We released the album at the end of September, and surprise surprise, it shot right up like the others always did. Sure, there were the few stupid headlines I’d been worried about, likeRyan Goes Emoor the meme that went around about her having such a hard life as a multimillionaire. But the professional critiques were good.Rolling Stonecompared the mature depth of her voice to Adele,Hollywood Reportsaid the album was a brilliant study in emotional control, how music can drag you through all five stages of grief even if you haven’t lived it yourself.
She kept on gliding. It was a good year for her—Album of the Year nomination, People’s Choice Award, Kids’ Choice. The video for “Ropes,” another very avant-garde Serge production, won Best Pop at the VMAs. I always sort of got the creeps from it, that sci-fi cinematography and all the CGI of the ropes snaking around Ryan while she walks through an abandoned research facility until she’s completely bound and emerges as someEx Machinasort of cyborg. But visually, it was very cool.
I remember standing onstage with her at People’s Choice and looking out into that crowd, and thinking,How much longer can we sustain this momentum?
Where does she go from here, you know?
When you work with artists, you’re always looking out for the peak. No one ever wants to reach that summit because of what’s on the other side. But you will, someday. Like I said, even making one album is a miracle, and no one can do it indefinitely. You’ll keep going until circumstances force you to stop, sure, but what do you do when someone newer and shinier comes along? How do you forever produce new and original and groundbreaking stuff? You don’t. We all have expiration dates, and that’s just the natural cycle of things. People’s attention spans grow shorter every day.
I looked out into that vast darkness of the auditorium, and then I looked to my left, at Ryan, and I wondered if she felt the same thing.
And just for a moment there, she turned and looked back at me. And I knew she was thinking it too. I knew.
She smiled and nodded at me like we should set it aside and just enjoy this win. Because yeah, it was a good year for her. A really good one.
I didn’t know it would be one of our last.
Hollywood ReportMagazine, February 2018
[The article is inset with a photo of Ryan on the red carpet in a long midnight-blue and gold gown, holding a gramophone trophy.]
Following a marathon award season sprint that saw her taking home People’s Choice, Kids’ Choice, and Best Pop awards among many other nominations and recognitions, Ryan Holding cinched a final win with Best Pop Vocal Album at this year’s Grammy Awards in January. The star’s dualistic tour de force,Waterfall, has been described as Holding’s best work to date and comes with its own complement of gripping music videos directed by auteur Serge Chirkov and Holding herself.
With the win, Holding becomes the first female artist to earn the Best Visual Effects award and the first artist of any gender and genre to hold a Grammy for Favorite Country Album and Favorite Pop Album.
The wins come on the heels of a record-breaking world tour that has moved the needle of Holding’s wealth into the billionaire strata.
The only question now is: What’s next?
“Something big,” she toldHollywood Reportwith a smile Saturday evening. “The best is yet to come.”
Here’s looking forward to this pop sensation outdoing herself!
Twenty-One
Serge
In April of 2018, we began principal photography for “Hear Me Now.”
That was the first time Ryan was listed with me as director on IMDb. I may have held the title, but that project was Ryan’s vision, through and through.
Jasmine
It was interesting. Everything surrounding “Hear Me Now” was ... interesting.
Do I really believe the video has clues about Ryan’s final public appearances and whereabouts, like everyone online says it does?
No. I do not. That is not to say that the composition and filming process of “Hear Me Now” wasn’t unusual, though. Sure, Ryan had a very visual mind; when she was writing songs, she often had some idea in her head of the imagery she wanted to evoke, even the style of music video we might eventually create with Serge.I want it to sound like an old Hollywood jazz lounge feels,she’d say, orWhat melody would you play if you were standing on a cliff contemplating your life, Jas?
She made me laugh with those big questions. But they did get the results she wanted.
“Hear Me Now,” though—I mean, Skip and I knew she had a music-video idea before we knew she was even composing the song. We went on the Hamilton trip, and I remember asking him, “What is this for?”
And he shrugged and said, “Hell if I know. She’s never been this cryptic.”
Ryan started writing the song with the line,I’ve been here singing my heart out / Can you hear me now? / Will you hear me now?
And part of me knew, by the depth of her voice and the way she closed her eyes when she sang it. I said, “Is that the one for the video?”
