When it comes to music, there are relatively two types of fans. First, you have the occasional music listener who doesn’t really care for the logistics on how a song was constructed, as long as it sounds good—and that same person might even enjoy a few illegal downloads here and there for good measure. But on the other side of the coin, you have the avid music lover/musical connoisseur who debates on buying lunch or the latest album by their favorite artist—and they don’t mind logging into the iTunes Music Store to deplete their checking account of $0.99 to help support a good song.

In addition, those same melody junkies tend to have vast knowledge when it comes their most beloved tracks, and that wisdom is from the fact that they read the liner notes that come inside each and every CD they purchase.

If you’re more of an R&B/Pop Music person, then most likely your collection will contain albums by Pink, Boys II Men, Destiny’s Child, ‘N Sync, Alicia Keys, TLC, Mariah Carey, Faith Evans, B2K, Monica, and Whitney Houston. Besides all of them being multi-platinum acts, the other thing they have in common is former Xscape singing group member turned hit songwriter, Kandi Burruss.

Her prolific penmanship aided in pushing the aforementioned to over 56 million albums sold. Her first taste of success for her second career came when Xscape was calling it a day, and venturing out on their own. Her and other band mate, Temeka “Tiny” Cottle were crafting songs for their duo effort, and an unknown tune by the name of ‘No Scrubs’ happen to amongst their material. The song ended up getting into the hands of then label head LA Reid at LaFace Records, which landed in the lap of TLC. Their album Fanmail fueled by the song geared towards men with no aspirations went onto to sell over 10 million copies and as the saying goes; the rest is history.

The Grammy winner is also the first woman to receive the ASCAP Award for Rhythm & Soul Songwriter of the Year, but you can’t tell by her bubbly personality and humble manner. With all her accomplishments, one thing is certain: For every CD purchased under the genre of music discussed in this article, you can guarantee that a bulk of them will read “Written by Kandi Burruss” when you glance at the credits looking to add more musical wisdom to your mental rolodex.

How did you first get into music, was it something that was always in you?

Um, definitely! Well you know I was a part of the group Xscape, and we started singing in talents shows and things like that. I met the other members at the school we all went to, and we got our first record deal when we were in the 11th grade. 

Did you also do a lot of writing for the group as well?

I didn’t do a lot of the songs, because Jermaine [Dupri] wrote most of that stuff. But I did collaborate a little bit on a few songs back on the third record I believe. I wrote little bits and pieces, but he wrote most of the stuff. He might let us write a verse or something like that, but it wasn’t anything major. I didn’t get a chance to write anything major until after the group had split up. 

Speaking of that, what made you guys finally call it quits, and decide to go your own ways?

Well after our second album came out, we were on tour and one of the group members decided to go solo. So basically when we recorded the third album, we knew that [she] was going solo—so we knew from there that we were either going to be on a long hiatus or done. 

So how did you get the opportunity to write ‘No Scrubs’ for TLC? Was it a song you wrote for yourself, or did you originally write in hopes of pitching it to another artist?

Well me and the other group member was trying to figure out what we wanted to do, and we started writing songs for our demo, so we had something to present to the labels. ‘No Scrubs’ happened to be one of the songs that we had, and something had happened to where LA Reid ended up hearing the song, and he was like, “It sounds cool, TLC can have it.” The funny thing about it is our manager at the time was like, “Yeah, that record sounds cool, but it doesn’t sound like it’ll be a hit.” [Laughing] So we just gave it away, and we were like, “Cool they can have it!” I really liked the song a lot, but I didn’t realize it was going to blow up the way it did.

[Laughing] Did you feel like you shot yourself in the foot when it did eventually blow up?

I feel like that was the best decision I ever made, because that one song really opened the door up for me to write all these other songs. So that just really opened up a whole ‘nother career for me. To me, being a songwriter is way better than being an artist—you know what I mean? Because the whole “artist thing” may not last, [Laughing] whereas a songwriter, you can be writing for everybody.     

Speaking of writing songs for everybody, you’ve also written songs for acts like ‘N Sync, Joe, and Boys II Men. Is it difficult writing songs that are coming from a male’s perspective?

I don’t think so, for me it’s not hard. It’s the same. When I was growing up, I had an older brother, and being around guys all the time because I have a lot of guy friends—I just put myself in the mindset of, “What would they do?” It’s just how men write a lot of songs for female artists; it’s pretty much the same thing.

