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Richard Wright Nowels Jr., better known as Rick Nowels, is an American Grammy award-winning songwriter and producer. He is affiliated with many artists such as Sia, Madonna, Dido and Lana Del Rey. Nowels has been a major collaborator with Del Rey on Born to Die, Paradise, Ultraviolence, Honeymoon, Lust for Life, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Chemtrails Over The Country Club, and Blue Banisters as well as on various unreleased songs, soundtrack songs and cover songs.

Work with Lana Del Rey[]

Rick Nowels met Del Rey in 2010, in L.A. when she didn't have a record deal yet.[1] While she was travelling back and forth between L.A., New York and London in the process of writing and working with different producers on songs for Born to Die, her debut record. The first song they wrote together was "TV in Black & White",[2] the second was "Summertime Sadness",[1] and while they were recording that song, they wrote "Dark Paradise" in-between takes.[3] They worked again on the follow-up EP Paradise this time around as a lead producer of three tracks; "American", "Cola" and "Body Electric".

"Young and Beautiful", a track scrapped from the Paradise recording sessions would become the theme song for Baz Luhrman's 2013 film adaptation of the novel The Great Gatsby. Nowels and Del Rey wrote several tracks that would eventually become part of Del Rey's album Ultraviolence, including singles "West Coast" and "Shades of Cool". Another scrapped track, this time around from the Ultraviolence recording sessions ("I Can Fly") was reworked to be featured on the Tim Burton's 2014 film Big Eyes.

Honeymoon was the record in which Nowels took the role of executive and only producer of the whole album, along engineer Kieron Menzies. Same role they would reprise on follow-up Lust For Life, recluting Dean Reid on the production team.

About working creatively with Nowels, Del Rey stated "Every day in the studio with him and Kieron [Menzies] is a good day. It's truly my peaceful place and, in a way, my home. I'm so grateful for all of the beautiful ways he dances around my melodies and all of the new melodies that spring from the muse that dance between us".[4][dead link]

Credits[]

Songs from Born to Die (2012)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Dark Paradise" Yes Yes
"Summertime Sadness" Yes Yes Additional Strings
"Lucky Ones" Yes Yes[a] Keyboards

Songs from Paradise (2012)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"American" Yes Yes Keyboards, Synth [Matrix 1000]
"Cola" Yes Yes Acoustic Guitar, Drums, Keyboards, Bass [Juno Bass]
"Body Electric" Yes Yes Piano, Mellotron, Strings

Songs from The Great Gatsby: Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film (2013)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Magic Tree and I Let Myself Go" Yes No
"Young and Beautiful" Yes Yes Piano, Orchestron
"Young and Beautiful"
(DH Orchestral Version)
Yes No

Songs from Ultraviolence (2014)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Shades of Cool" Yes No
"West Coast" Yes No
"Sad Girl" Yes Yes[b] Piano, Mellotron, Strings
"Black Beauty" Yes Yes Piano
"Guns and Roses" Yes Yes Keyboards
"Is This Happiness" Yes Yes Piano
"West Coast"
(Radio Mix)
Yes Yes Chamberlin, Mellotron, Guitar (Mexican Guitar), Bass Guitar

Songs from Big Eyes: Music from the Original Motion Picture (2014)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"I Can Fly" Yes Yes Piano, Bass, Keyboards

Songs from Honeymoon (2015)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Honeymoon" Yes Yes Piano, Bass, Guitar, Organ, Mellotron, Synth [Synth Pad]
"Music to Watch Boys To" Yes Yes Piano, Synth, Synth [Pads], Electric Guitar
"Terrence Loves You" Yes Yes Piano, Synth
"God Knows I Tried" Yes Yes Electric Guitar, Organ, Synth [Pads], Electric Piano, Mellotron
"High By the Beach" Yes Yes Organ, Synth, Keyboards
"Freak" Yes Yes Electric Guitar, Synth [Pads], Bass
"Art Deco" Yes Yes Synth [Pads], Mellotron, Bass
"Burnt Norton (Interlude)" No Yes
"Religion" Yes Yes Guitar [Mellotron Guitar], Synth, Synth [Pads], Bass
"Salvatore" Yes Yes Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Mellotron, Strings, Synth [Pads], Bass, Percussion
"The Blackest Day" Yes Yes Organ, Synth [Pads]
"24" Yes Yes Electric Piano [Rhodes], Mellotron, Piano, Synth, Synth [Pads], Bass
"Swan Song" Yes Yes Organ, Bass, Horns, Synth [Pads]
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" No Yes Mellotron, Celesta [Celeste], Organ [Vox Organ], Electric Guitar, Bass

