02/13/2024
Olivia and I met in 2010, she had called Harmonie Park studios where I was working at the time, I gave her the tour and we stared working on a record shortly after. She thought since Aretha Franklin has recorded there, and she had such a similar voice, it was a perfect fit 🤪 - we ended up doing a three song EP in those first sessions. The song featured in this post “I Can Say” is from her first full length album “Yes, No, Maybe So”. The original production was much different, guitar focused from a part Olivia originally came up with. As I was mixing the song, I muted the guitar to hear the keys and vocals together and the whole thing kinda fell into place after that. Happy accident! This was the first tune that I think established our sound together. The song went on to be place in a couple movies and racked close to 5 million streams on all the platforms, might actually be more now. No autotune was used on this whole record, she always amazes me with her perfect pitch. Since this record, Olivia has won two John Lennon songwriting awards, countless other national songwriting contests, has tens of millions of streams worldwide, published a children’s book, been a semi finalist on Americas Got Talent, toured her original music all over the US and Europe, had dozens of sync and licensing placements, put out another full record “Look Both Ways”, as well as two singles through Tidal under her new artist name Olivia Dear, where she was handpicked for a grant from thousands of applicants. The list goes on as well, but there isn’t enough room in an Insta post for all her accolades. Olivia has become one of my closest and best friends throughout the years. Being in her band has made me a much better musician and producer. She has taught me so much about the power of a great song. I am honored and glad we’ve got to work together on all the records and tours. Been a privilege to watch her grow as an artist and crush it in every room over these 14 years. I hope there are many more to come.