BYU students write song with Grammy-winning artist Mark Lettieri

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A group of BYU students are in the twilight zone as they have gotten the opportunity to work with Grammy-winning artist Mark Lettieri — a member of The Fearless Flyers and Snarky Puppy, groups demonstrating a level of musicianship that few parallel, as well as leading his quartet — the Mark Lettieri Group.

Lettieri — an accomplished guitarist, composer, and producer — agreed to spend three days locked in the studio with five BYU students. And they all had one common goal, to create something amazing. Commercial Music students Michelle Cheuk, Carson Ripley, Kevin West, Kieran Hellum, and Hanna Eyre collaborated with Lettieri, making dreams into reality.

“What I didn’t want to do was be the sort of elder statesman and come in and be like, ‘Hey guys, I wrote this song already. Let’s get going,'” Lettieri stated in an interview with BYU. “I didn’t want to come in there and sort of strong arm the operation.”

“My goal is that whatever we do, I want to be able to hear each person’s individual voice somewhere in the composition,” Lettieri said. “It just kind of started to grow and build, and I’m amazed that we wrote the tune and the lyrics. Because, I mean, sometimes songs take weeks, years. We did it in like 24 hours.”

With Lettieri as a guiding voice and collaborator, the group made a song called “Two Worlds, One City.” Eyre said the song is about two people in a relationship who are experiencing miscommunication.

“They’re just trying to find the words to tell the person, like, ‘Hey, if you are ready to put in the work, I am. So let’s make something happen,” Eyre said.

Lettieri describes the track as a soulful Pop song.

“The chorus is great. I think it’s got a really strong chorus with a really strong hook. It’s memorable. It’s been stuck in my head,” Lettieri said. “It’s been really incredible. I’m actually, I’m a little sad to leave. The passion from these students has been really inspiring. I’ve learned a lot.”

“I’m just very, very impressed with their maturity and how well they work together,” Lettieri said about the group of students. “You know, because the email was, ‘You got a group of five kids. Write and record a song. And that could have been a disaster, but it was not. It was a great success.”

You can watch the official video for “Two Worlds, One City” here.