(L-R) BMI President and Chief Executive Officer Mike O’Neill, Khalid and BMI Worldwide Creative VP & Advisor to the Creative Licensing EVP Barbara Cane attend the 2023 BMI Pop Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on May 09, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images for BMI)
BEVERLY HILLS, CA (LA ELEMENTS) 5/19/2023 – “My mom is actually a singer herself and she made the sacrifice of sacrificing her own dream to support me as her only child,” says 2023 BMI Champion Award winner, singer-songwriter Khalid. And she joined the military. but singing was still her passion. So growing up, being able to listen to such a beautiful voice, filled the atmosphere of whatever home we were stationed in at the time. That’s the reason why I’m here. I was so afraid to tell her that this is what I wanted to do. But she told me, ‘Just graduate. Finish up your senior year and you can do whatever you want. And here I am doing whatever I want. Once again, thank you guys. Thank you to my friends and my family and everybody who’s here to support me in my corner. I wouldn’t be here without all of you guys.”
Khalid made his remarks at the 71st Annual BMI Pop Awards which were held on May 9 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Hosted by BMI President and CEO Mike O’Neil and Vice President Worldwide Creative, Barbara Cane, this invitation only event honored the songwriters of the 50 biggest hits from 2022.
Khalid received the Champion Award not only for his chart- topping RIAA diamond certified hits such as“Location,” but for his philanthropy as well. The artist, whose music has been streamed more than 30 billion times across all digital platforms, and his mother Linda Wolfe, founded The Great Khalid Foundation. Launched in 2020, this nonprofit supports today’s youth and the next generation of songwriters.
Other big winners at the 2023 BMI Pop Awards were:
BMI Pop Song of the Year -“Stay” by Cashmere Cat, Isaac “Zac De Boni, Omer Fedi, Haan, The Kid LAROI, (APRA), Michael “Finatik” Mulé, Charlie Puth and Blake Slatkin.
BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year – Doja Cat has co-written six of the most streamed songs of the year. “Get Into It” (Yuh)” co-written with SULLY and Y2K, “I Like You” (A Happier Song)”co-written with Jasper Harris, “Need to Know” “Vegas” (co-written with Rogét Chahayed and Yeti Beats) “Woman” (co-written with Aaron Horn (PRS), Linden Jay (PRS), Jidenna and Yetti Beats) and “You Right” (co-written with The Weeknd)
Publisher of the Year – Sony Music Publishing. This powerhouse music industry leader represents 24 of last year’s biggest hits including “Bad Habbit”, “Numb”, “Running Up That Hill” and “Shivers.”
BMI honored the writers of the fifty most performed songs of 2022. As they walked the red carpet, they revealed which songs they felt best represented their music, what they love the most about Los Angeles and more.
DAZY (“Sunroof” performed by Nicky Youre)
DAZY
Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS
What do you feel made Sunroof one of the most popular songs of 2022?
“I think for my song “Sunroof” which is the reason I’m here, I think the reason people resonated with it is because it doesn’t take a lot of energy to listen to it. It’s very easy you can throw it on for pretty much any occasion.”
Is there a common theme that runs through your music? Something that you’ll return to over and over again in your writing?
“Sure, I always tend to go for the happier kind of things. I feel that is sort of refreshing sometimes since a lot of songs can be real dark especially rock music. It’s not always the lightest.”
And my final question for you. What is your favorite thing about the City of Angels?
“Everybody’s here. There’s so many opportunities possible by simply living here”.
Trevor Daniel (New Release-“Exhausted”)
Trevor Daniel attends the 2023 BMI Pop Awards. Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS
What is the one thing that you write about the most in your songs? The subject that you keep coming back to time and time again?
“It sounds kind of basic if I try to put it this way, but I write a lot about my relationships and then what I’m going through mentally. Whether that’s good or bad. It’s hard for me to write really happy sometimes, unless I’m super super happy. But even then, I still find a way to talk about something usually that’s going on in my head. And it’s not even real as far as like maybe I’m just overthinking a situation. Usually, nine times out of ten I’m overthinking a situation and it’s really not the case but I just built so much anxiety thinking that it is and that’s usually what my songs are about.”
If you could choose one song that is representative of your work what would it be?
“I just released a song called, “Exhausted” and I’m really happy about that. That’s the most recent and fresh of what I’m doing now. But my song “Fallen” is probably the one that most people think of if they think of me. Or maybe they don’t think of me but and they just know that song.”
Since we are a Los Angeles based magazine, we need to know. What do you love best about the City of Angels?
