Photo by Brad Ardley and/et John Marquez. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Kim Temple, Racquel Villagante, Darren Fung, L I O N C H I L D (Rachael Kennedy, Lance Shipp, Nathalia Marshall), Gagan Singh, Jeff Danna, Robert Kraft, Mychael Danna

SOCAN celebrates its members at 2023 pre-Grammy events

Story by Howard Druckman and/et Racquel Villagante | Thursday February 9th, 2023

(A Facebook photo album of our Grammy party is found here.)

SOCAN was pleased and proud to celebrate its members at a series of events in Los Angeles, held before the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Luca Mauti, Mike "DZL" Holmes, SOCAN No Song Award, Grammy

No. 1 Award at the SOCAN Grammy Party. Left to right: Luca Mauti, Mike “DZL” Holmes

At the SOCAN Grammy party, held Thursday, Feb 2, at the IIO Lounge atop the Godfrey Hotel in Hollywood, Michael “DZL” Homes and Luca Mauti  received a SOCAN No. 1 Song Award for co-writing/co-producing Jazmine Sullivan’s “Hurt Me So Good.” The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay Chart on Dec. 10, 2022, and was nominated for Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. SOCAN also held a celebratory lunch at Zinqué in West Hollywood, honouring Akeel Henry – a producer on “Hurt Me So Good” – with a No. 1 Song Award.

There were more than 100 attendees at the SOCAN Grammy party, including nominees Yonatan Watts, Ryan Bakalarcyzk, Jun “CVRE” Kim, Aaron Paris, Andrew “Andrew T” Thompson, Ron Korb, Pierre-Luc Rioux (of Chiiild), and Rachael Kennedy (of L I O N C H I L D) – who contributed to The Kalling, by Kabaka Pyramid, which won for Best Reggae Album.

SOCAN also entertained some special guests from the music ecosystem:  Wallace Joseph (of hmwrk) who represents Mike “DZL” Holmes (who won a Grammy in 2022 and was nominated in 2023); Henry-Francois Gelot of 31 east, and Ivan Evidente of Universal Music Canada, attending on behalf of their Grammy-nominated duo Banx & Ranx; Kilometre Music’s Rodney Murphy and Michael McCarty, representing their Grammy-nominated SOCAN member Aaron Paris; Global A&R for Def Jam, Kardinall Offishall; Max Espinosa, Kelci “Koko” Smith, and Hilary Storm of salxco, which represents The Weeknd; Hallwood Media’s Danny Bersco; Tim Jones from Pipe & Hat (which handles newly JUNO-nominated SOCAN member Faouzia); and Canadian Consulate representatives Arwen Widmer Bobyk and Andre Galuban.

SOCAN attendees at the party, and throughout Grammy weekend, were CEO Jennifer Brown; President of the Board of Directors Marc Ouellette; Chief Membership Officer Jean-Christian Céré; Cameron Kennedy, Director, Creative; Racquel Villagante, Creative Executive, West Coast; Gagan Singh,  Creative Executive, Film/TV and Visual Media; Houtan Hodania, Creative Executive, East Coast; and Alex Golden, Manager, Creative Operations & Programming.

SOCAN Screen Composers Dinner, 2023, Grammy

SOCAN Screen Composers Dinner

Gagan Singh and Marc Ouellette hosted about 20 people at another, more intimate event, the SOCAN Screen Composers Dinner, celebrating all that our film, television, and visual media scoring members accomplished in 2022, especially their great worldwide successes. Attending the dinner, held Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the A.O.C. Wine Bar in West Hollywood, were Academy Award winner Mychael Danna; established screen composers Lesley Barber, Jeff Danna, Matthew Tishler, and Jeff Toyne; their new-generation colleagues Shaun Chasin, Dillon Baldassaro, Conan Karpinski, and Aaron Paris; and veteran screen executives Robert Kraft, of 20th Century Fox, and Tony Scudellari, of Sony Pictures.

margø, Olivia Lunny, LU KALA, Level Up Party, 2023, Grammy

At the Level Up Party. Left to right: margø, Olivia Lunny, LU KALA

Also, SOCAN partnered for the first time with the Level Up organization for their pre-Grammy networking event, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, which hosted more than 250 female industry professionals, including SOCAN members Rachael Kennedy, LU KALA, Jessia, Olivia Lunny, Liz Lokre, margø, Alicia Creti, and music publisher Kim Temple (of High Priestess Publishing and  Music Publishers Canada). Racquel Villagante and Alex Golden attended the gathering on SOCAN’s behalf.

Photo by SOCAN Foundation / Fondation SOCAN. Left to right/De gauche à droite : Charlie Wall-Andrews, Savannah Ré, Kellylee Evans, Jennifer Brown

Savannah Ré, Kellylee Evans win 2022 HER Music Awards

Story by SOCAN Foundation / Fondation SOCAN | Monday February 13th, 2023

The SOCAN Foundation, part of the SOCAN Group of companies, is pleased and proud to announce that singer-songwriters Savannah Ré and Kellylee Evans are the two $5,000 cash prize recipients of the 2022 Her Music Awards, sponsored by Bandzoogle. SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown and past Her Music Award winner Haviah Mighty announced the recipients at an intimate, in-person celebration hosted by previous award winner Nuela Charles in Toronto, on Feb. 9, 2023.

