Skylar Grey, Songwriter for Rihanna, Eminem and Diddy, Sold Her Entire Song Catalog to Pay for Divorce
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/WireImage Skylar Grey
Skylar Grey's co-written hits including Eminem and Rihanna's "Love the Way You Lie," Diddy's "Coming Home," and Zedd and Foxes' "Clarity," but she no longer reaps financial royalties for the songs, which have collectively sold millions of copies.
In a new interview with Variety, Grey — who's largely retreated from the public eye since releasing her 2016 Natural Causes album — revealed she hit "rock bottom" over the past half-decade, endured a harsh divorce from Todd Mandel, and was forced to sell her entire music catalog in order to pay for it.
"This past year, 2021, we finally resolved [the divorce], settled, I had to sell my catalog in order to afford the settlement, which was very sad in a way, because those songs like 'Love The Way You Lie' and 'Coming Home,' those are my babies," Grey, 36, told the outlet.
"But at the same time, nobody can tell me I didn't write those songs just 'cause I don't own the rights to them anymore," she continued. "I didn't want to sell them, but it was my only way to put the past behind me…"
Rather than artists like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen's recent catalog sales for hundreds of millions of dollars, Grey told Variety she wasn't ready to sell the rights to her recorded and published music.
"I wanted to keep building it and growing it," she said. "But, I have such a weight off of me now with the case being over, I'm not on the phone with lawyers every day, and I'm not having to pay all these legal bills anymore."
"Now I'm just focused on creating a new catalog and new money and new opportunities," added the musician, who released her self-titled fourth studio album in April.
While Grey's songs remain important to her, she claimed her feelings toward them are "different now."
"Every time one of those songs get used in a movie or whatever, I don't see any of that money anymore. But unfortunately, the majority of what I got paid for my catalog went to taxes and my ex-husband," said Grey, who's now engaged to fellow songwriter Elliott Taylor.
Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock Skylar Grey and Elliott Taylor
"It's like your life's work, and then suddenly it's like, 'OK, I've got to give the majority of this away,'" Grey explained. "But that was my only option. Luckily, I had the option of doing something like that, otherwise I may not have gotten out of the case."
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Also contributing to Grey's "rock bottom" over the past few years was getting dropped by her manager as well as longtime record label Interscope — for very different reasons.
While she considers the split with Interscope "amicable," she likens her manager's exit to a plot point from Netflix's jeen-yuhs documentary about Kanye West, where record executives wouldn't take him seriously as an artist due to his success as a producer.
"I feel like that's kind of how I'm seen in the music industry, but as a songwriter," Grey detailed. "So I think with a lot of managers, they see me that way too. So they focus on wanting me to write songs for other people, that's where I've made most of my money, so it makes sense. But, at the same time, I want a manager who believes in me as an artist, because being an artist is my real dream."
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With the release of her new Skylar Grey album and beyond, the singer-songwriter now feels like she's starting over – and fully in control. "I'm going back in time and building this totally fan-driven foundation where I'm super in touch with my fans now — in a way I've never been before," she said.
"It's been really eye-opening, and a big confidence booster for me, which is something that I needed as an artist," added Grey.
