Ricky Reed: Last News

Mike Wass From familiar faces to rising stars and living legends, the producer of the year, non classical category promises to be one of the most hotly contested fields at the 2023 Grammy Awards. The leading contenders helped craft some of the year’s most acclaimed projects — elevating, refining, and, in some cases, reinventing the sounds of awards favorites like Beyoncé, Adele, and Brandi Carlisle. With Adele’s “30” very much in the mix this year, Greg Kurstin is a frontrunner to nab his fifth nomination. The producer-musician, who helmed the “30” hits “Easy On Me” and “Oh My God,” as well as crafting tracks for Maren Morris, Tate McRae, and Gorillaz, previously won in 2017 and 2018. He joins fellow frequent flier Jack Antonoff, who could repeat last year’s win thanks to his production on Florence + The Machine’s “Dance Fever” and singles such as the 1975’s “Part of the Band” and Tame Impala and Diana Ross’ “Turn Up The Sunshine.”  

Thania Garcia Tinashe is being more candid than ever about her artistic evolution and her controversial collaborations during her time with RCA, the label she left in 2019. In a new interview with the Zach Sang Show, Tinashe was asked whether she thought her singles with disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly and Chris Brown — who has long been criticized for assaulting Rihanna in 2009 and has also been accused of numerous other violent crimes since then — were a result of her label’s faulty strategy to launch her career.

Range Media Partners on Tuesday announced its formation of a music publishing division headed up by industry vet Casey Robison.

Thania Garcia Brandon Davis and Jeff Levin have been re-upped to executive vice presidents and co-heads of pop A&R for Atlantic Records‘ Warner Music imprint; both will be based in Los Angeles, and report to Atlantic President of A&R, Pete Ganbarg. “Both Brandon and Jeff have worked at Atlantic their entire professional lives, rising from entry-level intern and assistant positions to become an integral part of the leadership of our A&R team,” commented Ganbarg. “I couldn’t be happier for them and am thrilled to recognize their contributions with these well-deserved promotions.” Previously, the pair of execs held positions as senior VPs of A&R. Davis joined Atlantic 11 years ago as an assistant in the A&R department, and Levin joined in 2010 and has since A&R’d a wide range of WMG artists. His signings include Melanie Martinez (“Cry Baby”), Ben Platt’s debut album and signed Oliver Tree. Most recently, Levin A&R’d Charlie Puth’s third album, “Charlie,” which includes the gold-certified single, “Left and Right” featuring Jungkook of BTS.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWith hits from a wildly diverse array of artists including Halsey, the Weeknd, Camila Cabello, Jon Batiste, Leon Bridges, Twenty One Pilots, SZA, Maren Morris, Maggie Rogers, Maroon 5, Bomba Estereo and many more, Ricky Reed is one of the most successful and ubiquitous songwriters of the past 15-odd years.But it’s his work with Lizzo, both as a musical collaborator and the head of Nice Life, the label to which signed along with Atlantic Records, that has made him Variety’s Hitmaker of the Month for July. The singer’s “Special” album features five songs co-produced by Reed — including the smash single “About That Time” and the closer, “Coldplay.”Reed (real name: Eric Frederic) began working with Lizzo (real name: Melissa Jefferson) in 2016.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic“Come on. I’m very good at music, man,” Lizzo declared in an interview with Zane Lowe this week, as if this were an unstated or under-stated thing that needed to be said out loud.You know, she’s not a liar.So let’s just say that Beyonce has her work cut out for her.

Lizzo has dropped a new single, About Damn Time, and announced the release of her upcoming fourth album. 

Ed Sheeran and Camila Cabello showcased their collaboration ‘Bam Bam’ for the first time at the ‘Concert For Ukraine’ tonight (March 29).The pair performed the track, which was produced by Ricky Reed, Edgar Barrera and Cheche Alara and written by Cabello, Sheeran and Reed, at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham.It is taken from her forthcoming new album ‘Familia’, which is set for release on April 8, you can view footage below.Ahead of introducing Sheeran, Cabello paid tribute to victims of the Ukraine war.“We’re all praying tonight for the peace and the safety of the people in the Ukraine. Thank you guys so much for being part of this important fundraiser,” she said.“I’ve got a surprise for you guys tonight.

