Doing a songwriting session with One Direction during their boyband heyday would have been the stuff of dreams for a lot of songwriters, but it turns out Vance Joy couldn’t wait to get out of there.
The Aussie indie pop star stopped by Fitzy & Wippa this morning when the discussion turned to songwriting camps. “I didn’t know that this happens quite a bit in the industry, that these people all get together,” Fitzy said.
Vance then produced an unexpected story involving a songwriting session and One Direction. “I rocked up to a songwriting session and it was with these guys that work with One Direction and stuff,” Vance recalled.
“I got to this house, it was like an hour drive into Calabasas to this giant kind of property. And I got there and I soon realised that they just must have misplaced the schedule or something, and they didn’t know I was coming that day.
A warm welcome wasn’t awaiting the singer-songwriter: “So I was like, ‘hey, I’m here!’ And they’re like, ‘oh, hey um, who the hell is that guy?’ It was a songwriting day for One Direction and Louis and Liam were there, and I was the spare part, I was the absolute spare part, no one knew I was gonna be there.
“Throughout the day, none of my ideas were going through. And I was just like, ‘alright, my Uber is coming guys,’ and I just got out of there. It was so awkward.”
After Fitzy asked if he contributed to the session, Vance added: “I was contributing but I also was like, I shouldn’t be here. They didn’t expect me here and they kind of had their idea the One Direction songs are going down today.
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“The guys were super nice. But I don’t think I ever fitted into their plan of being like, they’ve got this covered.”
It all worked out for both artists in the end. Vance released his third studio album, In Our Own Sweet Time, in June, and it became his third consecutive top five entry on the ARIA Albums Chart.
After performing at the Sydney Opera House this weekend, Vance will bring his Australian tour to Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Saturday, November 26th, with excellent support provided by Thelma Plum, Budjerha and Mia Wray (tickets here).
