From Justin Bieber to Ariana Grande.
Scooter Braun is one of the most powerful people in the music industry. After he discovered Justin Bieber in 2008 and helped the singer achieve worldwide fame, Braun went on to work stars like Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato through his management company, SB Projects, as well as his very own record label, Schoolboy Records. Although some of the artists he’s managed have since parted ways with him, many remain loyal to Braun.
Braun has an impressive roster of celebrities attached to his name, and he’s only continued adding clients to his company from all around the world. In recent years, Braun has also branched out by signing celebrities outside of music. So, who does Scooter Braun currently work with? Take a look at some of the biggest names in the SB Projects family below.
Braun became Bieber’s manager soon after discovering the singer’s videos on YouTube in 2008. In an October 2018 interview with Variety, Braun admitted their road to success wasn’t easy because he was about to “go broke.” He didn’t lose faith in himself and Braun eventually helped Bieber become one of the biggest stars in the world. The duo has become close friends over the years, and in 2019, Bieber sided with Braun amid his feud with Taylor Swift.
Braun first became Grande’s manager in 2013. At the time, the “Positions” singer starred in Nickelodeon’s Sam & Cat and had just released her debut studio album, Yours Truly. According to Us Weekly, after working together for years, Grande fired Braun in 2016 “over a misunderstanding,” but then patched things up just six months later.
Braun opened up about their rift in an October 2018 interview with Variety. “It allowed me to know that I can be fired — I had never been fired before,” he said, adding that the situation only made him into a better manager.
Lovato hired Braun as their manager in May 2019. According to Page Six, the star said in a since-deleted Instagram post that she “couldn’t be happier” to be working together. “Thank you for believing in me and for being a part of this new journey,” Lovato said about Braun at the time. In response, Braun called Lovato “a special person and a special talent,” and said he was “honored” to welcome her to SB Projects.
Since then, Lovato has stuck by Braun’s side throughout his feud with Taylor Swift. “I have dealt with bad people in the industry and Scooter is not one of them. He’s a good man,” Lovato wrote in a July 2019 Instagram Story after Swift accused Braun of “bullying” her for years.
After PSY’s 2012 single “Gangnam Style” went viral in the United States, Braun signed the K-pop singer to Schoolboy Records (which is part of SB Projects) and said they would “make some history together” by helping PSY become “the first Korean artist to break a big record in the United States.” Later that year, PSY’s “Gangnam Style” music video broke several Guinness World Records, including becoming the first video to be viewed more than 1 billion times on YouTube.
In April 2021, Braun took a step further into the K-pop scene by merging his company Ithaca Holdings with HYBE — the entertainment company behind major K-pop acts like BTS and TXT.
After years of appearing on singing competition shows and releasing music through her own record label, Toraay Records, Tori Kelly finally got her big break in 2015 when Braun became her manager and helped her sign to her first major record label: Capitol Records. In a June 2015 interview with Billboard, Braun said he once called Kelly “boring,” and in response, Kelly wrote her song “Unbreakable Smile,” which is all about not changing yourself to please anyone. “Tori is resilient,” Braun said.
In June 2019, J Balvin parted ways with his long-time manager Rebeca León and then signed with Braun. At the time, Braun told Billboard he was “very excited” to work with the Latin singer. “He is not only an incredible talent, but his work ethic and creativity are what has allowed him to be one of the top global acts in any language,” Braun said. “He loves his culture and his energy is contagious. We are excited for this new adventure together.”
In response to their new partnership, Balvin said he was “ready to make history.”
Country pop duo Dan + Shay is also signed to SB Projects. Since dropping their debut single, “19 You + Me,” in 2013, the group has gone on to release four studio albums — all of which have reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200. They’ve also come out with a number of hit singles, including their Grammy-winning track “10,000 Hours,” which features another major SB Projects star: Bieber.
A year after The Kid Laroi achieved his first Billboard Top 10 single with “Without You,” Variety reported in June 2021 Braun had added the Australian rapper to his music roster. Weeks after the news dropped, The Kid Laroi and Bieber released their hit collaboration “Stay.” The single debuted at No. 3 on the Hot 100 but went No. 1 later that summer, becoming The Kid Laroi’s first single to top the chart.
Although The Kid Laroi and Braun briefly went their separate ways in September 2021, they signed a new management agreement in May 2022.
In May 2019, Broadway star Idina Menzel announced she had signed with Braun by sharing a selfie with him on Twitter. “Revealing Time magazine’s June cover story... Idina Menzel joins forces with @scooterbraun & @SB_Projects for music management,” she captioned their photo together.
Braun was equally excited about their new partnership. He responded to Menzel’s tweet by calling her “an icon” and “welcoming” her to the SB Projects family.
The Black Eyed Peas — made up of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo — hired Braun as their group manager in July 2015. (He doesn’t handle the members’ individual careers, however.) In October 2019, the Black Eyed Peas teamed up with Balvin to release the song “Ritmo” as part of the Bad Boys for Life soundtrack.
While Braun was starting to manage Bieber, he also signed rapper Asher Roth. Since Braun was struggling financially at the beginning of his managing career, he told Variety in an October 2018 interview that he had Roth and his friends “living in a dump” because he couldn’t afford anything else. Just when Braun thought he had failed as a manager, he said Roth’s debut single, “I Love College,” turned things around for him. “I was able to get so much hype from that record that I cut a publishing deal that saved the company, and the commission saved me,” he said.
Quavo is one of Braun’s latest additions to SB Projects. The rapper, who is a part of the hip-hop group Migos, joined the management company in March 2021. According to Billboard, Braun agreed to manage Quavo alongside Migos’ group manager, Danny Zook.
In October 2014, K-pop star CL (who first gained fame as a member of the girl group 2NE1) signed with Braun in hopes of also making it big in the States. She finally made her U.S. debut in August 2016 with “Lifted.” The song debuted at No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100. The achievement made CL the first female Korean soloist to enter the chart and the third Korean artist to do so overall.
Hilary Duff joined the SB Projects family in August 2016. Before her name was officially added to the company’s website, Braun hinted he had signed the Younger star in an October 2015 interview with The Daily Beast by calling her one of his “clients.” That same year, Duff revealed to AOL that she had been working with “a new manager,” and although she had been putting her music career “on the back burner” because of acting, she hoped to release new material sometime soon.
In a January 2019 interview with Elle, model Ashley Graham revealed she was working with Braun in order to build a lifestyle brand. Braun expressed enthusiasm about making Graham’s dreams come true. He showered her with praise by saying, “Within two seconds of meeting her, I knew she was someone I would be friends with. Her energy is contagious. If Ashley were to walk in a room, she would give you a big hug and make you laugh."
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