Camila Cabello has released her new collaboration with Ed Sheeran – you can listen to ‘Bam Bam’ below.First announced last month, the singer/songwriter then shared a snippet of the track earlier this week (February 28).Cabello has now released ‘Bam Bam’, which was produced by Ricky Reed, Edgar Barrera and Cheche Alara and written by Cabello, Sheeran and Reed.The track is Cabello’s first new music release of 2022 and is the latest preview of her forthcoming new album ‘Familia’, which is set for release on April 8.The video for ‘Bam Bam’ has also been released this afternoon (March 4), which was directed by Mia Barnes in collaboration with Dave Meyers – you can watch the colourful clip below.Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe this week, Cabello said of ‘Bam Bam’: “I wanted to make a song that had English words, but gives me that same feeling that a lot of these Latin songs give us. And so basically, we had this version of the song.“By the time that Ed [Sheeran] had heard it and been on board to do it, I was in a different place in my life.

Charlie Amter Now more than ever, representation matters in the hyper-competitive world of music-making as firms have set their sights on synch, streaming and other avenues of monetization for their clients. Ricky Reed, Murda Beatz, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and Ian Kirkpatrick are just a few of the songwriters and producers represented by the managers below.Larry WadeDecible EntertainmentWith just eight producer-writers on its roster — among them: Ricky Reed (who works with Lizzo), Danja (Justin Timberlake), Ian Walsh (Em Beihold) and Jabari Manwa from Brockhampton — Decible’s philosophy is “to make sure all of the clients are connected with as many labels and artists as possible,” says Wade (pictured at left).

Camila Cabello has announced the release of new single Don't Go Yet, set to drop next week (July 23).

Jeff Vasishta Ready for a remix! Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Ricky Reed, best known for firing up speaker-shaking smashes for Lizzo, Jason Derulo, Halsey, and Meghan Trainor, amongst scores of other hitmakers, has just charted himself a $4 million home in the swanky suburb of La Cañada Flintridge, about eleven miles north of downtown Los Angeles.Because the transaction went down off-market, interior photos are nonexistent, but listing details and aerial images reveal an expansive residence set at the head of a circular driveway amid groomed lawns, manicured shrubs and clusters of mature specimen trees.

Ilana Kaplan Since lockdown began in March, songwriters have needed to adapt to a digital-first world. In-person sessions largely became a distant memory, replaced by more screen-time for artists who would normally be in the studio for hours.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNot surprisingly, Taylor Swift’s excellent surprise album has huffed up most of the oxygen on this mid-summer day — and Kanye West’s album will probably do the same, whenever he actually finishes it — but that’s all we’re going to say about them because this week saw an absolute avalanche of great new songs — and even two new songs by the Avalanches.It was a very difficult week to narrow the list down to five, so with a shout-out to the runners up — songs by Reese LaFlare, Ricky Reed, Queen Naija, Kingdom, Samia, LP, Sylvan Esso and especially Lupe Fiasco’s hilarious “Dinosaurs” were all on the shortlist, and you can find most of them on this week’s Spotify’s New Release Friday playlist.

Ten days after its release, The Weeknd seems determined to make sure his new album “After Hours” is a gift that keeps giving: At the stroke of midnight ET, he added three previously unreleased songs to the album’s deluxe edition: “Nothing Compares,” “Missed You” and “Final Lullaby.” The three songs are all collaborations with his longtime sonic associate DaHeala; “Nothing Compares” also features contributions from producer Ricky Reed, who helmed much of Lizzo’s smash “Cuz I Love You.”

Nearly four years after Starboy catapulted The Weeknd into the pop stratosphere, the XO singer is back with his fourth full-length album, After Hours. The 14-track project includes a trio of recent singles: “Heartless,” “Blinding Lights” and “After Hours.”

Lizzo has signed up to help her Truth Hurts producer, Ricky Reed, keep music fans and stars safe amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"Be an introvert, save the world," is the idea behind high-profile producer Ricky Reed's new Medium blog post, imploring his fellow creatives to stop their music gatherings as the coronavirus continues to spread. In support, a number of superstar musicians signed the blog in hopes of implementing the self-isolation message.

Hit songwriter-producer Ricky Reed, Lizzo, Shawn Mendes, Megan Trainor, Finneas and dozens of other artists, songwriters, producers, publishers and more have signed an op-ed penned by Reed (pictured above) begging members of the music community to stay home and out of studios, clubs, writing sessions and places they usually congregate.

John Legend has formed a musical version of The Avengers to help his new album marvel.