You're listening to song exploder where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishikesh, your way.

One of the weird things about making a podcast is that I spend most of my time by myself in front of a computer

talking into a microphone with no one else in the room and having no idea who might be listening to it or where they are or what they're like.

But I thought I could ask you to maybe tell me a little bit about yourself and do it in the most personal way possible through an anonymous survey.

It would actually really be very helpful to get to know a little bit more about you and to get some of your feedback about the podcast.

So if you have two minutes to do that, please visit survey.prx.org slash song.

Again, that's survey.prx.org slash song.

Thank you so much.

This episode contains explicit language.

Muna is a trio from Los Angeles made up of Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin, and Naomi McPherson.

They've been making music together since 2013 when they met in college.

Their third album, which is self-titled, came out in 2022 and Rolling Stone, Stereogum, The Guardian, and more called it one of the best albums of the year.

Consequence of Sound called Muna the 2022 Band of the Year.

I talked to Muna about the song What I Want, which they co-wrote with Leland.

Leland is an artist and songwriter whose other credits include Selena Gomez, Charlie XCX, and Troysivan.

In this episode, Katie, Jo, and Naomi, along with Leland, tell the story of how the song came together, from the original demo to the final version.

And you'll find out how a band that doesn't really party, ended up writing a party banger.

I want to hit it hard, I want to dance, come on little boy, get it far.

Hi, I'm Katie. In the band, I am the singer and also the songwriter.

I'm Josette, play guitar.

I'm Naomi, I made the first iteration of the beat.

At the end of summer 2020.

...