Songs from Lust for Life (2017)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Love" Yes Yes Bass, Keyboards, Vibraphone, Mellotron
"Lust for Life" Yes Yes Piano, Mellotron, Synth [Synth Pads]
"13 Beaches" Yes Yes Piano, Strings, Synth [Synth Pads]
"Cherry" No Yes
"White Mustang" Yes Yes Piano, Synthesizer, Mellotron
"Summer Bummer"
(feat. A$AP Rocky & Playboi Carti)
No Yes[c] Synthesizer
"Groupie Love"
(feat. A$AP Rocky)
Yes Yes Piano, Vibraphone, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Synth [Synth Pads]
"In My Feelings" Yes Yes Piano, Keyboards, Mellotron [Mellotron Strings]
"Coachella - Woodstock in My Mind" Yes Yes Celesta [Celeste], Mellotron [Mellotron Organ], Synthesizer
"God Bless America - and All the Beautiful Women in It" Yes Yes Acoustic Guitar, Synth [Synth Pads], Piano, Mellotron [Mellotron Flute], Drum Machine [808 Bass]
"When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing" Yes Yes Acoustic Guitar
"Beautiful People Beautiful Problems" (feat. Stevie Nicks) Yes Yes Piano, Organ, Mellotron [Mellotron Flute], Strings [Solina], Synth [Synth Bass]
"Tomorrow Never Came" (feat. Sean Ono Lennon) Yes Yes Acoustic Guitar, Organ, Mellotron [Mellotron Bass]
"Heroin" Yes Yes Electric Piano, Mellotron [Mellotron Choir], Organ
"Change" Yes Yes Piano, Mellotron, Celesta [Celeste], Bass
"Get Free" Yes Yes Organ, Keyboards, Bass, Synth [Synth Pads]

Songs from Unmasked: The Platinum Collection by Andrew Lloyd Webber (2018)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"You Must Love Me" No Yes Piano

Songs from Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"The Next Best American Record" Yes Yes Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards
"Bartender" Yes Yes Piano
"Happiness Is a Butterfly" Yes Yes

Songs from Chemtrails Over the Country Club (2021)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Yosemite" Yes Yes Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Bass

Songs from Blue Banisters (2021)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Cherry Blossom" Yes Yes Piano.

Covers (2013)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Summer Wine"
(feat. Barrie James O'Neill)
No Yes

Stand-alone singles (2023)[]

Title Credited as Instrumentation
Writer Producer
"Say Yes to Heaven" Yes Yes Electric Guitar, Hammond Organ

Songs currently unreleased[]

Title Credited as[d] Alternate title(s)
Writer Producer
"Angels Forever, Forever Angels" Yes Yes "Angels Forever"
"Forever Angels"
"AFFA"
"Crazy for You" No Yes
"Cult Leader"[S 1] No Yes
"Dragonslayer" No Yes "Dragon Slayer"
"Fine China" Yes Yes[c]
"Hollywood" No Yes
"If I Die Young" No Yes "On & On & On"
"Going On & On"
"JFK" No Yes
"Lake Placid" No Yes "Black Leather Moonlight"
"Tonight"
"I Don't Wanna Go (Demo)"
"Roses Bloom for You" No Yes
"Serene Queen" No Yes
"Starry Eyed" No Yes
"TV in Black & White" Yes Yes "Living Without You"
"Your Girl" Yes Yes

Demos[]

Title Credited as[d] Alternate title(s)
Writer Producer
"Black Beauty" Yes Yes
"Dark Paradise" Yes Yes
"Freak" Yes Yes "Freak Like Me"
"God Knows I Tried" Yes Yes "God Knows"
"Lucky Ones" Yes Yes
"Lust for Life"
(Demo version 1)
Yes Yes
"13 Beaches" Yes Yes "Something Real"
"Summertime Sadness" Yes Yes
"West Coast" Yes Yes
"Young and Beautiful" Yes Yes "Young and Beautiful" (Paradise Version)

Notes[]

  1. signifies a producer and vocal producer
  2. signifies a vocal producer
  3. 3.0 3.1 signifies an additional producer
  4. 4.0 4.1 official credits have not been released

Production team[]

Songwriting[]

Production[]

Musicians[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 ricknowels (March 14, 2021). "In 2011 I met Lana Del Rey. She was not yet signed to a record contract. We wrote together for 3 days. The second song we wrote was “Summertime Sadness”. It was the beginning of a very creative and deep collaboration on many beautiful songs. From her historic debut album “Born to Die”. Which to date has spent over 300 weeks on the @billboard Album Chart @billboardcharts A record that has only been matched by Carole King “Tapestry” and Adele “21.” “Summertime Sadness" Written by @lanadelrey and Rick Nowels Produced by @emilehaynie and Rick Nowels #cowrittenbyricknowels #summertimesadness #borntodie #lanadelrey #ricknowels". Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CMYhQs8Hm4H/. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  2. Kawashima, Dale (June 11, 2015). "Hit Writer/Producer Rick Nowels Talks About His Great Career, Working With Lana Del Rey, John Legend, Madonna and Santana". SongwriterUniverse. https://www.songwriteruniverse.com/rick-nowels-2015.htm. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  3. ricknowels (March 14, 2021). "Lana and I have always written very quickly. We were doing overdubs on "Summertime Sadness" and Lana got inspired for a new song. We stopped the overdubs and wrote "Dark Paradise." As soon as one song ended another began. This was the third song we wrote together. The night of the day we wrote "Summertime Sadness". "Dark Paradise" Written by @lanadelrey and Rick Nowels Produced by @emilehaynie and Rick Nowels From the album "Born to Die" #cowrittenbyricknowels #darkparadise #summertimesadness #borntodie #lanadelrey #ricknowels". Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CMYhxjPHySl/. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  4. Honeymoon. (@honeymoon). "Meet my dear friend and producer, Rick Nowels. Every day in the studio with him and Kieron is a good day. It's truly my peaceful place and in a way, my home. I'm so grateful for all of the beautiful ways he dances around my melodies, and all of the new melodies that spring from the muse that dances between us.". Instagram. Access date: March 24, 2021

Notes[]

  1. This is speculation and should not be relied upon. It has not been confirmed by any official source, but is considered widespread knowledge within the community.
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