{"id":75221,"date":"2026-10-17T14:16:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T14:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/17\/andrew-watt-interview-madonna-mccartney-the-stones-gaga\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T14:16:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T14:16:34","slug":"andrew-watt-interview-madonna-mccartney-the-stones-gaga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/17\/andrew-watt-interview-madonna-mccartney-the-stones-gaga\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Watt Interview:\u00a0 Madonna, McCartney, the Stones, Gaga\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tProducer\/songwriter Andrew Watt<\/a> spent yet another wildly overscheduled year working with legends, producing both Paul McCartney<\/a>\u2018s The Boys of Dungeon Lane<\/em> and the Rolling Stones<\/a>\u2018 Foreign Tongues <\/em>(his second album with the band), while also co-producing Brandi Carlile\u2019s Returning to Myself<\/em> and two songs from Madonna<\/a>\u2018s Confessions II. <\/em>Continuing his much-lauded Mayhem<\/em> collaboration<\/a> with Lady Gaga<\/a>, he worked with her on multiple new songs as well, including tracks for The Devil Wears Prada 2.<\/em> He also co-wrote and co-produced Michael Stipe<\/a>\u2018s track \u201cI Played the Fool,\u201d and is working with Stipe on his long-awaited solo debut. Also on his schedule: a new album with Elton John<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a new episode of The Rolling Stone Studio<\/em>, Watt sits down with Brian Hiatt to talk about all those collaborations and more. Watch it on YouTube or above; here are some highlights from the discussion:<\/p>\n

\n\tWatt played matchmaker for Madonna and Charli XCX<\/a> for the \u201cDanceteria\u201d remix he worked on. \u201c<\/strong>I actually put them on a text message together,\u201d says Watt, \u201cto kinda meet and talk before they were ever gonna do a record together, because they just needed to be friends. They\u2019re both so awesome and so cool, and really special people to me in my life. I was at a wedding with Charli, and I was like, \u2018Have you ever met Madonna?\u2019 And she\u2019s like, \u2018No, we actually, we don\u2019t know each other.\u2019 And so I just, I thought that needed to happen.\u201d The original \u201cDanceteria\u201d grew out of Madonna\u2019s stories about the downtown New York club \u201cwhere it all started for her.\u201d \u201cShe would tell us, like, you know, you look around and there\u2019s Nile Rodgers and there\u2019s David Byrne,\u201d Watt says. \u201cAnd she obviously invented talking on a pop song, right? \u2026 So we threw the beat on, and then she started just talking about her life. It\u2019s her origin story.\u201d For the remix, he says, \u201cCharli recorded her part, but then they worked on the track and the production together \u2026 It\u2019s a completely different record than the original.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatt calls Lady Gaga \u201cmy older sister,\u201d and says their sessions have brought him to tears.<\/strong> \u201cGreatest feeling in the world is when you make a project with an artist, it ends, and everyone\u2019s sad, and you\u2019re gonna miss each other, and then they call you back, and they\u2019re like, \u2018Let\u2019s make more stuff,’\u201d Watt says. \u201cShe and I are from the same place. We\u2019re from New York. We both grew up playing in the Bitter End, and were walking in the \u2026 same streets, and in the same scenes a couple years apart. \u2026 So it feels like my sister, you know? Like my older sister, couple years older than me. When we sit, we break a song down, even when it\u2019s an electronic song, and I\u2019m on the guitar and she\u2019s on the piano, sitting head-to-head and going through the song, it\u2019s like it\u2019s one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. It\u2019s brought me to tears multiple times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tWatt is in the middle of making Elton John\u2019s next album, and because Elton has lost much of his sight, they had to rebuild the way he writes songs.<\/strong> (Lyricist Bernie Taupin previously <\/a>told Rolling Stone the new process is \u201ca whole different ballgame\u201d for John.) \u201cFamously, Elton writes songs by reading a lyric,\u201d Watt says. \u201cHe is going through life in a completely different way than ever before, and my God, the spirit of this man is unlike anything else. 99.9999999 percent of people would\u2019ve just folded, and he continues on\u2026 He\u2019s wanting to make music, and so we had to adapt\u2026. The way we kind of flipped it around was he\u2019s one of the great melody writers ever. We could throw on some drums for him that made him feel a certain type of way, and he could just play to the drums and come up with melodies first and have, like, a feel, or, \u2018Let\u2019s do something that feels like a great soul record.\u2019 \u2026 And Bernie is so imaginative as well, so he was able to then listen to that, hear a basic rough little melody of Elton and come up with ideas to what he was doing. \u2026 And then Elton is the master of putting Bernie\u2019s lyrics down to the song. Once Bernie would come up with the lyric, after, we\u2019d put it on a huge screen for him, and he\u2019d scan through it, and he\u2019d figure out where he\u2019d wanna put it, and he\u2019d go little by little, and it was perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tWatt says Stipe is determined to get his solo album exactly right.