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John Grant celebrates Music Life’s 200th episode with highlights from the shows to date. Nearly 800 singers, producers, DJs, visual artists, and performers have come to have a chat on the show so far, sharing their experiences and unique perspectives on their lives as musicians. To celebrate this milestone, this week we’re looking back at some of the best conversations from the series, featuring the likes of alt-pop artist Santigold, soul singer Gregory Porter, rock singer Skin from Skunk Anansie, rock legend Elvis Costello, video game composer Olivier Deriviere and Uruguayan legend Jorge Drexler.

They take us on a journey through the songwriting process, discussing the merits of simplicity vs technique in recording, revealing insights into the processes of big stars, considering how to deal with the biggest topics within music, looking at the bigger picture, and finally the future of the music world. And yes, that involves AI!

In its 4 years or so to date, Music Life has joined the dots between every genre of music imaginable and featured artists from every corner of the globe. We’ve heard Hans Zimmer explain how he went from playing in a new wave pop band to composing for the biggest films in the world, Santigold on how to use songwriting as an opportunity to make social commentary, Moonchild Sanelly on what she can’t say in her music, David Byrne on the pressure to do something different, Lykke Li on going it alone, Dele Sosimi on sustaining creativity, Angel Olsen on trying to not make ‘normal’ music, Kranium on how he made his best chorus, Iggy Pop on genre-crossing, Eris Drew on the importance of positivity in dance music, Mykki Blanco on the role of resistance in their work, and Becky Hill on how to write the perfect hit.