N o one has ever produced albums by both the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney in the same year before, and those were just a couple of the highlights of Andrew Watt ‘s last 12 months. Watt, who’s become music’s leading legend-whisperer, also continued his partnership with Lady Gaga on several new songs, worked on two tracks on Madonna ‘s Confessions II , and produced Brandi Carlile’s Returning to Myself . His work with Michael Stipe on the soundtrack song “I Played the Fool’ led to an ongoing collaboration on Stipe’s upcoming solo album.

Watt talked about all of it and more in the latest episode of The Rolling Stone Studio . You can watch the whole conversation above, or read a lightly edited text version below.

Tell me about “Danceteria,” the song you-co-produced with Madonna, and the remix with Charli XCX.

That song, in general, was just an amazing process to make. Talking with Madonna and hanging out with her, she has probably the coolest life of anyone.…