Key Songs in the Life of… Joe Hadley

MBW’s Key Songs In The Life Of… is a series in which we ask influential music industry figures about the tracks that have – so far – defined their journey and their existence. This time out, Spotify‘s Global Head of Music Partnerships & Audience, Joe Hadley picks the platters that matter (most to him), including one from Stevie’s Songs In The Key Of Life, which is nice. The Key Songs In The Life Of… series is supported by Sony Music Publishing.

Spotify’s Global Head of Music Partnerships & Audience, Joe Hadley, has taken the sanity-preserving step of laying down some tramlines for his Key Songs choices.

He explains: “I focused on songs that guided me the most throughout my upbringing, the songs which, in many ways, made me who I am – but also songs that, if I heard them today, I would still have a strong reaction. I’m a huge music fan and have always championed both superstars and emerging artists with less traditional sounds. I’m proud to say my team at Spotify shares that passion.”

While at the Windish agency (2011-2016), Hadley worked with a roster that included, among others, GoldLink, Ne-Yo and Jamilah Woods  – artists he describes as “very much left-of-center, but with a strong touring business”.

His big move came in 2016, when he joined CAA, where he eventually rose to the position of Global Co-Head of Hip-Hop & R&B, working  with clients including Beyoncé, A$AP Rocky, Jorja Smith, and Tems, among others.

Another step up, this time accompanied by a swerve into a new lane, came three years ago when Hadley joined Spotify where he is now Global Head of Music Partnerships & Audience.

He is responsible for all Global and North American partnership functions, including defining Spotify’s partnerships with the music industry and its strategy for targeting audiences and genres.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2025, he says his main goals are “helping more and more artists build and monetize their audiences”. Looking back, all the way back to 1997, he talks us through a musical journey that stars with a hip-hop legend, ends with one of the greatest artists of all time – and still finds room for NSYNC…

1) Missy Elliott, The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) (1997)

Missy Elliott was my first concert. It was actually a radio show that she was headlining and I just remember being so excited to go and see her live – and sure enough it was amazing.

My dad took me and my mom insisted I dress up. She made me put on dress shoes and slacks. I was so embarrassed, but it was a great time.

You can’t talk about this track without talking about the music video, which really stood out and still stands the test of time. The big black bubble outfit with the black glasses, and the Jeep with Timbaland, that was a really impactful moment for me, and something that I still think about pretty frequently.  Shameless plug: the music video is live on platform in about 97 markets.

Missy Elliott isn’t just a pivotal artist in hip-hop, but across pop culture in general. Even now, she’s headlining festivals, she’s selling out arenas; she’s a really incredible creative voice, and someone who I think will continue to influence generations to come.

2) Lauryn Hill, Tell Him (1998)

I’ve listened to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at different points in my life – as a child, in college, and now as an adult – and each time, it resonated with me in a new way, reflecting where I was on my journey.

It’s also one of my favorite albums of all time, so picking just one song was particularly difficult. In fact, if I was really pushed, I’d say it’s my number one album of all time. I actually have a Lauryn Hill tattoo, so there’s some long-term commitment there.

As a kid, you just knew the hits, right, you knew what was on the radio. Then, when I was in college, I saw myself as the victim in those songs, I was the protagonist.

And then as I got older, I was like, ‘Oh, I think I might have actually been the bad guy in these stories’… [laughs]. That was an interesting revelation for me!

3) Yann Tiersen, Amelie soundtrack (2001)

I have a deep love for composers and film scores and in this case I didn’t pick one song, I picked the entire soundtrack from Amelie, scored by Yann Tiersen.

I remember watching that movie when it came out and it was the first time that I realized how a score could impact my perception and enjoyment of a film; that was a really big moment.

There’s a scene where Amelie, the main character, is walking a blind man down the street. She’s describing to him what she sees and what’s happening around them. The song playing during that particular scene is La Noyee, and it just elevates the whole sequence so much.

It’s also just such a great quirky film that I watch at least once a year. Last year, for Valentine’s Day, my partner and I went to see it at an old theater downtown, which was really special.

4) Jay-Z, Song Cry (2001)

This is from The Blueprint. It was really hard for me to narrow it down to just one Jay-Z track.

