Chicago-based R&B singer-songwriter Ann Marie, known for her hit “Secret” with YK Osiris, has signed with Interscope Records, the company announced exclusively to Variety today.
“Ann Marie is the prototype for today’s artist,” says Nicole Wyskoarko, the label’s EVP of urban operations. “She’s developed and cultivated a dedicated fan base using the tools of today while understanding the pace and quality of product needed to succeed in the modern music landscape.”
Pictured above, left to right, are: John Janick (CEO, Interscope Records), Caroline Diaz (Senior Director A&R, Interscope Records) , Ann Marie, Mikkey Halsted (Manager, The City Group Entertainment), Wyskoarko, Joie Manda (EVP, Interscope Records).
Ann Marie was discovered by rapper and co-founder of City Entertainment Group Mikkey Halsted in 2017 after he met her at a G Herbo concert in Chicago. Halsted says she had “star written all over her,” prompting him to sign her to his management company.
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“Management was just the best fit for Ann and me, because I wanted to be as hands-on as possible and knew she’d be huge really fast,” Halsted says.
Interscope senior director of A&R Caroline “Baroline” Diaz, who also signed DaBaby, made contact early. “She’s a rare combination of singer/songwriter that speaks for a generation and whose sound is already resonating beyond her Chicago roots,” she says.
Ann Marie meshes ‘90s and 2000s-era R&B with contemporary sounds, in a way consistent with Ella Mai, and H.E.R., and she’s been lauded by the hip-hop and R&B press as well as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone. Originally from Englewood, a neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, she has released several projects since 2017, including a self-titled release that included her single “In My Feelings,” followed by the mixtapes “Unfuckwitable,” “Tripolar” and most recently “Tripolar 2.”
“I’m really excited to be joining the Interscope family, they love and are supportive of everything that I’ve built so far on my own,” Ann Marie says. “I’m just ready to go even harder and keep putting out amazing music.”