Team Scrip is amped about the buzz on troubadour Joy Oladokun, notably a big This Is Us sync for “breathe again” ( co-written by Prescription writer James Droll; this was followed by big Fallon, Today and Colbert looks and love from Hulu, Amazon Music, YouTube, Spotify RADAR and GAYTIMES, among others. Meanwhile, tunesmith Nick Bailey co-wrote the Demi Lovato/ Marshmello single, “It’s OK not to be OK”; Producer/writer Sean Small earned multiple upcoming placements on Keith Urban’s album; and there was mondo Super Bowl/ESPN action for writers Tim Gent and Bryant Taylorr with producer Jon Santana. Office-wise, A&R veteran Chris Martignago joined the pubbery from Atlantic.

“The best part of the pandemic is that we collaborated more than ever internationally,” notes Katie Mitzell Fagan, Head of A&R, Nashville. “We partnered with Budde Publishing in Berlin and did an entire virtual writing camp and invited multiple major-label A&Rs from both the U.S. and Germany to weigh in. We caught up with our international friends more than ever before because all of us were in the exact same boat and wanted to keep the train on the tracks.” Greater efficiency was one result—to be expected when the Germans are involved.

At the same time, she says, “Quarantine forced many writers out of their normal comfort zone and pushed them to master skills that they likely already had in them,” including learning to produce demos (and finding the courage to sing on them).