Lenny Kravitz Hits the Road
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
Singer-songwriter extraordinaire, actor, designer and superstar Lenny Kravitz has been crafting his unique fusion of rock, funk, reggae and soul for more than three decades, creating such massive hits as “It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over,” “Again,” “Let Love Rule,” “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” “Fly Away” and “American Woman.” He’s a Grammy winner and has won numerous awards, including American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, Brit Awards and has old over 40 million albums worldwide - all done with his distinctive flair, passion and drive. As...
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Cirkut: Record Maker, Record Breaker
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
Over his 15-year career, writer-producer Henry “Cirkut” Walter has quietly emerged as one of the most trusted collaborators in music. He’s worked with a veritable Mt. Olympus of today’s biggest artists, from Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna to Maroon 5, Sam Smith and The Weeknd. You can hear Cirkut’s production skills on many of the most iconic pop songs and albums of the past decade, including Katy Perry’s “Roar” and “Dark Horse,” MiIey Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball,” and The Weeknd’s multi-platinum Starboy album, which earned him a Grammy in 2018. While...
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What Drives Lainey Wilson?
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
Singer, songwriter, superstar Lainey Wilson left Baskin, Louisiana and moved to Nashville in a camper trailer 12 years ago. She spent her early years building her career, song by song, show by show, before breaking through with her #1 hit “Things a Man Oughta Know” in 2021. Since then, Lainey’s been on a wildly successful ride. Her second #1 song, “Never Say Never” with Cole Swindell in 2022 was followed by the #1 hits “Heart Like a Truck” and her collaboration with HARDY, “Wait in the Truck.” Her critically-acclaimed 2023 album, Bell Bottom Country, overflowing...
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Steve Aoki Talks Health and Heritage
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
Counting nearly 3 billion music streams to his name, Steve Aoki is a true visionary. A two-time Grammy-nominated music producer, artist, fashion designer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, NFT futurist and Dim Mak Records founder, he has been described by Billboard as “one of the most in-demand entertainers in the world.” He holds the Guinness World Record for the “Most Traveled Musician in a Single Calendar Year” and has performed at nearly every top music festival around the world, including Coachella, Ultra Music festival, Lollapalooza, Fuji Rock Festival, Tomorrowland, Electric Daisy...
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Music + Mental Health with Dr. Chayim Newman and Zack Borer
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. And as the weather warms up and music festival season starts, so many artists will hit the road to do what they do best - share their music, live-in-person, with the world, and bring joy to millions of people. But the challenges of being a touring artist can take a terrible toll on creators’ mental and physical health. In a 2022 paper in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, Dr. Chayim Newman and Zack Borer - revealed some sobering statistics from a 239-question survey of more than eleven hundred touring professionals. They discovered that people working...
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Maroon 5's James Valentine Riffs on Sustainability in Music
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
As part of our Earth Day celebration in partnership with Studio Green @ ASCAP, we talk to James Valentine, founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist for one of the biggest bands on the planet - three-time Grammy Award winners Maroon 5. James’s work with the band has led to more than 135 million albums sold and created a steady stream of hit singles, including “She Will Be Loved,” “This Love,” “Payphone,” “Moves Like Jagger,” “Maps,” “Sugar” and more. James also serves as an advisory board member for REVERB, the non-profit environmental advocacy organization made...
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Amy Allen's A-List Playlist
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
2023 Songwriter of the Year Grammy nominee Amy Allen is one of the most in-demand songwriters in pop music. Her credits include songs written for Selena Gomez, Halsey, King Princess, Charli XCX, Harry Styles, Lizzo, Alexander23 and many more. She has landed a coveted spot on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List and was featured as one of Variety’s “Hitmakers of the Month.” In 2021, Amy was honored at the Ivor Novello Awards, along with Tyler Johnson, Kid Harpoon and Harry Styles, for their GRAMMY-nominated song “Adore You.” On this episode Amy talks about her roots in Maine, what it...
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Esperanza Spalding is always evolving
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
This episode is about all that jazz. Esperanza Spalding is a five-time Grammy Award-winning bassist, singer, songwriter and composer. Recently, she has expanded her gifts to include work with fellow creators, teachers and practitioners in various fields to explore the therapeutic potential of music. Her last two albums, 2018’s 12 Little Spells and 2021’s Songwrights Apothecary Lab, reflect this new direction in her evolution as an artist. She wrote an opera with Wayne Shorter, which premiered in fall 2021, and is presently working with Harvard University to co-create and learn with...
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Music and the AAPI Experience
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
In celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, we share highlights of two conversations from recent ASCAP Experience sessions featuring a diverse group of voices from ASCAP’s AAPI community. You'll hear a provocative discussion with playwright, librettist and lyricist David Henry Hwang and composer and conceptual artist Huang Ruo about art, identity and the power of music to help us fight racism and understand each other better. Then international superstar Amber Liu of K-pop royalty f(x), and Justin Park, a rising singer-songwriter recently endorsed by BTS’s Jungkook, talk about how their...
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Adam Gardner and Reverb's Music Climate Revolution
VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast
In celebration of Earth Day, we talk to Guster frontman and guitarist Adam Gardner, whose nonprofit environmental organization, Reverb, partners with fellow music makers like Billie Eilish, P!nk, Maroon 5, Dead & Company, Bonnie Raitt, Sleater-Kinney, Jack Johnson and more, as well as festivals and venues, to green their concert events while engaging fans to help tackle today’s most pressing environmental issues and create real, measurable change for people and the planet. Adam shares some of the actions music creators and music lovers alike can take to reduce their footprint. He also...
info_outlineSongwriter, pianist and rapper Benjamin Lerner is the great grandson of Irving Berlin - the songwriter of “God Bless America” and “White Christmas.” Lerner has continued his family’s musical legacy, first as an award-winning classical pianist, then as a promising rapper who collaborated with Raekwon and Mac Miller. But his hip-hop career was halted when Lerner started using hard drugs, eventually becoming a full-blown heroin addict. Now four years sober, Lerner devotes much of his time to helping others through the recovery process. He talks to VERSED about his new album Clean, a fearless narration of his journey from piano prodigy to IV drug addict to recovery advocate - all set to a unique combination of solo piano and rapped vocals. PLUS: We talk to Mollie Farrell from HeadCount, a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy. At the end of the episode, we’re joined by Loras Schissel of the Library of Congress, who explains why it’s never too early to create an archive of your life as a music creator.
+Read more about the Irving Berlin collection at the Library of Congress.