<\/strong> \u201c\u200aHe\u2019s extremely hard on himself,\u201d Watt says. \u201cHe works really hard at his craft, and he kinda beats himself up, I think, in a healthy way. I\u2019ve seen him write lyrics, throw them out, write them again, all on his own merit. So I think he is wanting to make sure that he is gonna say exactly what he wants to say, and make a sound that\u2019s exactly how he wants it to sound\u2026 \u200aHe\u2019s working with a bunch of different people, different flavors of different [musical] beds, and then finding his way around them. But he\u2019s one of the all-time greats, great songwriter, great lyricist, great melodist. And really fun to be around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWatching Paul McCartney work, Watt says, was like going to college.<\/strong> \u201cHis time alone is extremely important,\u201d Watt says. \u201cTucking away, often in a small space, and writing, taking stuff home and writing in the morning. He\u2019s fearless\u2026. He was kind of teaching me the way he works\u2026. You can write a song out of anything, and then sometimes you switch it up and go to a weird thing, which changes form a million different times. And then it goes to a rock section. Then it goes to a bluesy guitar section. \u2026 It was kind of like, let me show you how we can use the studio. He loves playing characters, even, like, \u2018Rocky Raccoon.\u2019 \u2026 His imagination is unlike anyone else\u2019s. Like Mozart, you know? \u2026 Bouncing around the studio and playing every different instrument. Watching him arrange background vocals, which he does either at the piano or with a guitar in his hand at the mic, and goes through the note and sings it, and is really choosing the notes and arranging them. He\u2019s incredible at coming up with the perfect part on every different instrument and not making you feel like he played any instrument worse than the other. I mean, it just sounds like someone who\u2019s a master on each instrument. Sounds like a band.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the Rolling Stones\u2019 albums, Watt stood in the room with the band and called out song sections like a conductor.<\/strong> \u201cI would always be in the live room while the band tracked, kind of as far from Keith as I am from you, and Mick kinda right in front, and be in that circle so I could watch how they\u2019re interplaying with each other,\u201d Watt says. \u201cYou don\u2019t want it to ever be an arduous process with a band like that. They\u2019re magic. If you\u2019ve seen a Stones show, you see what happens when they hit a magic moment. \u2026 So my job would be to have a mic like this and call sections. \u2018B section.\u2019 \u2026 \u2018Okay, let\u2019s go back to the A section. Take it out on that.\u2019 \u2026 They\u2019re playing the tune that they made, and I\u2019m arranging it kind of as it\u2019s happening, in the moment.\u201d Will there be another Stones album? \u201cI don\u2019t know. I didn\u2019t know if there was gonna be another one after the first one. If they call, I\u2019m there,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s the greatest honor of my life being around that band.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tBlack Sabbath<\/a> guitarist Tony Iommi<\/a> recently said he passed on recording a final Sabbath album because Watt was \u201ctoo excited\u201d about it. Watt says Iommi wasn\u2019t being serious.<\/strong> \u201cYou know me. I\u2019m definitely an excited musician, person. \u2026 That would be a true statement,\u201d Watt says. \u201cBut that\u2019s not why it didn\u2019t happen\u2026. [Ozzy] was just like, \u2018Let\u2019s make a Sabbath album.\u2019 He\u2019s like, \u2018We didn\u2019t do an album with [drummer] Bill Ward.\u2019 As Ozzy does, he gave me the marching orders: \u2018Call Tony. Then you call Geezer. Then you call Bill.\u2019 \u2026 So I called Tony. \u2018Would you wanna do it?\u2019 \u2018Yeah, that sounds cool, if Bill would do it, yes.\u2019 Geezer, \u2018If Bill would do it, yes.\u2019 It was all about, \u2018If Bill would do it, yes.\u2019 So then I had to have a conversation with Bill, and that was one of the strangest and funniest and coolest, at the same time, \u2019cause you\u2019re talking to Bill Ward, conversations.\u201d Ward \u201cwas unable to do the album for personal reasons,\u201d which killed the project. As for Iommi\u2019s comment: \u201cI think he\u2019s just taking the piss. \u2026 Which anyone that wants to do that with me, they absolutely should.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatt confirms he worked on unreleased Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> songs and that there are \u201ckind of\u201d plans for them. <\/strong>\u00a0\u201dThere are some songs that we made for a specific reason, and yeah, that\u2019s all I can say,\u201d Watt says. \u201cThey\u2019re hard for me to listen to. I haven\u2019t listened to them.\u201d The night before Osbourne\u2019s final concert, he adds, \u201cwe sat and we listened to the stuff that we had made, and made notes. And that and the next day were the last times I got to see him. \u2026 But we had a beautiful listening session and talked about a lot of stuff. It\u2019s hard to think about, but I miss him every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Producer\/songwriter Andrew Watt spent yet another wildly overscheduled year working with legends, producing both Paul McCartney\u2018s The Boys of Dungeon Lane and the Rolling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":75222,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}