There was a more modern one, God Did [2022, with DJ Khaled] that I almost went with because it shows how long he’s been doing it at that unbelievable level.

But Song Cry, it’s another one from my formative years, about a relationship that goes south. It’s his reflections on his own wrongdoing, what could have been done differently, all in a very raw and honest way.

If you think about that era of rap, the kind of vulnerability that he displays on this track really stood out to me.

Blueprint is probably still my favorite Jay-Z album. For me, it’s a Top 5 album of all time, from any genre. There are not only classic producers of that era on there, like Timbaland, but there were also a whole lot of producers who were just starting to come through that Jay introduced to the world on this record. It’s a landmark album.

5) NSYNC, Tearin’ Up My Heart (1997)

Pretty hard pivot here. Their self-titled album was the first cassette I ever owned. I asked my parents, my dad specifically, to buy it for me. And I still remember the look of disappointment on his face.

In our house I grew up listening to Mint Condition, New Edition, Slick Rick, Doug E Fresh, Rick James, Cameo. If you ask my dad what he’s into, his answer is always, ‘Anything I can dance to.’

He’s a real music lover, but most of all he loves a good beat. When I was in High School and I used to put on music that had a great beat but maybe questionable lyrics [laughs], my dad and I would be vibing. And then my mom would walk in, like, ‘Are you listening to what these people are saying?!’ – and my dad hadn’t even noticed, or didn’t really care, because it was a good beat!

With NSYNC, to be honest, I had a crush on someone, and I was trying to get into her head. It always comes back to that, right? ‘Do you like NSYNC too? I had no idea!’ [laughs].

But you know what, I still know all the tracks on that album. I stand by it.

6) Jai Paul, Jasmine (Demo) (2012)

There was this massive groundswell around this underground artist, and at the same time there wasn’t a ton of information.

And then he was sampled by Drake and a few others, and it turned into this cultural phenomenon.

This was at the height of the mixtape era. So, Jai Paul’s album got leaked [a number of tracks that were to be on an album called Bait Ones found their way onto Bandcamp in 2013 and were treated by the media and fans as pretty much a self-contained album, making it onto plenty of end-of-year best-of lists] and around the same time, Frank Ocean put out Nostalgia, Ultra, The Weeknd had the House of Balloons mixtape.

These were debut projects from what would be some of the biggest and most influential artists of our generation – all coming out within a month of each other in 2011. It was clear that the sound of R&B – and music in general – was about to change. While it came out a year later, I put Jasmine in the same category of influence.

That album, and then the subsequent project that got leaked is still a seminal project for me. I was at Coachella when we all found out that it had leaked. We rushed home and played it, because there were these huge levels of anticipation – and it did not disappoint.

I’ve always loved music that pushes the boundaries of what’s expected and considered acceptable.

7) Frank Ocean, Pyramids (2012)

This just stopped me in my tracks. I was working at the Windish agency at the time, and we represented Frank back then.

I remember first hearing Pyramids, and we were all just like, ‘What is this? Who is this person? How did this happen?’

Again, he had the mix tape I mentioned, Nostalgia Ultra, that had come out before, but that was a lot of coverslot covers, or him singing over other tracks, so we hadn’t heard too much of his own music or original production.

And so when you heard Pyramids, it was an introduction as to what to expect from someone who was about to become an iconic and prolific artist.

8) Stevie Wonder, As (1976)

If we go back to my love for film, there’s a movie that’s pretty significant in Black culture called The Best Man, which I think everyone should see.

It’s one of those films that I watched many times in my formative years, and there’s this pretty risqué scene during which this Stevie Wonder track is playing in the background. It actually gets stuck on repeat and kind of breaks up the moment.

So I first knew it from there. Then I rediscovered it, probably about 10 years ago, when I started working at CAA. I was on Stevie Wonder’s team there, so I fell in love with the song again.

Then fast forward to about three years ago, when my son was born, and this is the song that was playing as he came into the world. So, as you can imagine, it’s a really special one for me.

And Stevie’s such an incredible individual. I value every second I spent with him. My first ever time hanging with Stevie Wonder, we were in the Waldorf Astoria in New York; he was playing the piano, just riffing. We just sat there and listened to Stevie play piano and talk about music. It was an absolute privilege and an amazing evening.

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