Interscope: "We treated DWAS like an album rollout not just a single"

[PatrickMonster 5,847]

IIn the middle of August, with precious little warning, two of the biggest artists in the world decided to take hold of the pop-music narrative. On the night of Aug. 15, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars unleashed their collaborative ballad “Die With a Smile,” complete with a Dolly Parton-inspired music video released the same evening, as well as a surprise duet performance at Mars’ show in Los Angeles, blanketing the Friday release day with a full-court press in the first few hours of the song’s release.

As the week went on, a digital campaign began to factor in as well, and the work paid off: “Die With a Smile” debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 2 on both the Global 200 and the Global Excl. U.S. charts in its first week. But since then, the song has only grown, particularly around the world — this week, “Die With a Smile,” which is credited to Gaga’s label Interscope but is receiving a helping hand from Mars’ label Atlantic, spends its second week as the biggest song in the world, topping both of Billboard’s global charts midway through September. And that worldwide success helps earn Interscope Geffen A&M senior vp/head of pop/rock marketing Adrian Amodeo the title of Billboard’s Executive of the week.

Here, Amodeo, discusses the initial rollout of the song, how Interscope and Atlantic worked together and how the Interscope global strategy — which has also seen huge success with Billie Eilish and Karol G, as well as with BTS’ Jimin — has helped the company reach new heights around the world. “We don’t want to just put out records in other territories,” Amodeo says. “We want to build real campaigns that are extensions of our domestic campaigns and also build into local cultures and communities on the ground and online.”

This week, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” is No. 1 on both of Billboard’s global songs charts for the second straight week. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?

First off, it was an enormous team effort across two amazing artist teams. We have two of the most important pop stars on the planet who wrote and recorded an absolutely incredible song and were involved in every detail of the rollout. We knew it was going to be a special moment once the song came out, but also knew we had to build a campaign that honored two superstars and their incredible artistry. We wanted to show the power of these two stars together and show that Gaga and Bruno are at the top of the game, with a ballad, in the midst of what has been an incredible summer of pop music. 

When we first heard the song, Kirsten Stubbs, our co-head of digital marketing, flagged that Bruno happened to be opening the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles around the time the song was coming out, so we immediately put the wheels in motion to make a performance be a key moment in our campaign. The genuine connection the world saw between the two of them, and the content we were able to capture and spread, really set the tone for the entire campaign. It was lightning in a bottle with the release of the song, the video and the performance that night. But we knew we had to keep building a runway for the song and eventize the release around the globe, so we treated it like an album rollout, not just as a single. 

The song debuted at No. 2 on both charts, before ascending to the top spot a week later. What went into such a huge global impact right out of the gate?

Our international team has been so integral — every territory made it a priority to make this the biggest song in the world. Before the song came out we were fortunate to have all of the label heads from around the globe into our studio where we unveiled our plan for the track. We were able to play the music and explain our global vision, but more importantly we had Gaga and her team in the room to be part of those conversations with us. It really energized everyone to be part of a process like that. The subsequent local campaigns and partner support our teams have put together have been really amazing. 

I’m proud of what the team pulled off for the fans around the world, too. The out-of-home campaigns became important fan experiences, anchored by an eight city storefront experience that paid homage to the song, the artwork and the video. Combined with all the billboards around the globe, it just felt huge — and, more importantly, we got it to travel online. A great job by Kevin Rankin and Jessica Staats for driving that with all the teams around the globe. The themes of the song have also helped build an incredible TikTok world for the song, which has been fun to watch and really helped take it to another level globally. Our ability to conceive of and execute such a complex global campaign is really a core strength of Interscope and Universal Music Group. 

This music video also had a big impact, with its throwback theme and Dolly Parton-esque vibe. How important has it been to the song’s success, and what do you see as the role of the traditional music video these days?

The music video has been so important, if not the most important part of this campaign. It was co-directed by Bruno, which continues to exemplify his artistry and shows the trust that Gaga put in him as a partner in this whole process. Again, that genuine connection can’t be overstated. Beyond being an incredible video, it also inspired every inch of our creative. The single art, the outfits they wore on stage at the Intuit Dome, the global out-of-home; everything has intentionally been cohesive and respectful to the aesthetic world built by Gaga and Bruno. The music video also kicked off a powerful viral moment with the fans recreating Gaga’s dance and inspired fans to recreate the looks online, at shows, and at the clubs — our influencer marketing team was quick to identify this and amplify it globally. It has been so amazing to see and we fully expect Gaga-Bruno to be one of the most seen Halloween costumes this year. We’re already getting ahead of that.

