Since her breakthrough with “Royals,” Lorde (real name Ella Yellich-O’Connor) has won just about every award going. “Royals” ruled the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks, won two Grammy Awards (for song of the year and best pop solo performance) and, in 2018, was certified diamond by the RIAA.
Lorde was presented with her latest award at the APRA AMCOS NZ offices in her hometown by CEO Dean Ormston and Anthony Healey, head of APRA AMCOS NZ operations, and her publisher, Kobalt Music Publishing, received an award for the song’s milestone.
She’s one of four New Zealand songwriters officially added to The 1,000,000,000 List in recent days.
Joel Little bagged his fourth 1,000,000,000 List award, this time for Taylor Swift’s hit “ME!,” from her hit Lover album.
Little, the in-demand songwriter and producer, has already snagged honors for “Young Dumb & Broke” by Khalid, “Whatever It Takes” by Imagine Dragons and Lorde’s “Royals”.
Little’s collaboration with Swift was the product of a fortuitous moment backstage at a Broods concert, where the Kiwi’s manager approached Swift’s team with a proposal. They were both due to be in New Zealand at the same time, so a collaborative plan was hatched.
The pair caught up at Little’s Titirangi studio while Swift’s Reputation stadium tour passed through. They hit it off, and Little later visited Swift in New York, where they began shaping the songs that would feature on 2019’s Lover.
Also, New Zealand songwriters Leroy Clampitt and Los Angeles-based James Wong were presented with their Billions Award for Justin Bieber’s “Company” (from 2015’s Purpose), co-written by international writers Andreas Shuller, Justin Bieber, James Abrahart, Thomas Troelsen and Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd.
The 1,000,000,000 List is said to be the first award of its kind to acknowledge a songwriter’s achievement. Past recipients include Kevin Parker (for Tame Impala‘s “The Less I Know The Better”), Dean Lewis and Jon Hume (for “Be Alright”), Flume (for “Never Be Like You”), Starley and P-Money (for “Call On Me”), Vance Joy (for “Riptide”), Gotye (for “Somebody That I Used to Know”), and Vassy (for “Bad”). See the full list here.
