Daniel Nigro on Why He’s Really a ‘Band Member,’ Not Just a Producer and Writer for Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic On the latest episode of Variety‘s Strictly Business podcast, Daniel Nigro discusses the evolving role of the writer-producer in pop music, and why he sees himself as being more of a de facto “band member” than overseer for artists like Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo. “I come from being in a band,” says Nigro, who is being honored as Producer of the Year at Variety‘s Hitmakers event on Dec.

7. “I come from a world where it’s a team of people making music. And I feel so lucky that I met Olivia and I met Chappell because to me, they’re these incredible artists that needed, like, a band member (as) somebody else to make music with… I don’t wanna say it’s easy to make a song, but it’s easier to make a song than it was 20 years ago.

But because people are able to work individually, it makes it harder for people to want to get together in a group of four or five people and really like hash out making a song.

So I just think that nowadays, there’s room for producers to play the role of the band.” Even though Rodrigo and Roan are generally considered pop artists, “They’re both rock ‘n’ rollers in my opinion,” Nigro says. “And that’s kind of why I gravitated towards them as a quote unquote band member, as a team player: I just love their rock ‘n’ roll spirit.