James โJHartโ Abrahart was honored at the 2017 SESAC Pop Awards last week for his smash with Justin Bieber “Company”.ย
โCompanyโ
Written by James โJHartโ Abrahart
Published by Jayded Ink Publishing, Universal Tunes
Recorded by Justin Bieber
What does it mean to be honored here today?
It’s unreal. It’s what I’ve always wanted. It’s amazing.
You had a really big hit with Justin Bieber called “Company” and you worked with him on a couple of tracks in the past. Can you speak about collaborating with him?
He is one of those people who, when you write a song and you do a demo for a song, sometimes you don’t know what it’s gonna be when you get it back … if the artist is going to translate it and make it their own or just copy what you did, in a sense. And he’s one of those people who always makes it his own and delivers a completely originally performance, which is a thing, as a songwriter, what you want from an artist. Someone who will take your vision and make it their own thing and present it in a new way.
And you also had another great song with Martin Garrix and Usher. Can you speak about that record?
Yeah, I grew up in Atlanta so Usher was my hero. And I did this song for Martin, he loved it and originally I wanted to stay on it. I wanted to sing it, ’cause I sung the demo and then he when he said Usher wants to do it, I was like there’s no way, I gotta swallow my pride, it’s too good.ย Huge fan. So it was amazing.
And what else do you have coming up?
So I hopefully will be working with Keith Urban again, he just started working again. I’m working on Camila Cabello from Fifth Harmony …ย what she’s doing right now. I have the next Little Mix’s next single that’s coming out. They just shot the video for it. What else? Jason Derulo. Hopefully, more work with Bieber.
And you’re signed to Mike Caren?
I am, yes. He is a genius in every regard. And every time I get to sit down with him … I’ve known Mike for five years. I sent him an email just by chance and he responded to it, a little bit of luck, and it got me out to LA and has just been crafting and helping me hone in on my craft and he’s a genius. There’s a reason the man has number one hit after number one hit.
This is true. And do you have any other mentors?
I did an internship, but I think the people that I looked up to are probably the biggest mentors in a sense without actually mentoring me, because I was obsessed with Diane Warren, I was obsessed with David Foster, I was obsessed with Elton John. So those, I guess in a way, they all mentored me without actually mentoring me.
