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Billions Award for Trè Samuels' co-write on 'Go Crazy'

Media Published Tuesday 28 November 2023
Trè Samuels received his award in Melbourne. (Photo by Rick Clifford @rcstills)

Melbourne independent artist Trè Samuels is a co-writer on the 2020 hit from the Slime & B collaborative mixtape.

'Go Crazy' is certified 3x platinum USA, 2x platinum in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

"For all the young creators out there – believe in your work!!!" said Samuels.


Melbourne independent singer, songwriter and producer Trè Samuels has been honoured with an APRA AMCOS Billions Award for his songwriting on the Chris Brown and Young Thug Billboard Hot 100 hit 'Go Crazy'.

The award is given to APRA AMCOS songwriter members and their publishers in recognition of a song surpassing one billion streams and was presented to Samuels yesterday at the music rights organisation's Melbourne office.

'Go Crazy' was released in 2020 as a track on Brown and Young Thug's Slime & B collaborative mixtape and made an official single after early streaming success connected with fans who were listening to music at home during the pandemic. The song stood out in the HipHopDX album review: "'Go Crazy' is the album’s best song, cleverly sampling The Showboys’ iconic 'Drag Rap' to complement the free-ranging sonics."

The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Rhythmic charts. It peaked at #2 in New Zealand, #9 ARIA Singles and #10 on the UK Singles Chart.

'Go Crazy' is triple platinum in the US, double platinum in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and platinum in the UK and Portugal. Honours include R&B Song of the Year at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards and Song of the Year at the 2020 Soul Train Music Awards.

Upon receiving his trophy, Samuels said, "What an incredible milestone to reach! 1 billion streams. I am so grateful! Thank you.

"I remember having a meeting pop up in LA that I couldn’t miss back in 2020. The week it was scheduled for was the week Covid had just hit and an immediate lockdown was actioned. I was ultimately stuck in LA for what I didn’t know would be nearly two years at the time! I filled my days with studio sessions that weren’t planned before arrival – believe it or not – ‘Go Crazy’ was the third song I wrote out there. Only some weeks after the song was created, it made its way to Chris Brown’s ears – he basically cut and released it instantly for the Slime & B mixtape. The rest is history!

"For all the young creators out there – believe in your work!!! If you show up and put in the work, life will always show you the right direction. This all happened for me before my 21st birthday. The grind continues!!!"

Samuels is published by Warner Chappell Music Australia. Co-writers on the song are Chris Brown, Jeffrey Williams, Orville Hall, Phillip Price, Omololu Akinlolu, Turrell Sims, Cameron Murphy, Said Aznou and Kaniel Castaneda.

“Congratulations to Trè for his work on the global hit 'Go Crazy'. Our Billions Award is absolutely about shouting out the export success of our songwriters and composers. Songwriting with and for international artists is often a 'behind-the-scenes' process but we want the world to know about the Aussies and Kiwis co-penning the world's hits. We look forward to what comes next for Trè as both an artist and songwriter,” said Dean Ormston, Chief Executive, APRA AMCOS.

As a solo artist, Samuels has recently released singles 'Can't Decide' and 'Change You'.

The 1,000,000,000 List takes into account streaming numbers from major services Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. It is the first award of its kind to recognise a songwriter’s achievement.

'Go Crazy' - Chris Brown and Young Thug