International hot-shots at SPOT and Aarhus Calling

Some of the hottest and brightest songwriters and producers will shine on Aarhus when this year’s edition of Aarhus Calling takes place as part of SPOT 2018. Writers, producers and A&R’s from the US, UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands will all get together to work intensely with the best upcoming songwriter talents Denmark has to offer for three days and hopefully produce the next big hit.

By Mikkel Wenzel Andreasen

For the fourth time, Aarhus Calling is going to gather twelve of the most promising songwriters Denmark has to offer and give them the opportunity to work with some of the best producers, songwriters, A&R’s and publishers in the business.

And the talent pool has never been better stronger on either side of the table.

The international talent includes Charlie Puth’s brother, producer and songwriter Stephen Puth, who’s written for Jason Derulo among others, British songwriter of Nigerian heritage Talay Riley, who’s written for Jessie J, Ellie Goulding and Khalids big hit “Young Dumb & Broke”, and British songwriter Jin Jin who’s worked with artists like Jess Glynne, Tinie Tempah, Rita Ora and Jonas Blue.

Apart from the producing talent, songwriter Lil Eddie is representing British record label Syco as an A&R. Syco Music famously founded by Simon Cowell has signed artists like Zayn, Camilla Cabello and Fifth Harmony.

Getting such a high-profile roster doesn’t come easy though, as project manager Rewan explains:

“It’s taken a lot of diplomatic work, calling, setting up meetings and getting everything together – and not just finding the right people, but also finding the right people who will match each other’s chemistry and perform during the camp.”

Sitting across from the industry people are the upcoming talents, who’ve been selected for the camp. And the level of talent is the strongest for the camp yet:

“We have songwriters from all parts of Denmark, and it just goes to show, that there’s talent everywhere. And having watched the talent pool over the last few years, I believe we’ve helped increase the knowledge of the business and helped professionalize it – and that pays off now with some of the best songwriters and producers we’ve seen yet,” says Rewan.

Aarhus Calling provides top talents with the best in the business

One of the things done differently for this year’s Aarhus Calling, is the application process through which the talents apply to be a part of the camp. And that has made it even more obvious, just how gifted and driven the people looking to get in, are:

“We’ve adjusted our application process to take video applications from the talents, and it’s just overwhelming how professional even the newcomers are. A few years ago, people just wanted to write songs, but didn’t know how the industry worked; now they have a firm grasp on what to expect and what is expected of them even before they set foot inside the door,” says Rewan.

That is also one of the reasons, even some of the biggest in the business wants to be a part of the Aarhus Calling songwriter project.

“I believe the Aarhus Calling brand has gotten such a strong foothold in the industry, that people know and recognize us and really want to be a part of the project. The talents we scout out are incredibly gifted and everyone knows this. So even when everyone in the business is super busy, it’s not hard to persuade them to come to Aarhus for a few days.”

Photo: Stephen Puth, songwriter and producer

Photo: Jin Jin, songwriter

Photo: Lil’ Eddie, songwriter, producer and A&R