Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

Ep. 32 - SHELLY PEIKEN ("What a Girl Wants")

Episode Summary

Shelly Peiken is a multi-platinum songwriter best known for co-writing Christina Aguilera’s #1 hits “What a Girl Wants” and “Come On Over Baby (All I Want is You).” She was nominated for a Best Rock Song Grammy for penning “Bitch” with Meredith Brooks, who took the song to #2 on the Billboard pop chart in 1997. Additionally, she’s penned songs such as “I Wanna Be With You” for Mandy Moore and “Out From Under” by Britney Spears. Celine Dion has recorded four of Shelly’s songs, while Miley Cyrus, NSYNC, David Archuleta, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Plain White T’s and Gladys Knight have each recorded two or more songs from the Peiken catalog. Others who have covered Shelly’s music include Jessie J, the Divinyls, the Pretenders, Reba McEntire, Lisa Loeb, Jennifer Lopez, Expose, Aaliyah, Backstreet Boys, Vanessa Hudgens, Smash Mouth, INXS, Keith Urban, Michelle Branch, Natasha Bedingfield, and the cast of the hit TV show, Glee. Shelly is a regular blogger for the Huffington Post and has recently released her first book, Confessions of a Serial Songwriter. 

Episode Notes

Shelly Peiken is a multi-platinum songwriter best known for co-writing Christina Aguilera’s #1 hits “What a Girl Wants” and “Come On Over Baby (All I Want is You).” She was nominated for a Best Rock Song Grammy for penning “Bitch” with Meredith Brooks, who took the song to #2 on the Billboard pop chart in 1997. Additionally, she’s penned songs such as “I Wanna Be With You” for Mandy Moore and “Out From Under” by Britney Spears. Celine Dion has recorded four of Shelly’s songs, while Miley Cyrus, NSYNC, David Archuleta, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Plain White T’s and Gladys Knight have each recorded two or more songs from the Peiken catalog. Others who have covered Shelly’s music include Jessie J, the Divinyls, the Pretenders, Reba McEntire, Lisa Loeb, Jennifer Lopez, Expose, Aaliyah, Backstreet Boys, Vanessa Hudgens, Smash Mouth, INXS, Keith Urban, Michelle Branch, Natasha Bedingfield, and the cast of the hit TV show, Glee. Shelly is a regular blogger for the Huffington Post and has recently released her first book, Confessions of a Serial Songwriter