Julian Bunetta talks songwriting, One Direction, and the “Espresso” loop

Few songwriters have made a mark on the world of pop music like Julian Bunetta.

From Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” to One Direction’s “Story of My Life,” Julian Bunetta has played a role in writing many of pop music’s biggest hits over the last 20 years, with his songs amassing around 30 billion streams and multiple GRAMMY nominations.

Bunetta shares with us that the key to reaching his caliber as a songwriter isn’t about ego or even technical ability, but rather an unyielding commitment to doing what’s best for the song at hand.

“My personal ethos is that you just serve the song and serve the artist; I’m not trying to serve my brand,” he tells us. “Whatever your brand is, it’s probably going to be dead in 20, 30, 40, or 50 years, because you will be too. But, what does live on is a song. A song lives so far beyond the creator’s life, and so far beyond the brand of the person. In a hundred years, ‘I Will Always Love You’ will still be here. In a thousand years, it’ll still be here. Even when people don’t know who Dolly or Whitney are, they’ll know the song.

“The only thing that matters is a great song, and whatever means it takes to get there. If it’s you taking a month and crafting it note by note, word by word, or putting ideas for lyrics into ChatGPT, it doesn’t matter. You just make the best possible song, and that will live on and cut through time and space—and everything else, to me, personally, is irrelevant. That’s it.”

Join us for our full interview with Bunetta above, where we discuss everything from how he learned how to write songs and the stories behind his most memorable sessions to his athletic talents as a producer.

What was your favorite moment from the conversation? Who would you like to see featured on our next episode? Start a conversation with us and an ever-growing community of music creators via the Splice Discord, and subscribe to the Splice YouTube channel for more installments of Ctrl+B.

September 10, 2025

ctrl+bpopsongwritingyoutube

Harrison Shimazu

Harrison Shimazu is a composer, content strategist, and writer who’s passionate about democratizing music creation and education. He leads the Splice blog and produces vocaloid music as Namaboku.