THE JANICK TOUCH
Interscope Geffen A&M head John Janick has come a long way since the Fueled by Ramen days. Early success with pop-punk band Fall Out Boy took him out of his University of Florida dorm room and positioned him to eventually take the reins of one of the music industry's most successful labels.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Janick talked about signing Billie Eilish at 14 and helping Olivia Rodrigo overcome her fear of the sophomore slump.
Janick, who'd invited Rodrigo to dinner in his backyard, vividly remembers telling the young singer to push her worries aside.
“I told her, ‘Olivia, you’re an amazing person,'" he said, per WSJ. "'We signed you because you’re a generational artist. You’re going to be doing this for a long time. You’re young. I want you to always push yourself, but I don’t want you to kill yourself’—because she’s a very hard worker—‘trying to beat SOUR.’”
Prior to signing Rodrigo in 2020, Janick’s label helped launch Eilish to superstardom while also nurturing the careers of Lana Del Rey, Summer Walker and boygenius. Armed with an "artist-friendly ethos," Janick is known for taking his time developing each artist, thinking in terms of three-, five- and 10-year plans.
“Signing Billie when she was 14, there was the conversation of, ‘She’s 14 years old. We have to take our time,’” Janick explained to the Journal. “And talking to her mother, and being, like, ‘We’re not going to rush this. We want her to figure out what she wants to do musically. And what the visual piece of it is. Tour properly. And build it brick by brick.’ People look at it, and are, like, ‘Wow, that broke.' But that was a three-year process.”
Janick has worked in the music business for almost two decades. He founded Fueled by Ramen in 1996, teaming with the independent distribution arm of Warner Music Group in 2008. Sales of pop-punk and emo acts like Panic! at the Disco and Paramore skyrocketed. Janick then led Elektra Records, collaborating with artists like Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars. In 2012, Jimmy Iovine tapped him as president of Interscope. Two years later, he succeeded Iovine as CEO.
Typically, Janick has something to celebrate; Rodrigo’s latest album, GUTS, became her second #1, surpassing first-week numbers for SOUR. Released on 9/8, it's enjoyed three major hits so far: the chart-topping “vampire,” “bad idea right?” and “get him back."
Part of Janick's success seems to stem from his personal inclinations. As he told the Wall Street Journal, "It wasn’t, ‘Oh, this is going to be a good business.’ It was more, I just loved things that were youth culture."
