CURRENT MOOD: Justin Tranter shares the songs that inspired their songwriting career

In our Current Mood series, we ask some of our favorite artists to curate a playlist according to a specific theme or mood of their choice. For today's Current Mood, Justin Tranter, co-writer of songs including Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” and Ariana Grande’s “Fake Smile” shares the songs that made them become a songwriter. Listen to past Current Mood playlists here.

In their career as a pop songwriter, Justin Tranter has been responsible for helping craft some of the more lyrically iconic songs of our time — they’ve had a hand in everything from Selena Gomez’s “Hands To Myself” to Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” to Ariana Grande’s thank u, next. At the same time, they’ve established themself as a powerful advocate and activist, currently serving as a GLAAD board member in addition to hosting an annual Spirit Day Concert in LA benefitting the organisation and making a donation to fund the building of a recording studio (and employment of a music teacher) at their former high school, the Chicago Academy for the Arts.

For their FADER CURRENT MOOD playlist, Tranter is sharing the songs that inspired them to become a songwriter. Titled Lyrics Lyrics Lyrics, there’s a focus on, as you’d expect, great lyrics. “These women wrote words that blew my teenage mind over and over again. They made me want to scream, dance, read and most importantly write,” Tranter tells The FADER via email. “I can recite every single syllable to all of these songs. They were my favorite in the 90’s and I still listen to all of these songs at least once a week for comfort and inspiration.” Listen to Lyrics Lyrics Lyrics above.