“That we’re close to the beach. Even if I don’t go to the beach all the time it’s this mental thing knowing that I could just go down to the beach if I wanted to.”
Tyler Cole “Meet Me at Our Spot”
Tyler Cole at the 2023 BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills. Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS
How excited are you to be here today?
“I’m incredibly excited. I feel so honored and I have so much gratitude to BMI.”
What is the common theme that runs through your music, Tyler?
“I would say anxiety. Anxiety is a strong theme for me. And I think it’s something that not enough people talk about and too many of us deal with and don’t know how to put it into words.”
Do you think that younger people are facing a crisis of anxiety or are they simply being more open about anxiety in general?
“Absolutely. It’s an existential crisis you know. It’s something that we all face and we all deal with and it’s hard for a lot of us to talk about because it’s not necessarily the cool thing. So I think it’s something that more people should be outspoken about and not be afraid to talk about how they actually feel and not just a filter.”
And it’s lovely that through music you can help break that stigma for someone to make it easy to talk about.
“Absolutely. That’s why I do what I do.”
Which song among the many that you have written do you feel represents you the best?
“That’s a great question and I would have to say it’s a song off my new album that I haven’t talked about yet . You’re getting the exclusive tea. It’s called, “Crying in My Car.”
I love that because I think we’ve all done that at some point in our lives.
“Exactly right. I do it once a week minimum.”
Since we are in the City of Angels, what is your favorite thing about Los Angeles?
“For me it’s the fact that we have city, we have nature. And they coexist together. I can go to the beach or I can go see an NBA Laker game.”
Y2K (“Get Into It (Yuh)” performed by Doja Cat)
Record producer/songwriter Y2K on the red carpet at the 2023 BMI Pop Awards. Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS
How excited are you to be here tonight?
“I’m so very excited. It’s an honor to be at the BMI Awards. They’ve been awesome to me. It’s great to be at an awards show.”
It’s lovely to have a show dedicated to the songwriters. They’re usually behind the scene but not anymore. Is there a common theme with your music?
“I really just try to go for quality. Any genre. Whatever people want but I always try to make sure that I’m proud of it at the end of the day.”
If someone wanted to get to know the music of Y2K, what would be the one song that you feel would be a great introduction?
“Of my music maybe my newest song, “Dirt.”
Since we’re a Los Angeles based magazine, what do you love best about the City of Angeles?
“I think just the rich music history. It’s a place where there’s just been a lot of amazing and talented people.”
GAYLE (“abcdfu”)
GAYLE hits the red carpet for the 2023 BMI Pop Awards.
Photo: Elva Zevallos
How excited are you to be here tonight?
“I’m so excited to be here. I think something I’m even more excited about is I’m writing songs with my best friend since I was twelve and she was fifteen. We’re both here together. I’m so happy to be here. It’s such an honor but to be here with my best friend makes it even more special.”
Obviously Gayle since you are being recognized this year, that means that last year your music was streamed so much again and again. Why do you think your music is resonating with audiences so much?
“You know I was thinking about it and I feel like if I had put out “ABC” at this time of year, I don’t know if it would have gotten the same place in the world where it did. I wrote that in the middle of quarantine, and everybody was angry. We were all stuck in our houses, we couldn’t leave, we didn’t know what was happening and we were all so frustrated. I put out ABC right as the world was starting to open up again and it was summertime. I think that people were really angry and frustrated with relationships with the world and that song is an outlet for people to process their emotions and have a place for them to be angry. I think people are just definitely as are frustrated but it was just a very specific moment of time and of culture and social media. So I think it was just kind of a bunch of things all holding hands together at the same time to create a beautiful moment for my life and my career.”
If you could pick one song that you’ve written or co-written that would give the best introduction to your art, what would it be?
“Oh gosh I would say two songs actually. I wrote a song called, “15.” I think it shows my personal experience and how I’m able to write about my personal experience whether it’s a positive or negative thing. If it’s uncomfortable it’s ok I still want to talk about it even if it’s an uncomfortable thing to talk about because “15” is about my sexual assault. But “Snow Angels” is very light-hearted, it’s one big joke and I think those two songs represent both sides of my songwriting as coming from a deep, frustrated, sad and horrible place and then also being light-hearted about the world. And it talks about the frustrations of the world at times. Like, the world could end tonight. We don’t know. I don’t want to think about tomorrow.”
Since we are an LA based magazine, what do you love best about the city of angels?
“The creativity, the culture and the food.”
