Amy Allen Named Songwriter of the Year by ASCAP; Laufey Wins Top Award

Amy Allen picked up ASCAP‘s top honor in the pop field Thursday night, as the woman responsible for co-writing Sabrina Carpenter’s top hits and other smashes was awarded with the songwriter of the year trophy at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Hollywood.

Allen earned the trophy on the strength of Carpenter hits like “Manchild,” “Tears” and “Bed Chem” as well as Rose and Bruno Mars’ “APT.”

“We don’t have to worry about AI because of people like Amy Allen,” said Jimmy Jam (pictured above with Allen), introducing her to the stage at the Chaplin Studios event.

Laufey was given a special honor, the ASCAP Creative Voice Award, as part of the evening, presented to her by Suki Waterhouse.

“I’m looking around and I’m seeing the word ‘pop’,” Laufey said, “and I loved pop music growing up, and I always knew that there was a way for me to find my space in pop music. I grew up loving classical, loving jazz, knowing that was the pop music of its time. And I had this dream to make it the pop music of now, of this decade, and I really feel that has happened — and especially tonight, I’m really feeling it.”

Song of the year was awarded to “Die With a Smile,” the blockbuster duet between Mars and Lady Gaga, which had James Fauntleroy as its ASCAP-affiliated co-writer. On the Billboard Hot 100, the song spent five weeks at No. 1 as part of a 60-week chart run. It was published by Warner Chappell.

Sony Music Publishing was named ASCAP’s pop music publisher of the year. The publisher’s hits during the time frame included Alex Warren’s “Ordinary,” Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need,” Kehlani’s “Folded” and Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.”

Other winners included EJAE (“Golden”), Jack Antonoff (“Manchild,” “Luther,” “Squabble Up,” “TV Off”), Cirkut (“Abracadabra,” “APT.”), Justin Bieber (“Daisies,” “Yukon”), Max Martin (“The Fate of Ophelia,” “Dancing in the Flames,” “Opalite,” “Twilight Zone”), Myles Smith (“Nice to Meet You”), Ashley Gorley (“Love Somebody”), Audrey Hobert (“That’s So True”), Daniel Nigro (“Pink Pony Club”), David Guetta (“Forever Young”), Dijon “Mustard” McFarlane (“TV Off”) and Timbaland (“Sticky”). 

A full list of ASCAP winners can be found here.