Skylar Grey has recently sat down with Danie Wall where she opened up about the songs that shaped a generation, the heartbreak behind the hits, and the personal battles she’s faced behind the scenes. From working with Eminem, Rihanna, and Dr. Dre, to choosing a quieter path focused on her own artistry, this is a conversation about reclaiming your voice, your identity, and your future.
At one point of the interview, Skylar Grey talked about how her most recent collaboration with Eminem, “Temporary,” came about.
“I wrote the hook of ‘Temporary’ summer of 2023. And I had writer’s block really bad all of 2023. I would try and I would write stuff, but nothing I liked. And then, one day, I was like ‘f–k it, I’m going to sit here until I write something good. And I spent entire day trying to write anything good. Sitting at the piano all day long, morning till night. And at certain point, I was in tears. I was like ‘f–k this. I suck. I can’t write songs anymore. I give up.'” Skylar Grey said.
Then she continued: “My partner Elliot was like ‘hey babe, the other night you recorded this piano riff on my phone, you wanna just check it out?’ I was like ‘f–k it, send it to me.’ And he sent my the piano chord riff to ‘Temporary’ that I had recorded on his phone. And I was like ‘damn, this is actually pretty cool.’ That original piano riff ended up being the piano in the song, I never replayed it. Then I started singing ideas over it. And I was literally singing about how I felt in that moment.”
“Then I was like, this kind of sounds like Ed Sheeran song. So I hit up Marshall and I was like, ‘hey, can you send this to your friend Ed Sheeran?’ And he was like ‘yeah, I got you girl.’ And then he was like ‘wait, no. I’m keeping this.’ And then he turned it into this beautiful masterpiece of him talking to his daughter from the grave, basically. It’s beautiful. It’s stunning. It made the whole world cry.” Skylar Grey added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Skylar also talked about creating “Love The Way You Lie,” “I Need A Doctor” and “Walk On Water” for Eminem. You can watch the interview below: