Conversations with Carly Robyn Green

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carly Robyn Green.

Hi Carly, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It’s been an exciting journey from performing as a weekend opening act at the Tropicana in Atlantic City and singing the National Anthem at Knicks and Sixers games as a young Philadelphia recording artist to landing a new musical on the West End in London as an artist, international songwriter, and musical theatre lyricist signed to BMG.

After working closely with legends Gamble & Huff (“Money Money Money,” “Me & Mrs. Jones”) under their iconic Universal banner, Philadelphia International Records, I moved across the country from Philadelphia to LA and began writing with many top pop producers.

My music garnered hundreds of TV placements and theme songs on over 175 TV shows, including 30 ROCK, YOUNG & THE RESTLESS, HUNG, DEGRASSI, and BEAUTY & THE BEAST, and I started getting feature songs in films like AMERICAN GIRL: MCKENNA SHOOTS FOR THE STARS, HOUSE BUNNY, and WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER.

I signed with BMG, and soon, multi-platinum artists all over the world were covering my songs, including XIA, KARA, MIN HAI, f(X), TWICE, and HARUMI. Kpop group KARA recorded my song “N.E.V.E.R.L.A.N.D.” for their record “Girl’s Story,” Min Hai recorded “You and Me” as her breakout solo Kpop single, Sandra N. released “Tu Esti Norocul” in Romania, and Japanese legend Anri covered my song “Ready to Love” for a feature in SCANDAL. 80’s rock band Vixen released my song “Red,” co-written with Fred Coury from Cinderella, and HARUMI released my song “Dare Me,” co-written with former Eve 6 member Tony Fagenson and Grammy winner Masa Takumi. Kpop star XIA also covered my song “My Christmas Wish,” which was a big Kpop Christmas hit.

While writing for TV and international artists, I also started collaborating with songwriters who’d written classic songs I adored, like David Wolfert (Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand), Allan Rich & Jud Friedman (The Bodyguard soundtrack) and Frank Wildhorn (known for writing my favorite Broadway shows Jekyll & Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel.) We wrote my solo record, and I began performing with my band at esteemed venues like the El Rey, the Saban Theatre, and Herb Alpert’s Vibrato in LA, and BB King’s and Feinstein’s 54 Below in NYC.

Around this time, Wildhorn invited me and my co-lyricist, Tracy Miller, to collaborate on a new musical based on the Japanese manga Your Lie in April, and I immediately fell in love with the story. Though I’d only written music for television, film, and artists in the past, I agreed, and a beautiful new career as a musical theatre lyricist began. Our musicals are now opening to sold-out audiences worldwide, and this April 2024, my show YOUR LIE IN APRIL premieres as a concert on the West End in London.

My path is still being carved… but it’s been a beautiful, musical ride with twists and turns that have taken me all over the world and back again!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest struggle for me was being pigeonholed at an early point in my career.

When I first moved to LA, producers immediately put me in the “Britney” bubblegum pop box based on my looks and my age at the time. I collaborated with some major producers who’d worked with Madonna and U2 at the most iconic studios across LA, writing and recording electropop songs that garnered a lot of TV attention on hit shows like DANCE MOMS, KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS, THE REAL L WORD, and THE REAL WORLD. It was a fun ride, but this music felt inauthentic to who I was as an artist. No one ever asked what I wanted to sing – what I wanted to write.

I’d grown up listening to classic artists like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, and Aretha Franklin… Their music inspired me to become a singer in the first place.

So when I sang back-up for Cee Lo Green at the Grammy Awards a few years later, I told Mr. Green that I had admired him for relentlessly staying true to who he was as an artist, even if it took decades to gain recognition for his authentic artistry. He said to me very simply, “You gotta do what you love!”

It was that moment when I pivoted from writing and recording of-the-moment pop hits to the enduring ballads and classic soft rock jazz that I’d always loved. I focused my career on writing music that lasts.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a musical theatre lyricist, my show YOUR LIE IN APRIL, based on the beloved Japanese Kodansha manga, sold out its world premiere run in Tokyo in May 2022. Audiences lined up blocks from the Nissay Theatre to get tickets, and it was an exciting moment in my career to see my first musical theatre piece hit a major Broadway-class stage. The world premiere starred Jpop artist Erika Ikuta, and the original cast released a Japanese cast album.

Wildhorn, Miller and I are now adapting the show for worldwide audiences, as YOUR LIE IN APRIL premieres as a concert on the West End in April 2024, directed by West End director Nick Winston, with a book by acclaimed playwright Rinne B. Groff. The show debuts in Seoul in June 2024 and returns to Tokyo in 2025.

Our show NO LONGER HUMAN, an adaptation of Osamu Dazai’s semi-autobiographical novel, made its world premiere in Shanghai in December 2021 and has been continuing to tour China for the past few years to sold-out audiences. With direction by Ney Hasegawa, this avant-garde piece won several awards at the 2023 Beijing Tianqiao Musical Awards ceremony this past fall, and international licenses are in the works.

We have many other shows in the pipeline as well, including: MAC & BETH, a Macbeth adaptation for Korea; HOUDINI, with Broadway director Gordon Greenberg and Viennese playwright Thomas Kahry; LOST BOY, with Rinne B. Groff and Kpop star XIA; KUNG FU MASTERS: BRUCE LEE & IP MAN, with screenwriter Haofeng Xu; and FIRENZE 1504: LEONARDO VS. MICHELANGELO, with Broadway director Chris Gattelli. Our specialty, as a team, is adapting classic IP into musical theatre pieces for global audiences and markets.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I’m represented by BMG, so all of my collaborations go through my publishers. But still, I enjoy meeting music producers and theatre creatives around the world! Any song license requests, commissions, or project requests can be submitted via my website, http://www.carlyrobyngreen.com, and they will reach the appropriate channels.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.carlyrobyngreen.com
• Instagram:  http://www.instagram.com/carlyrobyngreen
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarlyRobynGreen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/CarlyRobynGreen
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CarlyRobynGreen
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/CarlyRobynGreen
• SoundCloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/carly-robyn-green

Image Credits
Main photo: Gary Reisman