NOISEMAKERS:
AN EGG-CELLENT ASSORTMENT
In our latest roundup, we present eight more stars of tomorrow from various parts of the biz whose dedication and effort make their superiors look good.
That said, a shout-out from this pathetic excuse for a magazine and 20 bucks still only gets them one flimsy flower crown at Coachella.
Kimmy Summers
Hip Hop and R&B Manager, Artist and Label Partnerships, Spotify
Summers is beyond proud to be celebrating Black culture via Spotify’s Frequency, a brand extension she’s building with a team of predominantly Black women. The initiative has seen collaborations with Little Simz, Pusha T and Ari Lennox, among others. In February Frequency ensconced Black creators including Doechii, Larry June and Sango in the Spot’s L.A. studios for four days of self-expression, an adventure captured in a short film due this spring. Cohabitating with more than a score of plants, Summers claims a “Bottega Green” thumb. We’re all thumbs.
Eric Samuelson
VP, Strategic Marketing, Interscope
Samuelson negotiated Billie Eilish’s epic BillieXAdobe partnership to coincide with the launch of 2021’s Happier Than Ever. This year, he’s focused on Kacey Musgraves’ Jiggy Puzzles collab and Olivia Rodrigo’s Depop pact, as well as the licensing of Imagine Dragons’ “Follow You” (Samsung), Celeste’s “Stop This Flame” (Peloton, Cisco), Louis the Child’s “Big Love” (Bud Light Seltzer) and OneRepublic’s “West Coast” (Visit California). Somehow, Samuelson still finds the time to take his husky kayaking every Sunday. Alas, we’ve grown too husky for our kayak.
Russ Jones
VP, Streaming, RCA
Jones will never forget standing next to Bryson Tiller backstage at the 2016 BET Awards when he was named Best New Artist. Fast forward to April 2022, when Jones declares, “There’s no bigger story in R&B than our artist Jazmine Sullivan,” whose acclaimed R&B #1 Heaux Tales just snagged the Grammy for Best R&B Album (“Pick up Your Feelings” won Best R&B Performance). Back in the day, Jones regularly DJ’ed clubs he wasn’t old enough to legally enter. We’ve been old enough to legally enter clubs for some time—we just can’t seem to make it past the velvet rope.
Brianna Colell
Senior Director, Brand Partnerships, Def Jam
Colell was involved in some of Saweetie’s first endorsements (Cheetos, Tinder) and has since been proud to see the rapper partner up with M.A.C., among other brands. The brand-partnership honcho has lately been working on deals for 2 Chainz (Ally Bank) and YG (Ledger), plus emerging acts YK Osiris, Coco Jones and the newly signed Muni Long, whose “Hrs & Hrs” just went platinum. A fearless “get up and go” traveler, Colell’s taken solo trips to Lebanon and Colombia (guided by meticulously detailed Excel itineraries). We journeyed to Pacoima before it became a tourist mecca. The crowds now—ugh.
Christian Bernhardt
Music Agent, UTA
Bernhardt brought Belgian artist Stromae to the U.S. and booked his 2015 show at Madison Square Garden (the first time a French-language singer had headlined and sold out the 20,000-seater)—and is bringing him back this year for a slate of sold-out North American dates. He’s also planning arena tours for Burna Boy, French duo Polo & Pan and hilarious electronic musician/YouTuber Marc Rebillet, with whom he’s working to launch a TV show. A tennis nut, Bernhardt dreams of managing and/or coaching French tennis star Gaël Monfils. We, too, have been called nuts.
Phoebe Johnson
Director, Digital Marketing, Ingrooves Music Group
Back when Johnson was an audio engineer for alma mater Fordham University’s WFUV, she worked on sessions for The Naked and Famous, Beirut and Lucero and co-engineered Mixed Bag with legendary New York rock-radio DJ Pete Fornatale, about which she says, “I’ll always cherish his stories and wisdom.” She’s now using digital marketing to drive streaming consumption for artists like TWICE, beabadoobee, Yungeen Ace and Dalex. In other Johnson news, her first movie was Star Wars: A New Hope. We can’t remember ours, but we’re pretty sure it was a silent picture.
Justin Horowitz
VP, Artist Relations, Crowd Surf
For Horowitz, nothing will ever top witnessing a crowd of 40,000 fans screaming every word of his client jxdn’s “ANGELS & DEMONS” during his first festival set, which transpired at Lollapalooza last year. He’s currently leading digital strategy for jxdn, Alternative darlings AJR, German singer/songwriter Kim Petras, Ava “Sweet but Psycho” Max and singer Loren Gray (54.3m TikTok followers). Having lived in England for three years, Horowitz claims he can still speak in a perfect British accent. We speak perfect bangers and mash—and have the waistline to prove it.
Jess Keifer
Director, Digital Strategy, Sony Music Nashville
Keifer was delighted to tease Luke Combs’ “Forever After All” on TikTok, helping the 2020 single become his biggest career debut, with 28.8m+ streams its first week. She’s also proud to have made Maren Morris the first country artist on Genius’ “Verified.” At the moment Keifer’s wrangling campaigns for Combs, Morris, Miranda Lambert, Mitchell Tenpenny, Tenille Townes, Georgia Webster and Nate Smith. A karaoke aficionada, she nonetheless says, “There’s a reason I’m on the business side of the industry.” We’re trying to be on the business side of the industry.
