New Zealand songwriters hounoured: Ella Yelich-O'Connor (Lorde) joins for her breakthough hit 'Royals'
Joel Little receives his fourth Billions Award, this time for Taylor Swift's 'ME!
James Wong and Leroy Clampitt honoured for co-writers on Justin Bieber's 'Company'
Four New Zealand songwriters were officially added to The 1,000,000,000 List over the past week for their songs reaching one billion streams worldwide: Ella Yelich-O’Connor (Lorde) for 'Royals'; her previously inducted 'Royals' co-writer Joel Little, this time for Taylor Swift's 'Me!'; and James Wong and Leroy Clampitt for Justin Bieber's 'Company.'
Lorde's ground-breaking single ‘Royals’ was released in June 2013, written by Yelich-O'Connor and produced by Joel Little, ‘Royals’ was the world’s introduction to Lorde who quickly became internationally recognised for her genre-bending sound.
‘Royals’ saw Lorde perform on stages all around the world including a stand-out performance at the 56th Grammy Awards in 2014 where she was up for four awards. That night she took home the Best Pop Solo Performance award and Best Song of the Year.
She was presented with her award at the APRA AMCOS NZ offices in Auckland by CEO Dean Ormston and Anthony Healey, Head of APRA AMCOS NZ Operations. Lorde's publisher, Kobalt Music Publishing also received an award for the song's milestone.
APRA AMCOS is proud to present Joel Little with his fourth 1,000,000,000 List award, this one for Taylor Swift’s hit ‘ME!,' following his honours for ‘Young Dumb & Broke’ by Khalid, ‘Whatever It Takes’ by Imagine Dragons and ‘Royals’ by Lorde.
The collaboration came about backstage at a Broods concert when Little's manager approached Taylor Swift’s team to plant the seed about getting the two together. They were both due to be in New Zealand at the same time, so it only seemed appropriate to get them in the same room. During the Reputation Stadium Tour in NZ, Little and Swift ended up hanging out, visiting Little’s studio in Titirangi. He was invited to work with her in New York and the pair began working on songs that would feature on the chart-topping album Lover, released in 2019.
Grammy-Award winner Little has been recognised as one of the world’s top songwriters and producers having worked with top international acts such as Khalid, Imagine Dragons, Broods and fellow 1,000,000,000 List-er, Lorde. Little is published by Sony Music Publishing.
New Zealand songwriters Leroy Clampitt and James Wong (who is based in L.A.) have been presented with their Billions Award for ‘Company’, co-written by international writers Andreas Shuller, Justin Bieber, James Abrahart, Thomas Troelsen and Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd. Both songwriters are published by Native Tongue Music Publishing.
‘Company’ was released as the fourth and final single for Justin Bieber’s album ‘Purpose’ and reached the top forty in most countries it charted. It was first performed live in April 2016 at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, and later at the Billboard Music Awards, as well as on Bieber’s ‘Purpose’ World Tour.
"The breadth, depth and global reach of songwriting talent in New Zealand is truly impressive. Our Kiwi members are sharing their stories with music fans globally, as well as collaborating with the world’s biggest artists. The music of Ella, Joel, James and Leroy is truly global, and opens doors for the growing export potential of Kiwi music creators," said APRA AMCOS Chief Executive Dean Ormston.
"It's very special to be able to honour our songwriter members with the Billions Award, and in the past year, that has been a challenge to make happen, so it meant a lot for our APRA AMCOS Auckland team to be able to present Ella and Joel with awards in person in our Auckland office," said Ormston.
The 1,000,000,000 List takes into account streaming numbers from all major services including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, YouTube Music, Vevo, Amazon, and more. It is the first award of its kind to recognise a songwriter’s achievement.
Lorde - Royals
Taylor Swift - Me! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco)
Justin Bieber - Company