Talk about being the first woman to win the ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Award for Songwriter of the Year. What kind of emotions did you have going through you?

To be honest, I didn’t know how big of a deal it was until I got there. I didn’t know that I was the first woman to ever get it. When I got there people were like, “You really did something great!” “Do you know how big this is?!” I didn’t understand it at the time, but when they called me for the award, I really got all emotional and teary-eyed and everything. It was also a marker for me, because you have moments in your life where you’re always going to remember. For me, that was one of those moments, because when the group was splitting up—I didn’t even know what I was going to do. I had no idea, I was like, “Okay, what’s going to happen to me?” So for me getting that award, it was like WOW! Because I made it through a hard time in my life and I was able to make it to a whole ‘nother level.  

How do you feel about your talent? Do you think it’s best served behind the scenes as opposed to being back in the spotlight?

I have mixed feelings about that. When you’re an artist at heart, you always want to be an artist and be addicted to the lights and all of that. But at the same time, I love writing songs for other people, and the fact that there might be a record playing and people have no idea that you had something to do with it. You can still have the success and still have the financial gain, but you can also chill and not worry about being on tour. You don’t have to deal with the stress that artists have to deal with. Plus there is more longevity in the career of a songwriter—I don’t want to be 50 or 60-years-old still trying to put a record out. [Laughing]

[Laughing] So when you’re sitting on your couch flipping through the channels and you come across a video by a new R&B act, you never think yourself like, “Damn!” “I’m a lot better than that!”

I think like that all the time! [Laughing] Most of the stuff I write, people are usually like, “Girl, you need to put that out yourself!” So of course I have that feeling, but I do love both. It depends on what day you ask me. Some days I like being an artist and being on stage, and some days I really love being a songwriter. So it just depends on the day you ask. [Laughing]     

Is there anyone out there you haven’t worked with yet, but really want to?

Yeah. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY love Mary J. Blige. I would love a chance to be on one of her albums, but I haven’t had that opportunity yet. She’s a really nice person, and I met her a couple of times, but I’ve never gotten a song with her. I would love to get a song on her and with Janet Jackson. I’ve always loved her too, and I would love to work with her. I actually did do a few songs for Janet [Jackson] not on her recent album, but a couple albums ago, but the songs didn’t work out. You always have people that you love, and Mary and Janet are those artists for me. 

Has there ever been a time where you delivered a song, and the artist wasn’t happy with it?

I guess, but I don’t think I was in the room though. [Laughing] I write a lot of songs, and only so many of them get placed. Out of the 30-40 songs that did get placed, I wrote about 300, you know what I’m saying? Another thing you have to remember is the same song an artist might turn down can be a hit for somebody else. I wrote a song for Janet [Jackson] and I’m not sure if she ever got a chance to hear it because her A&R people were like, “Oh whatever.” I don’t want to say any names, but another artist has done that record, and the song is hot. What’s that first song Britney Spears had when she first came out?

I think it was called ‘Baby One More Time’ or something like that…

Yeah, that ‘Oh Baby-baby’ song! TLC had turned that song down, and it turned out to be a hit for her instead. That happens all the time, an artist might turn down a record, and then it just blows up.

So how do you distinguish the material you may want to keep for yourself verses the stuff you might pitch to other artists?

Well when I’m writing for other people, I have to really be careful with my words. I try to make my stuff edgy, but you can only get so far with that when you’re writing for somebody else. When I write for myself, I can say whatever because I don’t even care. I don’t have to bite my tongue or tone it down if I don’t want to.

Do think there’s any reason why songwriters such as yourself, Ne-Yo, Ryan Leslie, Sean Garrett, and The-Dream are now taking center stage?

I don’t really know, but what I have to say is if you were ever to make it as a songwriter; it’s all about the hit. Some writers are cool with being in the background and never coming out, but most songwriters and producers started off as artists or wanted to be artists. They just never had the opportunity to shine like they wanted to, but they never lost that drive to be an artist, and when they get an opportunity to put their own records out they do. As of late its been good because now people are paying attention to who wrote what; and who produced what. So when people see you have a track record, they respect you, and it makes it a little easier to put your own stuff out.