PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KLAWE RZECZY
BIBI BOURELLY
NOTABLE CREDITS Christina
Aguilera (“Accelerate”),
Mariah Carey (“GTFO”)
BACKSTORY When the Berlin-
born, U.S.-bred artist was 6,
her mom died of cancer.
“When you’re that age, it’s
hard to find words to express
yourself,” says Bourelly. “It
was easier to sing.”
BIG BREAK Her musician dad
set her up in a session with
Kanye West when she was
a teen. Within 30 minutes,
Bourelly, now 25, wrote
“Higher,” which Rihanna
released in 2016. She’s now
signed to Def Jam and has a
publishing deal with BMG.
PHILOSOPHY “I thought I was
ready far before I actually
was. If it were up to me, I
would’ve dropped an album
at 6. But only now I’m
realizing there was, and still
is, a lot to learn.”
EMILY WEISBAND
NOTABLE CREDITS Camila
Cabello (“Consequences”),
BTS (“Boy With Luv”)
BACKSTORY Her dad told her
Nashville was “a heartbreak
town” and suggested she
become a doctor. Instead,
Weisband, 26, enrolled
in Belmont University’s
songwriting program and
signed a publishing deal
with THiS Music.
BIG BREAK In 2015, within 45
minutes of hearing one of
her demos, producer Mike
Elizondo (Eminem, Fiona
Apple) called her about
collaborating; he worked on
her debut LP, Identity Crisis,
due on Warner Records.
PHILOSOPHY “I’ve always tried
to approach songwriting as
a service industry. I’m not
in a room to flex my skills.
I’m there to assess what the
artist needs.”
A POP SCRIBE
COMES TO THE
THEATER
5
Fourteen years ago,
songwriter Ross Golan
was just another
struggling musician
who had “been in bands and
sold no records.” In an effort to
get inspired (and jump-start
his career), he tried to write
an unorthodox murder ballad:
one in the style of “2Pac, Merle
Haggard, Eminem or Johnny
Cash,” in which the protagonist
wasn’t actually guilty.
Since then, a lot has changed
for Golan, now 39, who’s
published by Warner Chappell.
He has achieved massive
success as a songwriter for
the likes of Ariana Grande,
Justin Bieber and Selena
Gomez — he was named BMI’s
pop songwriter of the year
in 2016 — and he hosts the
popular podcast And the Writer
Is... Meanwhile, that murder
ballad he wrote has taken on
a life of its own: It is the title
track to The Wrong Man, a solo
Golan performance that has
evolved into a concept album
(released in July on Interscope
Records), an animated film
(that premiered at the 2019
Tribeca Film Festival) and, now,
a much-anticipated musical.
It will debut off-Broadway in
September, with the kind of
creative team (director Thomas
Kail and orchestrator Alex
Lacamoire, both Tony Award-
winning Hamilton alums) that
could indicate larger ambitions.
The show tells the story of
Duran, a man scraping by in
Reno, Nev., who is framed for
murder after a brief affair with
a strange woman. Sung largely
from Duran’s perspective
on death row, Golan’s songs
have a Tom Waits meets
Ed Sheeran vibe. The stage
production — which expands
on the album’s scope to present
a wider tale of sex, murder and
revenge — stars three-time
Tony nominee Joshua Henry as
the protagonist.
It is not quite what Golan
expected back when he was
performing the in-progress
project in his friends’ living
rooms. The word-of-mouth
around his initial Wrong Man
tunes, in fact, helped him get
work as a pop songwriter. But
while writing for other artists
centered on collaboration (“I
always say my job is to facilitate
my co-writer’s best song. I
want them to say, ‘This is the
best song I have’ ”), The Wrong
Man presented a different, and
attractive, challenge: writing
something much bigger than
one track, and wholly his own.
“To be [the only] writer on a
song released by a major label
is a massive achievement
for anybody in my day job,”
says Golan. “The Wrong Man
opened a lot of doors for me —
and now I feel like I’m opening
doors for it.” —TYLER COATES
BEHIND-THE-SCENES STARS
STEP INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
8
As part of a tour that starts Aug. 31,
Latin rockers Maná will play seven dates
at The Forum in Los Angeles — the longest
run by a single act in the venue’s history.
- WHO WILL
BREAK OUT?
“Omar Apollo will be the
one this year. The way he has
been able to cross over in
general-market spaces and
tour internationally as an
independent
artist is
remarkable.
Especially
as a first-
generation
Mexican-
American kid, the way he
is carrying the flag for our
community in the R&B and pop
space is amazing to watch.”
—DORIS MUÑOZ, FOUNDER, MIJA MANAGEMENT
Three songwriters with top 40 résumés are following in the footsteps of hitmakers turned
artists like Julia Michaels by releasing their own debut projects this fall
Apollo
Golan
54 BILLBOARD | AUGUST 24 , 2 019
DELACEY
NOTABLE CREDITS Halsey
(“Without Me”), Zara
Larsson (“Ruin My Life”)
BACKSTORY Born Brittany
Amaradio, she remembers
coming home from a piano
lesson at age 7 determined
to write. “I’ve always had
this expression in me,” the
27-year-old says.
BIG BREAK After signing with
Universal Music Publishing
Group, she clicked with
producer Ido Zmishlany
(Shawn Mendes) in a session;
they’re working on her first
album, due on Antonio “L.A.”
Reid’s Hitco and her own
Delicate Flower imprint.
PHILOSOPHY “If you want [to
be an artist] for the attention
and fame, don’t do it. Do
it because the music is so
personal that it can’t come
from anyone else.”
—LYNDSEY HAVENS
2
9
The Kelly Clarkson Show
launches Sept. 9 on NBC;
expect unfiltered celebrity
interviews and live performances.
10
Charli XCX’s guest-packed Charli —
her first album in six years — arrives
Sept. 13 ahead of a fall tour; her pal Tove Lo’s
Sunshine Kitty LP touches down Sept. 20.
11
Jennifer Lopez leads a group of
strippers who steal from Wall Street
clients in the revenge flick Hustlers, opening
Sept. 13. Lizzo and Cardi B also star.
From top: Weisband, Bourelly and Delacey.
Lopez