How do you go from dishwasher to Grammy nominee? Over some late, late snacks (AKA breakfast) at his Silver Lake, Los Angeles recording studio, Grammy-nominated producer and founder of the group Wallpaper., Ricky Reed, talks about focusing on joy on the most recent episode of The Dinner Party with Elysabeth Alfano. Ricky and I also dish on the making of a hit record and the key ingredient for producing for such varied artists as Jason Derulo, Bomba Estereo, Twenty One Pilots and Meghan Trainor.
Adding more excitement to our snack-chat, Reed is up for his first Grammy Award on Monday night. Enjoy this podcast with the prolific producer, Ricky Reed. More info on the artist is below.
Photo Credit: Ryan Murray
Over the past two years, Ricky Reed has become one of the music industry's go-to songwriters and producers, thanks to his scoring of a string of hits with Jason Derulo, such as, Get Ugly, the four-time platinum hit, Talk Dirty, and two-time platinum single, Wiggle. In addition, Ricky has produced smash songs with numerous other groups in the pop and urban music worlds, such as the platinum hit, Fireball with the band Pitbull, Boss with Fifth Harmony, Burning Up with Jessie J, Emergency with the Swedish female group Icona Pop, Headlights with Robin Schulz, and most recently the Bills EP with newcomer Lunch Money Lewis. Ricky is also working with the newly minted chart-toppers Twenty One Pilots. He executive-produced the duo's number-one album Blurryface and produced eight of its fourteen tracks, including Tear on My Heart and Ride. He also produced Meghan Trainor's new single No and executive-produced her forthcoming album.
A San Francisco native, Ricky has also expanded beyond the pop and urban music worlds. He has proven his breadth and versatility by working with Colombian electro-folk band Bomba Estéreo, whose new album Amanecer is up for a Grammy in the category of Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album.
Ricky is a musician himself. In college at U.C. Berkeley, he formed his first real band, Facing New York, which toured across the U.S., Europe, and Japan. While recording their first album, which Reed describes as "this very heavy handed opus," Reed felt the urge to blow off some steam with a lighter-hearted project and his band Wallpaper. was born. Fusing hip-hop, pop, and dance music with pointed, often satirical lyrics, Wallpaper. released an independent album, Doodoo Face, and three EP's, including #STUPiDFACEDD, which spawned the hit title track, and Fucking Best Song Everrr before signing with Epic Records and releasing 2013's Ricky Reed is Real.