Tom Dunne: How Andrew Watt became the hottest producer on the planet

Watt is the speaker of truth to Paul McCartney, Elton John, Madonna, Lady Gaga and many more — but it could have been different

On many albums, Andrew Watt is the producer and co-writer. He often supplies the musicians. He is essentially a human form of generative AI. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

“Hey,” said the producer to the singer, “I think you could write better words than them.” Wars have started for less, particularly when the producer is young and the singer has written the lyrics to songs like You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Satisfaction.

Yet Mick Jagger, 83, did as he was asked.  The result? The best Stones album since Exile on Main Street in 1972. That’s debatable, but I’m putting it out there. What you can’t debate is that sometimes artists, regardless of stature, need to hear the odd home truth.

Andrew Watt is the man with the honest opinion. At 35, the New Yorker is the speaker of truth to Paul McCartney, Elton John, Madonna, Lady Gaga and many more. In the 'legacy act' world, he is currently the hottest producer on the planet. He might call them “those Octo guys” but they call him “Boss”.   

It could have been different. He attended the Clive Davis NYU School of Arts, a college that supplies more talent to Broadway than any other in America. Its alumni have won 22 Academy Awards, 17 Emmys, 12 Tonys and four Grammys. Broadway did not appeal. Watt dropped out to play guitar.

Ron Wood, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. Picture: Mark Seliger

He soon found himself on tour as a guitarist with Cody Simpson on a two-month European support slot with Justin Bieber. In Dublin, messing on guitar after soundcheck, he was surprised when Justin himself joined him on drums.

Legend has it they jammed a U2 song. They played for half an hour and afterwards became firm friends. It was Bieber that encouraged him to try and develop his writing skills, and he enjoyed immediate success with his efforts in the pop world.

But it was still not where his heart lay.

He’d grown up on Pearl Jam and had been able to play instrument on every one of their songs by the time he was in his teens. So, in 2013 he joined California Breed with Glenn Hughes (ex-Deep Purple) and Jason Bonham, son of John.

It was on a later tour with his own band that he experienced an epiphany. On a late-night drive, they hit a deer. As they were being towed to Reno, Let Me Love You, a hit he’d written with DJ Snake, came on the radio. “What am I doing in this van if I can write hits that people love?” he wondered.

Success was almost instant. In 2017, he was in the UK charts at number two with Rita Ora (Anywhere) and at number one with Camila Cabello (Havana). In 2019, he repeated his success in the USA when Shawn Mendes took Senorita to the top spot. 

He probably would have stayed in the pop world had not a chance encounter with Post Malone changed everything. When Malone was working on a track with Ozzy Osbourne, he brought Watt in to help produce and write. Ozzy liked him.

He invited Watt to produce his next album, Ordinary Man, in 2019, and the rest is history. That album put Ozzy back on the map.

Ordinary Man put Ozzy Osbourne back on the map

The run of production credits after that is stunning. Miley Cyrus’s version of Nothing Else Matters, Morrissey’s still unreleased but apparently best-ever solo album, Bonfire of Teenagers, Eddie Vedder’s Earthing, Ozzy’s Patient #9, Iggy Pop’s Every Loser, and others with Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Paul McCartney and Pearl Jam. The list goes on.

But what is even more remarkable is that on many of these albums — Eddie Vedder and Iggy Pop included — Watt is the producer and co-writer. He often supplies the musicians, generally Chad Smith, Duff McKagan, and Josh Klinghoffer. He is essentially a human form of generative AI.

He appears to take no prisoners. He told Madonna to write a track about Danceteria, the 1980s New York nightclub, and when she did, he then suggested she add the “doo-doos, like in Walk on The Wild Side”. It the best track on Confessions II. 

Paul McCartney said of him “I like him, but he’s a bit pushy.” Fair to say the last person Paul said that about was John Lennon. A positive review of the Iggy album said that Watt “doesn’t try to turn Iggy into something he is not but rather gives him space to be every Iggy he wants to be.” 

This augurs well for one of his next projects, the upcoming Michael Stipe solo album. His involvement makes me optimistic. If he lets Michael be as many versions of Michael as he wants, we are all winners.