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cover art for Owen Cutts: How I made music with Stormzy

What's The Trick?

Owen Cutts: How I made music with Stormzy

Season 1, Ep. 11
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Music Producer, Songwriter - This episode is about how music is actually made - not the romantic version, but the real one. The rooms. The pressure. The trust. The decisions that quietly determine whether an idea lives or dies.


Ben sits down with a producer and songwriter Owen Cutts work spans hip-hop, soul, pop, and British music culture, someone who has built a long career behind the scenes, helping artists turn unfinished thoughts into finished records.


This conversation exists to answer a deceptively simple question:

- What does it really take to make meaningful creative work that lasts?

- Not just to start, but to sustain.

- If you’ve ever wondered how ideas move from instinct to execution, or how creative people balance art, ego, money, and longevity, this episode is for you.


What You’ll Learn

- Why the music industry isn’t actually about money - and what it is about instead

- How professional creators build trust fast enough to do vulnerable work with strangers

- What a “day-one demo” is - and why it has to be album-ready by the end of the day

- How changing the perspective of an idea can unlock originality

- Why chasing trends almost guarantees you’ll arrive too late

- How great producers think in terms of environments, not just sounds

- What old music can teach modern creators about invention and courage


Why This Conversation Matters

- Most people talk about creativity as inspiration.

- This episode treats it as craft, judgment, and responsibility.

- It pulls back the curtain on the invisible decisions that shape creative work - the moments that don’t make headlines but determine outcomes.

- The value of saying no.

- The cost of rushing.

- The discipline of putting the work before the ego.

- Whether you make music, build companies, write, design, or lead teams, this conversation reframes creativity as something done deliberately, not magically.


Who This Episode Is For

- Creatives who want to understand how ideas become finished work

- Founders balancing vision, collaboration, and real-world constraints

- Makers who care about longevity more than virality

- Anyone curious about how trust and taste operate under pressure

- People who love culture, but want to understand how it’s constructed


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