In the days leading up to February’s Grammy Awards, Canadian music producer Cirkut was not focused on the seven nominations he was up for.
Rather, there was a more pressing concern for the musician who spent several years living in Halifax during his teenage years..
Musician Lady Gaga — whose 2025 album Mayhem was co-produced by Cirkut — had a request. She’d asked him to play bass for a live Grammy performance of her hit song Abracadabra.
It had been about a decade and a half since Cirkut, born Henry Walter, had played a live show. In the late 2000s, he was the DJ in an electro rap group called Let’s Go To War. The experience taught him he preferred making music behind the scenes and didn’t want to be a performer and tour.
But for this Gaga gig, he’d be playing synthesizer bass — and he was nervous.
“I got more comfortable with it leading up to it as I was rehearsing my part and I knew what I was doing and it got to the point where I was just so comfortable with it,” said Walter. “I just got to have fun with it and just be up there and enjoy the moment.”
For Walter, there have been a lot of moments to enjoy in 2026.
In January, he won the Songwriter-Producer of the Year award at the NMPA x Billboard Grammy Week Songwriter Awards.
At February’s Grammys, he won two awards in the categories of Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and Best Dance Pop Recording for Gaga’s Abracadabra.
Last weekend, he won the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year at the Junos.
“I celebrate it and I appreciate it and enjoy the moment, but then I just get back-to-back to work and try to just think about the reason why I do this … I love making music and I love collaborating with people and working with amazing talented artists,” he said in an interview before heading to a recording studio in Los Angeles.
Walter’s a sought-after music producer and songwriter who’s had a hand in some of the biggest songs of the past decade and a half, including Katy Perry’s Roar, Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball and The Weeknd’s Starboy.
But in the early 2000s, Walter was a teenager attending Armbrae Academy and later St. Patrick’s High School in Halifax trying to find his musical footing. He credits the experiences he had in Halifax and the musicians he interacted with here as important for his musical development. Walter’s father still lives in the province.
Walter said he was unable to attend the Junos because he had commitments planned even before the nomination was announced and he felt badly about not being there.
“To be recognized by my fellow Canadians and peers there, it means a lot,” he said.
This year is shaping up to be another busy one for Walter. While he prefers not to name the artists he’s working with until their projects have been released, there’s a FIFA World Cup album he’s involved with.
The song Lighter just came out. It’s a collaboration between artists from the soccer tournament’s three host nations: Cirkut (Canada), Jelly Roll (United States) and Carín León (Mexico). There will be other songs released by other artists that Walter helped make.
Asked which artists he hasn’t worked with but would like to, Walter said he doesn’t have a bucket list, but he mentioned British singer-songwriter Raye and Beyoncé.
As well, he’d like to work with an up-and-coming “next talent.” Walter said finding the artist could come from word of mouth or them sending him material.
“I love working with established stars and all the biggest, you know, artists that everyone loves, but I think it’s also interesting to see what’s next and to find that and nurture it and develop it,” he said.
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