaker 1 (4:36) was your name? I mean, does he come from the islands? My real name is Ben Speaker 2 (4:39) Levin. Speaker 1 (4:40) Ben Levin. And I Speaker 2 (4:41) grew up in Virginia. Speaker 1 (4:42) Okay. And Speaker 2 (4:42) I had no connection. And Blanco Speaker 1 (4:44) meaning white? Yeah, it's Speaker 2 (4:46) from a movie called Carlito's Way with John Leguizamo. Oh, I love that. I love that movie. Speaker 1 (4:50) Was there a Benny Blanco in that movie? Yeah, yeah, of course. John Leguizamo. It's a great movie. Okay, Speaker 2 (4:55) well, he's funny. Yeah, he's the best. Yeah. When I was younger, I didn't have, you know, there wasn't, you couldn't look stuff up online as well. There wasn't YouTube. There was no online. There were like books, but they were by some like has been or someone who never even did anything. And I wanted to give people the insight because like I've been so fortunate enough through. You know, obviously there's a lot of luck involved, but there's like, it's just like sheer will and willingness to fail. Like I know, I'm sure you're willing to fail and you failed many times. Speaker 1 (5:28) No, Speaker 2 (5:28) I'm not. You're not? No, Speaker 1 (5:30) I don't want to fail. Yeah, but Speaker 2 (5:31) if you do, you don't care, do you? If I have a Speaker 1 (5:33) job to make a cake, I am not going to fail. Yes. I'm sorry. Have Speaker 2 (5:38) you failed before ever? No. You've never failed? Well, I fail all the time. I Speaker 1 (5:42) don't, I try, I... Pretty much everything I've tried has worked. It's other people have failed me. Speaker 2 (5:48) Oh, okay. Well, I fail every day. You failed. I know you failed. Of course I failed. We all Speaker 1 (5:55) fail. Yeah, everybody fails. But that's sort of Speaker 2 (5:57) the... My whole thing is, yeah, it's just your whole life you've been taught that like... failing is this like terrible thing and you must succeed. Well, Speaker 1 (6:06) that's why they have A to F on Speaker 2 (6:08) their report cards. F is really bad. Of course, and you're taught not to fail. But if you're trying to do something that's not, you know, sheepish and you're trying. What did Speaker 1 (6:19) you try to do that you failed in? Oh Speaker 2 (6:21) my God, I fail every day. Speaker 1 (6:23) Like what? Tell me the most, what's the most serious failure you have encountered? Speaker 2 (6:27) I thought I was going to be. the biggest rapper in the world. I thought I was going to be the best rapper in the world, bigger than Eminem. And obviously it didn't work. Why? Why didn't it work? I don't know why. Well, you must have thought about it. Yeah. Why didn't it work? Because I was 15 years old and I don't think anyone wanted to hear what like a chubby kid from Virginia had to say, but- Whose Speaker 1 (6:51) name was Ben Speaker 2 (6:52) Levine. Whose name was Ben Levin. So I changed my name to Benny Blanco. You Speaker 1 (6:55) actually surprised me. You're huge. I didn't know you were cute. You didn't? No. Because you don't use all the best pictures of yourself. Look at that with your mouth open eating a chicken leg in the garden. What does a chicken leg have to do with the garden? Speaker 2 (7:09) Ask Jess. Speaker 1 (7:10) Okay. She made you eat a chicken wing? She put a chicken wing in my mouth. Oh, that's weird. Speaker 2 (7:14) That's not of the Martha Stewart. Who Speaker 1 (7:16) made your overalls and patchwork? We made them. Oh, for the picture? Well, I love trying anything that is new. Speaker 2 (7:24) So Speaker 1 (7:24) you thought you were going to be Eminem? I Speaker 2 (7:26) thought I was going to be a rapper. Speaker 1 (7:27) Eminem is my favorite rapper. Speaker 2 (7:28) He is? I Speaker 1 (7:29) have tried. What about Snoop? Well, I didn't know Snoop when I knew Eminem. Speaker 2 (7:33) And Speaker 1 (7:33) I tried so hard to get Eminem on my daily television show. Did he do it? No, he would not come on.