T.I Jakke Erixson (“Fingers Crossed” performed by Lauren Smith)
T.I Jakke Erixson on the red carpet at the 2023 BMI Pop Awards.
Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS.
For people who are just now being introduced to your music, if you could choose one song that really represents your repertoire well, what would you choose?
“So we’re here this year for “Fingers Crossed” by Lauren Smith. I think I would choose that one. I won last year for Ava Max’s “King and Queens.” That one really resonated.”
I love that song. Thank you for writing that song.
“Thank you for listening to it.”
What is the common theme that runs through your music?
“I would say…I like things that resonate melodically throughout the world. Lyrically, it could be anything from heartbreak to uplifting to anything. But melodically, I want people to feel something. I write both melody and the music, I collaborate on the lyrics. More producer and melody.”
Since we’re an LA based magazine, what do you love best about the City of Angeles?
“I think that there are so many here who are looking to do the same thing, and that really inspires and helps us to move forward. I think the city is spectacular in so many ways. You can go to the mountains and you can be in the ocean and you can be everywhere. It’s like being on earth in one city. And the people.”
Jasper Harris (“I Like You – A Happier Song” performed by Doja Cat and Post Malone)
Jasper Harris and VIP guest, mom, at the 2023 BMI Pop Awards. Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS
How excited are you to be here tonight?
“How excited? So excited I brought my mom.”
Very cool. Moms are the best. So let me ask you this. Is there a common theme that runs through your music?
“A common theme? Well I would say I’m originally a classical pianist so there’s a lot of classical music elements that go on in my brain that translate into my pop music making.”
If you were to select one song that is the best definition of the music of Jasper Harris what would it be?
“It would probably be, “I Like You” by Post Malone. It feels very like the kind of chords I like to play and stuff like that.”
And it’s very uplifting, it’s fun.
“That’s how I try to be.”
Since we’re an LA based magazine what do you love the best about Los Angeles?
“Well, I’m from Los Angeles. I’m born and raised in LA. So, I may be biased but I think it’s the best city in the world. You’ve got the beach and the snow and the food and the cultures all right here. You can’t go wrong, and I’m always inspired. I never want to leave. I want to live here for 1000 more years.”
Dave Stewart (“Who’s In Your Head” performed by Jonas Brothers)
David Stewart attends the 2023 BMI Pop Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on May 09, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images for BMI)
“With your music is there one song that you feel best represents your songwriting talents. If people wanted to get to know the music of Dave Stewart, what would be the one song that you feel, ‘this expresses it all’?
“I mean my stuff is quite varied. It’s a bit all over the place. Some of the new Shania Twain stuff that I did was quite in my pocket, I guess”.
Any upcoming projects you’d like to share with us?
“There’s a new act that I’ve been working with the past year and I genuinely believe they’re going to be the biggest band in the world. They’re called Scarlett Opera. They’re signed to Republic. They’re managed by Scooter. They are a huge 25-piece orchestra rock band with brass and key changes and guitar solos. It’s the most ridiculous sounding stuff with the most insane lead singer you’ve heard with a range like no one.”
Nija Charles (“Sweetest Pie” performed by Megan Thee Stallion)
Nija Charles attends the 2023 BMI Pop Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images for BMI)
You were here last year so you just keep writing those hits.
“Always. You’ve got to keep them coming.”
What is it about your music that is resonating with people that they’re turning to songs by Nija Charles?
“There’s two main things. Relatability in the lyrics. I think that’s always going to connect with people. And everyone in the industry knows that one of my strong suits is the melody. So essentially catchy hooks. I think that’s what keeps the people coming back and always being drawn into the songs. And then when working with the artist, I think what makes them come back is me being a good friend, being a good person and making sure that we have fun.”
What do you think connects us the most?
“Emotions. We all have the same feelings. We all have been through the same things. We all go through a rollercoaster of emotions. When I write these songs, you may not be going through it right now but you’ve been through it before or you’re going to feel it. And sometimes a song is so powerful it makes you feel like you’ve been through it before.”
Jidenna (“Woman” performed by Doja Cat)
Jiddena hits the red carpet for the 2023 BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills. Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS
How excited are you to be here tonight at the 2023 BMI Pop Awards?