Gaga and Bruno are two of the biggest superstars on the planet, and are signed to different labels. How did this song come together, and how did the marketing plan work across two companies?

The making of the song is Gaga and Bruno’s story to tell, but it’s very well documented that they have wanted to work together for a long time. [Interscope Capitol Labels Group chairman/CEO] John Janick’s relationship with Bruno goes back for many years and the trust that Bruno and Gaga put in John can’t be overstated. [Atlantic Music Group chair/CEO] Julie Greenwald was an absolute force as well. Her energy and passion for the song helped drive both teams to be great. With so many relationships and teams in place we were truly able to hit the ground running. We spent about six weeks planning the song together and the relationship was great with all of our departments working hand in hand, on Zooms, calls, texts, DMs, voice notes and faxes. We’re still going.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240913163952/https://www.billboard.com/pro/lady-Gaga-and-bruno-mars-die-with-a-smile-global-smash-how/

[ActualPatient 1,228]

YAAAS!!!! Hopefully, Interscope would use the same resources to push LG7 given how massive DWAS is! Great article. Thank you for sharing!

[FATCAT 58,912]

1 minute ago, ActualPatient said:

YAAAS!!!! Hopefully, Interscope would use the same resources to push LG7 given how massive DWAS is! Great article. Thank you for sharing!

Right?! Seems like they were using it as a test run for LG7, I’m excited to see what they have in store for promo!

[bpmMonkey 4,000]

Really cool to read some of the insides, but most interesting for me is towards the end where it says

„We spent about six weeks planning the song together and the relationship was great with all of our departments working hand in hand, on Zooms, calls, texts, DMs, voice notes and faxes.“.

I always wonder about how much time goes into these things and it’s nice to get a official time framing here. (Last time I wondered about this was when Ricky posted a picture of him in the studio, presumably a rehearsal, for new Gaga material. Going forward this information should give us more inside whenever we see stuff from her or her team on socials 🤗

 

[LG2008 2,966]

Why don't they push it on the US, then? Where is the payola? And why haven't they released the performances online if they were planned to be part of this big campaign? 

[Stef 61,491]

9 minutes ago, PatrickMonster said:

When we first heard the song, Kirsten Stubbs, our co-head of digital marketing, flagged that Bruno happened to be opening the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles around the time the song was coming out, so we immediately put the wheels in motion to make a performance be a key moment in our campaign. The genuine connection the world saw between the two of them, and the content we were able to capture and spread, really set the tone for the entire campaign. It was lightning in a bottle with the release of the song, the video and the performance that night  

I loved reading this so much, but this part confused me. 

Surely the logical thing, if this was truly the intent, would have been to upload the professional recording a few days into the first tracking week, or even the second??

Maybe it will still come! 

[Real Panda 7,592]

That was such a great read. I love that confidence they have in the song and in their plans. I hope Adrian and Gaga's team can carry this over to the next era.

I'm also wondering what they meant with this: "It has been so amazing to see and we fully expect Gaga-Bruno to be one of the most seen Halloween costumes this year. We’re already getting ahead of that."

If there are blue and red 60s BrunoGaga costumes for sale I want one, please. Thank you.

[Reality 71,863]

So DWAS was LG7 all along  

[clownery 3,509]

Interscope seems to finally want her main pop girl back huh, well let's see Mr. Hottie 

[PunkTheFunk 123,478]

Now do that with LG7. Do that challenge.

[Gaby15 9,253]

"Before the song came out we were fortunate to have all of the label heads from around the globe into our studio where we unveiled our plan for the track. We were able to play the music and explain our global vision, but more importantly we had Gaga and her team in the room to be part of those conversations with us."

I guess, Gaga has to do a lot of background work that we don't even know about.

[Naak Le Vaar 1,180]

I hope the same energy goes into LG7

[Stefanotta 674]

I mean are we witnessing Gaga best era to come soon? Honestly I’m not ready for her to start boping the radio stations again, with dark visuals about to serve

OMG I have never been so excited since BTW, my first ever album to fall in love with Gaga

[Delulu Rogers 6,919]

Let’s keep this energy for LG7

[Juanlittlem 41,526]

Well where the radio checks @Interscope  Its the only thing we missing to get DWAS to the top, get your payola ready or you will hear from my lawyers