When Harmony Samuels was tasked to work on new Janet Jackson material, he took to the drawing board. For a woman with over 30 years of music under her belt, the hitmaker, who has worked with the likes of Ariana Grande and Jennifer Lopez, decided to aim for uncharted territory. After re-familiarizing himself with her musical history, the 38-year-old super-producer discovered that she never went down the Afrocentric path, which is what inspired her comeback single, "Made For Now."
As the single begins to plot its course on the radio, Samuels opened up to iHeartRadio about what it was like to work with the pop legacy, who has an EP set to drop later this year. For the mini-collection, the super-producer said that he aimed to reference the classic sounds of her past albums, but create material that remained uptempo, fresh without falsifying youth and, most importantly, positive. Scroll on below to read our Q&A with Harmony Samuels!
"Made For Now" has been met with an exceptional response. How has everything been since the song dropped?
It has been an amazing experience. Just to see the world come together and see so many people respond so quickly. I mean, it's only been a week and we're already at 20 million views on YouTube. The comments, the response from all genres, all races, and just the love we’ve been getting from all ages has been amazing. I'm so excited because I feel like this song is not just a song, but it's actually touching people’s lives and giving them hope. A lot of the messages that I’ve gotten in my DMs, email, or Twitter has been how this song has been on repeat, how it makes them feel so much better, how it gives them hope and light, and how much joy it brings. As a producer/songwriter, you can’t ask for more than that type of experience and I’m so grateful to God, Janet, Daddy Yankee, JQ, my team BOE, just for allowing me to be a part of such an amazing moment and hopefully this song continues to really impact the world.
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis had a hand in producing her vocals. What was your experience being in the studio with all three of them?
Woah is probably the expression. It was a very iconic moment. Two legendary icons, on production and the other as an artist come together and to see the simplicity. You can tell they were family and that they knew each other for long, but there was still a mutual respect. You can tell that they experienced life together and told exceptional stories amongst themselves. They were also really receptive of me. Uncle Terry and Uncle Jimmy, as I call them, have also been fans of my work too, so it was good for us to be able to come together.
I remember Jimmy had called me out an ASCAP Expo, and said he felt like I was one of the dope producers to look for in the future after I did Ariana Grande’s "The Way" and that was kind of my first experience. So, now to be able to be in the same room as him, his brother Terry, and the beautiful Janet Jackson, this was just a beautiful experience. They worked flawlessly, effortlessly and it was a great experience to watch. It taught me that relationships between artist and producer is very important and you have to learn to trust each other, and Janet truly trusts Jim and Terry and vice versa.
For an icon that has explored so many sounds and themes, how important was it for you to bring something new to the table for Janet?
It was very important. It was the main focus to really kind of reinvent the wheel for such an amazing icon. She has done so many dope things over the course of her career, from film and TV to album upon album. Velvet Rope is one of my favorite albums and I felt like this woman has always come and changed or flipped the game in some way. You’re just always amazed at her experience and how she just changes things, so I wanted to have that experience with her as a music producer. I guess this is one of those moments where it's like, 'Hey. This might be my only chance to really affect the world.'
I really kind of broke down what I really wanted to do, by researching her musical history and I realized she had never really gone down the Afrocentric path and it was so important to do something new and fresh with her, but not lose the essence of who Janet is. Her essence is just as important, she could sing in any genre and has a huge understanding of different genres of music. But I really wanted to bring this one through and she did an amazing job and I think it was the perfect sound, perfect energy, perfect feature. She did it justice by culturally accepting and putting forth effort with the video and the experience. She really brought the world together, whether it was the Latino market, Afrocentric, Caribbean, Janet touched the world and that's why it was so important.
Janet told us that she really enjoyed working with you, particularly because of your energy. Can you speak to how she is when she’s in the studio and in her creative mode?
Janet is a blessing. She really does focus and her mission is to get the job right and get the job done. She has such experience and you can tell that she is a very experienced recording artist and, like I mentioned before, there is this effortless reaction that she has. Being in the studio was just like I knew her forever and she really liked being in the studio with us. [She's] such a sweetheart and we just had great conversation and she told some really dope stories. It wasn’t a huge party. It was really calm, really peaceful. Where most people have a lot of people in the studio and need the bravado, she wanted it really calm and simple and not too many people. It wasn’t too many people at all, just her, the vocal producer (Tommy Parker), and myself. Tommy is also the vocal producer for some of the other songs outside of "Made For Now" on the EP. It was just a peaceful experience and I’ll look forward to working with her in the studio. She shared some great stories with me about her growing up in the studio, with her family, and with Michael and you can tell she was just a very genuine person and her mission to touch the world is in full effect.
I understand that you sat down with Janet to discuss creative direction before she went on tour. What were other themes discussed during that meeting?
She wanted us to explore some of her older records, but her main mission was uptempo, energy, fresh, still young but not falsifying being young. She was opened to all styles, which is always a blessing. [That] can be difficult because you have to make sure there is a cohesiveness going on. She wanted us to go out there and find ways to create positive energy. She wanted positivity in her music. Her tour really explains where her mindset is. We have definite classic R&B records. We have a funk record. That is real funky with that strong bass, but all still have a cohesive message and we wanted to stay in line with that for her.
You produced a few other cuts on her upcoming EP, which include some good ol’ fashion R&B. What can you tell us about those songs?
Man, I’m really excited about those songs. One of the songs we did has such a funk beat and such a drive. Kind of like, I can’t give too much away, but it’s a party. As soon as you feel it, by the time you get to that chorus your hands are in the air, it just feels so good. We have one where it's a classic Jackson sound and I wasn’t going to work with Janet without touching that classic sound. The Velvet Rope album, Off The Wall album, we had to really touch some stuff. I felt like this was a great platform to do it. Still cohesive with “Made For Now”, and that may be the most out there one, but the EP is a great body of work and I can’t wait for the world to hear it.
Aside from Janet, who else are you working on music for?
Currently, I’m focused on my label, LOUD Music Group, with my entertainment company BOE. We have a young gentleman named MAJOR. MAJOR. is doing incredible things. He has a hit song called “Why I Love You” and we’re about to put his debut album out on September 7. His new single, “Better With You In It”, is actually doing very well. He’s coming off the back with two Top 5 radio hits at Urban AC. We also have a new star, Rhyon Brown also known as RnB. She also is another young superstar that we are really excited about. She’s moving into a great place. She also has a recurring role in Empire on FOX. She’ll be dropping her EP this fall. She’s is starring in a movie that I am scoring, starring Jessica Alba and Gary Oldman, called Killers Anonymous. That comes out in early 2019.
We’re also working with Daddy Yankee, MGK (Machine Gun Kelly), working with so many different people in the music industry right now. We’re just looking forward to continuing to build the brand and creating great music across the board. We have a bunch of new artists, Lauren Sanderson over at Epic. She just dropped a new EP. I have a single on her EP called "Only One." We have another young superstar, who is signed to LA Reid/HITCO, called The Bonfyre. She recently just dropped her EP Ready To Love, in which we have the single "Ready to Love" and "Keep Me Waiting." These are just some of the projects that we are working on. We have so many and we are really excited about the future. Right now, we’re just trying to enjoy this ride with Janet and hopefully, we’ll speak to you soon. Thank you so much for having us apart of the iHeart family and we will continue to create good music for the world and for y’all. Bless you.
Photo: Katherine Tyler for iHeartRadio/Jose Cardoza Photography