After years of empowering female and non-binary songwriters with writing camps around the world, nonprofit She Is the Music (SITM) nabbed its first major recording artist placement last week with the release of Martin Garrix‘s new RCA single “Love Runs Out,” featuring G-Eazy and Sasha Alex Sloan.
The beginnings of the song, which was written by Sloan, Alex Hope and Chloe Angelides, were written during a camp organized by SITM and independent publisher Prescription Songs in 2018.
“We were collectively thinking about female powerhouse executives whom we admired, and the team at Prescription Songs came to mind,” says Taylor Testa, Songwriting Committee Co-Chair for SITM, of the collaboration. Helmed by Prescription Songs head of A&R, west coast Rhea Pasricha and A&R manager Marlee Kula, along with SITM’s songwriting committee co-chairs, the team hand selected Sloan, Angelides and Hope, among others, to participate in the Los Angeles-based camp at Spotify’s studios.
Working together on what would become “Love Runs Out” “felt effortless,” says Angelides. “I’m sure a lot of other female artists, writers, and producer can relate to how magical it feels to be surrounded by women and non-binary writers in a creative space.”
For female and nonbinary songwriters, sessions often remain a boys club. “There is still a disparity in the music industry, especially in studio space,” says Hope. In fact, women made up only 12.9% of all songwriters on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 charts last year, according to a study by USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative, so with the SITM’s women and non-binary-centered camps, many participants found themselves in exclusively non-male writing sessions for the first time in their careers.
“One of the greatest hurdles for young women in songwriting and production is simply meeting each other,” says Hannah Babitt, SITM songwriting committee co-chair.
Once Babitt and the SITM team heard the results of the “Love Runs Out” session, it was clear that the track was a standout. “My team proceeded with pitching the record to artists whom they felt would understand and build upon the vision, and our dream was Martin Garrix and G-Eazy,” says Babitt who also runs the boutique management firm BABZ, Inc.
Luckily, Garrix felt the same way. “Throughout my career, I’ve been lucky enough to work with a lot of amazing women, and I think She Is The Music is a great initiative to create equal opportunities for female creators in our industry,” he tells Billboard in a statement. “Sasha, Chloe, and Alex made the initial demo for ‘Love Runs Out,’ which I loved right away. I started working on the track, adding my sound and production to it. With G-Eazy adding his touch as well, the track has become a collaborative effort where everyone’s talent came together in the best way possible. I’m honored that ‘Love Runs Out’ is the first major release to originate from one of the SITM writing camps, but I’m sure it definitely won’t be the last.”
Kula hopes the RCA release will lead to more high-profile placements. “Having such well-respected artists use their platforms to help promote female creatives is such a wonderful way to shed light on all the talented women working in the biz,” she says.
Babitt agrees: “Successes like this go to show that women can write for any artist, in any situation, in any genre.”
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