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About Joel Little

Joel Little is a New Zealand record producer and songwriter, and a co-founder of Big Fan, a not-for-profit music space in Morningside, Auckland, with three recording studios and a live venue for emerging artists. It is run through the Big Fan Charitable Trust.

Little co-wrote and produced Lorde's debut EP The Love Club and album Pure Heroine, and shared the Song of the Year award with her for Royals at the 2014 Grammy Awards. He has since written or produced for Taylor Swift, Khalid, Imagine Dragons, Broods, Tove Lo and Sam Smith. He started out as singer and guitarist of the Auckland band Goodnight Nurse and set up his Golden Age studio in Morningside in 2011.

On Diaspora NZ with David Booth, he and early Trade Me engineer Rowan Simpson compared writing hit songs with building startups.

In conversation.

1 episode

Go straight to the good bits.

Key moments from S3 | E3 - Joel Little (Grammy-winning producer) on making Royals with Lorde, creative collaboration, and why startups are like hit songs.

  1. 1:19Meet Joel Little: Grammy-winning Kiwi producer behind Royals, Taylor Swift, Khalid, and more
  2. 3:07What does a producer actually do? Joel breaks down his creative process
  3. 10:22The making of Royals: how a song recorded in two days became a global hit
  4. 15:58Life after Royals: the path to Grammy-winning producer
  5. 19:08Working with global superstars: Imagine Dragons, Khalid, Taylor Swift
  6. 22:04How Joel avoided the classic rockstar pitfalls (and stayed authentically Kiwi)
  7. 23:12Why Kiwi humility is both Joel’s secret weapon and greatest challenge
  8. 28:00Early days at Trade Me - Rowan shares his journey from scrappy startup to Kiwi tech icon
  9. 30:16What Joel looks for in creative collaborators—and how startups can learn from his approach
  10. 42:12Selling his catalogue: Joel’s version of a startup “exit”

In their own words.

“You can't fake something actually being good. As soon as you play a song to anybody else, they're going to know straight away.”
Joel Little — S3 | E3 - Joel Little (Grammy-winning producer) on making Royals with Lorde, creative collaboration, and why startups are like hit songsDiaspora NZ with David Booth · 21 March 2025

The path so far.

  1. Now

    Music Producer & Co-founder · Big Fan

  2. Until 2010

    Singer/guitarist · Goodnight Nurse

  3. From 2013

    Producer & co-writer · Lorde (production/songwriting)

  4. From 2014

    Producer · Broods (production)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org, billboard.com

Big Fan on Day One

Big Fan is a not-for-profit music space in Morningside, Auckland, with three recording studios and a live music venue under one roof.

1 person · 1 episode
Big Fan

Across the network.

Spot something wrong? Suggest a correctionUpdated 28 October 2026

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