“I’m excited to see the honoree, Khalid, because he deserves it. He’s one of the most powerful writers of our time. I’m excited to be here on behalf of Doja Cat. And I’m honored to be part of a song called “Woman” that really is based on women’s empowerment globally, but I feel like it’s also important to represent women in this industry. Less than two percent of the engineers and producers are women. I would love to see a world that women have access across the board. It doesn’t make sense that we have all these women artists, a lot of women on earth, and not enough access because men are blocking them. So, I’m very honored to be one of the male songwriters on a song called “Woman.”
With your songwriting, is there one theme that you keep coming back to over and over again?
“So Stephen King says that every writer only writes four to five themes their whole life. They only write four to five stories. I think that one of mine is, I believe strongly that in order to make the world safe for women, men have to understand that we’re in a masculinity crisis. And I think that one of my themes is, you can be masculine and blush, you can be masculine and love. You can be tender and you can still identify as a man. My goal is to present an alternative male archetype to young boys coming up.”
I love that. Thank you. And because we’re an LA based magazine, what’s your favorite thing about the City of Angels?
“My favorite thing about the City of Angels is the view. The PCH highway. Easily. There’s no other highway in the U.S like it.”
Michael Pollack (“Ghost” performed by Justin Bieber)
Michael Pollack attends the 2023 BMI Pop Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images for BMI)
I first met you last year when you picked up the Songwriter of the Year award. You are here today for “Ghost.” Tell us more about how “Ghost” came to be.
“That song, it’s one of my favorites that I’ve been a part of. First off, Justin did such a good job to really turn that into the record that it is. And I think that record is such a good example of the patience it takes to write a song. I wrote it with Monsters and Strangerz and John Bellion. It took us so so long and when Justin got his hands on it he took it to another level.”
Which song that you’ve written do you feel would be a great introduction to the music of Michael Pollack?
“I think I would go with either “Memories” or “Flowers.” I think they’re both examples of true classic songwriting. We wrote both of those songs in two different crews. We weren’t really concerned with staying modern or staying current, we just really wanted to write a really solid composition and something timeless. And I feel like both of those songs sound like they were written fifty years ago or fifty years from now. I don’t think that they’re like really stamped by time.”
Is there a common theme that you keep coming back to again and again with your songwriting?
“We have a running joke that we tend to write a lot of death songs. Which, “Ghost” being one of them. ‘If I can’t be close to you, I’ll settle for the Ghost of you.’ We joke about it to deal with the seriousness of the topic but I think death is the most universal concept there is.”
What do you love best about the City of Angels?
“The talent. Everybody’s here and whoever’s not here comes here. It’s a team sport, you have to collaborate and co-write and LA’s got the best teammates. Other than a couple of guys that we make trips for.”
Lauren Spencer Smith (“Fingers Crossed”)
Lauren Spencer Smith BMI attends the 2023 BMI Pop Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel n Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images for BMI)
What do you believe it is about your music that has captured people’s attention?
“I think it’s just very relatable. I think it works for me that my demographic are also teenage girls my age. So it’s very easy to speak to my fellow friends. But I think people love ballads and sadness and just relatable break-up songs. People don’t want to be happy. They want the sad music.”
What do you love best about the City of Angels?
“I think the palm trees. I grew up in like a rainforest.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Vancouver Island so west coast Canada. A lot of trees. I love the weather and the palm trees in LA.”
Rogét Chahayed (“First Class” performed by Jack Harlow, “Vegas” performed by Doja Cat)
Rogét Chahayed attends the 2023 BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills. Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS
What is it about your music that people gravitate to?
“Well I think that because I’m a musician I grew up playing piano since I was seven. And to this day I still am playing with my own hands on every record you can hear me playing on. All the melodies and chord progressions, sounds, come from the heart. I think I always try to offer an organic approach to making music with instruments and real musicians. I feel that’s something missing a lot in music right now and I feel that people can sense that.”
Some music that we hear today is more machine generated. Isn’t it?
“Yeah maybe more computerized, more programmed…a lot of people like to find samples and do it quickly. I’m very much into the process of keep searching and keep digging and keep playing until you find it even if it means almost giving up.”
Out of all the songs that you have written, which one best represents you?
“I would probably say, “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat. The guitar riff and all the things that I played are very reminiscent of anime music which is something I grew up bonding with my sisters. It also represents a little bit of jazz, a little bit of classical, every element of me as a musician you can kind of hear in that song.”
Since we are a Los Angeles based magazine, what’s your favorite thing about the City of Angels?
and that’s my favorite so that’s probably my favorite thing.”I mean I’m born and raised here. I think one of my favorite things is the wide variety of cultures. I’m not going to lie. We do have some of the best Mexican food and that’s my favorite so that’s probably my favorite thing.”