Five $1,000 cash prizes for Her Music Honourable Mentions were also awarded, to Haley Blais, Jorane, Moira & Claire, Tanika Charles, and Zeina. Additionally, the Songwriters Association of Canada (S.A.C.) and Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ) offered a one-year complimentary membership to the two grand prize recipients.

“So happy an award like this even exists. Winning the Her Music Award is a significant achievement, because it’s an award that empowers and recognizes female creators,” said Savannah Ré. “It highlights our talents and contributions to the music industry. It also helps to promote and support female artists, which can be especially important in an industry that has traditionally been dominated by men. This award will open doors for me and help me pave the way to reaching my goals in my career.”

“I was so surprised and honoured to hear that I had been chosen for this award, alongside Savannah Ré,” said Kellylee Evans. “As my career shifts and changes with the years, my love for creating has not dampened. This recognition gives me the affirmation and the energy to keep going, despite the challenges along the way. I’m so thankful.”

“This important initiative has previously supported trailblazing artists including Haviah Mighty, Leela Gilday, Nuela Charles, and Caveboy,” said Charlie Wall-Andrews, Executive Director of SOCAN Foundation. “We’re thrilled to add the incredible Savannah Ré and Kellylee Evans to the group as this year’s grand prize recipients. We’re thankful for the support of Bandzoogle and community stakeholders that made the Her Music Awards possible, and have allowed us to celebrate in person this year!”

The Her Music Awards is a program designed to celebrate and support female-identifying Canadian music creators on the verge of taking their creative careers to the next level. Applications were judged on a number of factors, including artistic merit, career potential, and impact. The jury was composed of Cécile Doo-Kingué, Carole Facal, Kesi Smyth, Suzie Ungerleider, and jury committee chair Shakura S’Aida.

Photo by SOCAN

Top Secrets: The Reklaws on co-writing “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?”

Story by Howard Druckman | Thursday February 9th, 2023

SOCAN has presented The Reklaws with a No. 1 Song Award for co-writing “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?,” performed by Dean Brody,  which reached the peak of the BDS Country Chart on Sept. 26, 2022.

“Where’d You Learn How to Do That?” was written by The Reklaws’ Jenna and Stuart Walker, along with Thomas “Tawgs” Salter and Blake Redferrin (BMI), and is published by Sony ATV Music Publishing and Canadiana Music.

SOCAN Director, Creative, Cameron Kennedy presented the award plaques to Jenna and Stuart Walker on  Jan. 27, 2023, backstage at the History club in downtown Toronto, before their sold-out performance there. Salter will receive his award at a later date.

Dean Brody, Reklaws, "Where'd You Learn How To Do That?"

Click on the image to play the lyric video for “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?”

The Reklaws have only started to give songs to other artists, like Brody, in the past two years. “But you have to be careful, because of the possibility of writer’s block,” says Stuart Walker. “We usually try to keep four or five songs in our back pocket, for ourselves.”

For “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?” it was Brody’s voice that made him the choice. “Jenna had the title in her cellphone,” says Stuart. “It was our first time writing with [Blake] Redferrin, and he sang it at first, with a real Southern drawl, and I tried singing it. But Dean [Brody] has a more country voice – he really had the voice for it – and our manager knew he was looking for songs. We grew up listening to Dean, practically memorized his first few albums, so it’s strange when he now actually texts us.”

“We co-write with Tawgs a lot,” says Jenna Walker. “When you leave a ‘write’ with him, the song is usually ready for radio.”

“He does this thing,” adds Stuart, “where in the middle of a writing session, he’ll stop and ask, ‘Is this good?’” If not, sometimes the session will end, and the songwriters might regroup for another try at a later date. “It can be devastating to stop after working for two or three hours” says Jenna. “But full-time songwriters are in sessions every day, and they might get only one song on the radio after who knows how long. So, sometimes we might be setting the bar too high.”

It definitely worked out for “Where’d You Learn How to Do That?” “I like that it’s the guy [singing the song] not knowing all this stuff that the girl [he’s singing to] does,” says Stuart. Jenna agrees: “I loved how the song is talking about the girl being better at things than him. You can learn a lot about a person by asking that question.”

Reklaws Record Achievements

  • They’ve earned three 2023 JUNO Award nominations, for Group or Duo of the Year (for the fourth consecutive year, a first for a country act), Country Album of the Year, and Fans’ Choice. “We had no idea, and thought the JUNOs wasn’t happening for us this year,” says Jenna.
  • They’re the first country act to sell out the 2,500-capacity History club in Toronto. “We really wanted to prove that we could,” says Stuart. Adds Jenna, “I was panicking for four months before that show.”
  • The Reklaws “What The Truck,” co-written and co-performed with Sacha, is the fastest Canadian country song to go Platinum in the streaming era, and earned a 2022 CCMA Award for Top Selling Canadian Single. “We wrote a verse and chorus, and put them up on TikTok, asking for someone to come up with a second verse,” says Jenna. “Sacha’s really stood out, and we recorded her part in one night.”