Carla Marie Williams is a woman on more than just one mission. She is a prolific double Grammy award winning songwriter, who has written for some of the biggest artists in the world including Beyonce, Sean Paul, Craig David, Paloma Faith, Britney Spears and Naughty Boy, with a rare mastery of songwriting that continues to be her calling card.

Carla is going from strength to strength, co-writing and co-producing ‘Something about you’ for Rudimental and Elderbrook, as well as co-writing ‘Bad Love’ for Sean Paul and Ellie Goulding, ‘The Reason Why’ for JP Cooper and Stef LDN and ‘What you started’ by Mario.

She has seamlessly transitioned into A&R, producer/ vocal producer, working with some of the hottest names in music, with a growing discography nearing a hundred songs and records, including nine Top 10s.

Carla continues to grow and is at the height of her powers, in 2019 she joined the X Factor team as guest judge alongside Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, Naughty Boy, Leona Lewis and Ella Eyre. She also debuted as radio presenter, hosting the ‘Music Life’ series of podcasts on the BBC World Service, seeing her interview artists such as Ghetts and KOJO Funds.

Carla is undoubtedly the modern embodiment of an inspirational figurehead in the international music industry.

As the founder of Girls I Rate, Carla is also a respected visionary, changemaker and mentor, championing women in music and creative industries, with a focus on celebrating and elevating black females, she is now proud to have more than 5,000 members of the organisation.

Carla’s game-changing Music Week cover takeover this summer turned heads, with its open letter to the industry to remove obstacles for black women to progress, following on from the music industry’s #BlackOutTuesday stand against racism. She also has a PRS Foundation Keychange Ambassadorship under her belt.

From such heights, Carla’s beginnings were a little more humble, growing up in Harlesden, North West London. As a young girl she was raised on and influenced by dancehall sounds in her Jamaican household. Carla’s attention soon turned to the rich soul and R&B tones of Mary J Blige, as well as an obsession with Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, and Alanis Morrisette. She soon learned to transfigure her natural poetry talents into songwriting for herself and others too, and started to work tirelessly in the studio.

 “I’m a perfectionist,” says Carla. “I would write songs all day with my best friend on the guitar, writing and performing songs, but it wasn’t until I joined Xenomania that I really learned how to create great pop songs and productions!”

 Joining UK hit factory Xenomania in 2008 saw Carla work as an integral part of the team, co-writing a slew of Top 10 hits for artists such as Girls Aloud, The Saturdays, Alesha Dixon and many more. In less than two years, Carla had achieved six UK top 10s, an Ivor Novello nomination and BRIT Award success for her contribution to Girls Aloud’s ‘The Promise'.

 In 2014, Carla birthed her own writing and production team ‘NewCrowd’. The move gave Carla a platform to showcase both her writing and production skills, whilst finding some of the hottest up and coming talents for her own music and those of upcoming talents, as she branched out into A&R/scouting and mentoring roles. 

“I would invite people to my home studio daily to write and develop songs with me,” she adds. “I had my own vision to develop, promote and give opportunity to new talent. In a year you can write over 200 songs, and so I suddenly had all these tracks sitting on my laptop, including ‘Runnin….”

 The track ’Runnin’ was pivotal for Carla. Released by Naughty Boy and Beyonce, it was Carla’s defining moment and scored BRIT Award success, seeing Carla going on to write ‘Freedom’ featuring Kendrick Lamar on Beyonce’s internationally acclaimed album ‘Lemonade’, for which she won two Grammys. She also provided releases for US superstars like Britney Spears (‘Private Show’ & ‘What You Need’)

Carla’s journey with NewCrowd thus far has seen global collaborations with an astonishing array of talent including Rodney Jerkins, Mario, Wizkid, Dre Skull, Stephen McGregor, Justine Skye, Mabel, Jess Glynne, Raye Blk, Nao, Danja, Paloma Faith among many others.

Through 2016 to 2020, Carla founded ‘Girls I Rate’, a female movement that celebrates, inspires and champions women in the music and wider creative industries whilst pushing for positive change and equality for female creatives. Girls I Rate has partnered with organisations such as PRS, such as the PRS and Spotify bursary fund, Island Records/Universal Music, PRS Foundation and VEVO to deliver educational programmes for its GIR Academy of next generation young women, such as the Get Heard A&R masterclasses, Arts Academy Weekenders, social events throughout the year and most recently Mentor Me in partnership with Musicians Union and PPL, as well as the All My Girls UK Tour seeing her mentor over 300 girls and even GIR Radio. In 2018, Carla brought 100 women together to celebrate each other at her ‘Girls I Rate’ Dinner Gala event. She spearheaded an inspirational & informative arts academy songwriting weekender at IMRO in Dublin and was honoured at the Black Magic Awards, receiving a Grand honour in songwriting and activism for women. In 2018, Carla was recognised by Music Week and was inducted into the Women In Music Roll Of Honour. Thanks to Carla’s vision, passion and drive, Girls I Rate has become a small non-profit that punches way above its weight and is fast being recognised as one of the leading bodies helping to address the systemic inequality for women of colour within the industry.

  “I want to make a difference and help open doors for women, especially black women who like me have had to struggle with systemic racism in their careers. I also want to create new platforms for the next generation of women coming through, show their huge value and remove the barriers and give them the tools to navigate it.” says Carla, “These girls, I can hear their potential beyond what they can. You have to keep motivating them, but it’s hard for them at first. Once they trust my vision, we get there in the end”.

 Carla signed a worldwide deal with Reservoir Publishing in 2018 and has plans to continue travelling whilst songwriting and producing records across the US, Caribbean and Africa. In addition, she will use her A&R, songwriting and production skills to collaborate with emerging female talent bridging the gap between the UK and Caribbean diaspora. 

Carla curated a ‘Black women in music’ cover for Music Week this summer, it was her open letter to the music industry that stopped many in their tracks:

“When was the last time we had a black female CEO or president in the UK? Never! How many black women are senior A&R’s, heads of labels, owners of labels, priority artists? Now sit back and think, is this our forever?...I’ve seen a sea of black tiles being posted across the industry from many organisations, labels, publishers, CEOs and presidents and thought, ‘Are you just posting to be seen to be doing the right thing? What will you change in your establishment? What change will you hold your company accountable for? And when will that change be implemented?’.“

With more new songs and plans for 2021, more collaborations, new Girls I Rate initiatives and partnerships, Carla shows no signs of slowing down.

 Regardless of gender, race, background, sexuality or any other intersectional factor, Carla’s ethos never gets old:

“Anything is possible.”