Dan Reynolds and Wayne Sermon/Imagine Dragons (“Bones”)
(L-R) Wayne Sermon and Dan Reynolds attend the 2023 BMI Pop Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Getty Images for BMI)
Why do you think your music has resonated so much with the American public?
Dan Reynolds: “I don’t really know. We just stuck to our guns. Write about honest things. We write all our own music and so it comes from the same place and I think that when people know that it’s something real then hopefully that connects with them and that’s what art is and we’ve been fortunate that way. But you can never call that. There’s also a lot of x factors that I couldn’t put into words.”
Since we’re an LA based magazine, what do you love the most about the City of Angels?
Wayne Sermon: “Cha Cha Matcha. They just got one in Venice.”
Dan Reynolds: “The food the art the people. Being close to so much art.”
David Hodges (“2Step” performed by Ed Sheeran)
David Hodges on the red carpet of the 2023 BMI Pop Awards. Photo: Elva Zevallos for LA ELEMENTS
Producers were usually behind the scenes in music but not anymore. Especially the ones doing double duty as songwriters. When it comes to creating music what’s the theme that runs through your music? What do you want your music to express?
“That’s a great question. With any artist that I’m with, the thing that I’m always aiming for is ‘Is this true to you? Is this a real experience?’ How can we get away from either phrases that we’ve heard before or things that feel like they are too clever or “songwritery” And how do we find the emotional core of whatever the story is. What they’re going through in their life. How is their perspective on the world, whatever that would be. I think that in some ways that’s made me gravitate towards singer-songwriters like Ed Sheeran or Christina Perri. But I think it can be found in a lot of different genres as well.”
“One of the things that I loved about Evanescence in the beginning was that you could just tell Amy was spilling out the truth of her story in those songs. Almost in a like… so such a vulnerable way that it’s like, ‘I don’t know if I should be able to listen to this.’ To me that’s what matters the most. Artists like Damian Rice, and there are other singer-songwriters around that time that I was so in love with that I felt that I really got to know who they were in the process. Honestly, Ed Sheeran is kind of in the pinnacle of that to me. To be in a room with him, and to see his song craft and the truth of his experience coming out , I have been doing this for twenty years and it’s reminded me that this is truly the thing that I love about this job.”
They really put themselves on the line, don’t they? I think the best artists are vulnerable.
“Oh totally”
Since we are in the City of Angels, what’s your favorite thing about Los Angeles?
“I lived here for fifteen years, I moved to Nashville about seven years ago. What I love about this city and I think I appreciate it even more not living here anymore is , there is no other city in all of the world, in all of human history that has more songwriters and storytellers and dreamers and creators than this place right here. And that alone is so inspiring to me. I really do think almost every city has this kind of ceiling to it. In LA, there is no ceiling at all. An idea, a song, a story could completely change the world if it comes through this town. So I love LA for that.”
Thank you for saying that. Let me backtrack a little bit. You mentioned Ed Sheeran and obviously very recently, he was dealing with a copyright issue. How do you deal with that as a producer? There are only so many chords. So many great influencers in history. The way I see it, I kind of think that naturally, there’s going to be a little bit…if someone takes your music to heart and they decide to write a song…there might be a tiny bit of what you’ve created in their music.
“And recorded music has only been around for a hundred years. So, every year we’re adding on more songs to that library. I think that anyone can easily tell when someone is intentionally stealing chunks of someone else’s art”.
“Almost all of these lawsuits look like a money grab. Someone just sees an opportunity and they want to take from somebody else. Honestly, especially when you are not the artist who created that song, but you represent the estate of that song…I am deeply offended that someone would do that.”
“I actually was laughing to a friend of mine the other day. I have four daughters and I said, ‘When I’m dead and gone, if one of my daughters tried to sue someone because they wrote a song that sounds like Evanesence, I would come back from the grave to haunt them. I think it is a terrible thing. And I have the deepest respect for Ed and for Amy in these lawsuits specifically that it would have been a lot easier to write a check and put this away and settle these cases. And I really respect, I’m really grateful, and the whole songwriting community is really grateful, that he followed this to the end because he knew it was wrong and the courts found it to be that way. So I’m really happy for him and for all songwriters. And I feel like a tide is starting to turn with all of that stuff.”
On our cover from left to right: Haan, FnZ and Khalid.
Celebrating over 80 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®) is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in over 20.6 million musical works created and owned by more than 1.3 million songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. For additional information and the latest BMI news, please visit their site.
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