Mark Ronson - The Stories Behind ‘Uptown Funk,’ Amy Winehouse & ‘I’m Just Ken’

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Content Warning: This episode contains mentions of drug use. Mark Ronson is the hitmaker behind some of the most iconic music of the past two decades. A nine-time Grammy-winning producer, DJ, and Oscar-winning songwriter (yes - he wrote “I’m Just Ken”), Ronson has collaborated with legends like Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Miley Cyrus and Duran Duran. He also produced Amy Winehouse’s era-defining album Back to Black, and his 2014 smash “Uptown Funk” is one of the best-selling singles in history. In this revealing conversation, Mark shares the creative process behind “Uptown Funk,” his unforgettable first meeting with Amy Winehouse, the 90s New York club scene and how a song from Barbie became a global phenomenon. ✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Intro 02:45 The DJ Booth 04:00 Navigating Family Chaos and Emotional Sensitivity 06:56 The Night People: A Unique Subculture 09:06 Encounters with Celebrities and Substance Experimentation 12:11 The Jay-Z Approach Disaster 21:33 Creating Uptown Funk with Bruno Mars 24:04 The Journey of a Hit Song 25:50 The Concept of Cool 27:42 Guitar Dreams and DJ Realities 29:59 The Importance of Friendship 33:24 Therapy and Personal Growth 35:19 Meeting his wife During COVID 37:26 Industry Exile and a New Beginning 44:14 Creating the Barbie Soundtrack 💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: "Creativity is almost like a newborn baby. That's just pure, and I'm not sure if that's really affected by esteem or not." "There was something about the DJ booth, just like almost physically, it was this, that one man command center where I was just the captain. Nobody can get to me. This is my thing." 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Mark Ronson’s new memoir ‘Night People’ is out now linktr.ee/MarkRonson_NightPeople Elizabeth’s upcoming one-off show at Cadogan Hall on 21 Sep for her new novel One of Us: ⁠https://www.fane.co.uk/elizabeth-day Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content 📚 WANT MORE? Tracey Thorn - One half of the legendary duo Everything But The Girl, Tracey talks about stage fright, motherhood, anxiety, and unexpected turns in life and career. https://link.chtbl.com/7uRMc582 Mabel - the mega popstar chats creativity, stage fright and trying to be healthy. https://link.chtbl.com/C_XRoNuJ Emeli Sandé - A chart-topping artist with a deeply moving story of overcoming body-image struggles and personal heartbreak, all while navigating fame. https://link.chtbl.com/XVmX2wuW 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com Elizabeth and Mark Ronson answer YOUR questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: howtofailpod.com Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Sound Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Carly Maile How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Uptown Funk came out of a jam with Bruno.
0:05.0	And actually it kind of was like a definitely linked to a,
0:08.0	there's a failure origin story.
0:10.0	And she was like, and can you just write a Ken song?
0:13.0	Like, just meaning like maybe in the credits we'll have a song about Ken.
0:18.0	And so I came up with the idea for I'm just Ken. We met that day and then
0:25.3	literally wrote back to black that night. Hello and welcome to How to Fail. I am the creator
0:33.2	and host Elizabeth Day and this is the podcast where we believe that learning how to fail
0:38.1	actually means learning how to succeed better.
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	...

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