PODCAST: Inside Berklee—Kara DioGuardi and Bonnie Hayes

Kara DioGuardi, in an interview with Bonnie Hayes, talks about about rediscovering her creativity, interacting with young musicians, and what it takes to succeed in the industry today. 

December 3, 2015

By any measure, singer-songwriter and producer Kara DioGuardi has an enviable career. More than 150 of her songs have appeared on platinum-selling albums and she was a judge on American Idol for two seasons. Yet, despite this success, DioGuardi has suffered times in which she felt uninspired and had to rediscover her creativity. 

Now DioGuardi is a visiting scholar in Berklee's Songwriting Department. Teaching here, she says, keeps her approach to her craft fresh, new, and exciting. "I had to figure out a way to stay creative, do what I loved but not have it be about having hit songs anymore. More about going in, working with young people and maybe in some way helping them along their journey. And I really feel like it's become that, and I owe a lot of that to teaching at Berklee."

In this special edition of Inside Berklee, DioGuardi talks to Bonnie Hayes, chair of the Songwriting Department, about coming back to her art, interacting with young musicians, and what it takes to succeed in the industry today. 

Kara DioGuardi will be hosting a bootcamp showcase at the Red Room at Cafe 939 on December 7.

Producer: Tony Brown and Kimberly Ashton
Engineer: Steven Xia
Recorded at the BIRN Studios