Max Martin | Who Is This Swedish Hitmaker Behind Pop's Biggest Songs?

We all have heard Max Martin's genius work. He has written, co-written and produced many of pop's best selling songs. You may be like many who don't know that some of the quintessential mega-hit songs performed by Britney Spears, N'SYNC, Back Street Boys, Celine Dion, Bon Jovi, Adam Lambert (Whataya Want From Me), Jesse J, Kelly Clarkson, Robyn, Pink, Katy Perry, Usher, Ke$ha, Leona Lewis, Taio Cruz and many others all have one person in common with their success, Martin Karl Sandburg, known professionally by his name, Max Martin.

Martin took home the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Songwriter of the Year award at the 29th annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards ceremony, April 18,2012. For the fifth time in his career, Martin once again shows us his impressive ability to write songs that people love to hear, over and over again. Ten of the most played pop songs of 2011 have Martin behind the magic, including:

Blow/Keisha, What the Hell/Arvil Lavigne, Till the World Ends/Britney Spears, Hold It Against Me/Britney Spears, I Wanna Go/Britney Spears, Raise Your Glass/Pink, F**kin Perfect/Pink, ET/Katy Perry, Teenage Dream/Katy Perry, Last Friday Night T.G.I.F./Katy Perry.

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Martin has been pumping out some of our favorite club songs since the mid- nineties. He had his own band, It's Alive, playing glam-metal during the late-eighties/early nineties. The band was signed to Cheiron Records, an affiliate of BMG, by Denniz PoP. While their second album didn't make the sales they expected, PoP saw Martin's talent for songwriting and brought him into the studio to start learning the basics of producing music. Leaving It's Alive in 1995, he started collaborating with PoP. They both worked on the second album by Ace of Base, Bridges, which has sold more than six million copies worldwide.

It's easy to say that since those early days of working with Denniz PoP, the road was paved, by hard work, for Max Martin to rise to the top with his songwriting skills, and his ability to know the magic formula to make a song a hit. In the mid 90's they were working with the Back Street Boys, who made it big in Europe before returning to the United States with some of their biggest hits, including, I Want It That Way. Denniz PoP died of cancer in 1998 and Martin took over as head of Cheiron Studios and started working with the writer/producer, Rami Yacoub.

Let's take a look at some of his work since 1998-99, which were big years for him, working with the Back Street Boys and Britney Spears. As Simon Cowell has said, "If you've got Max Martin as your writer, you have a better chance of having a worldwide hit than with anyone else." So, turn up the speakers or grab your headphones and listen to all that's going on in these songs. (If the videos don't play in your country, I have included different video links of the same songs in the comment section. )

• released Oct. 1998
• written by Max Martin, originally for TLC, who rejected it, then presented to Back Street Boys, who also said, nay
• a song about breaking up with someone and regretting the decision
• Spears most successful single, it entered the US charts at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100
• won 1999 Teen Choice Awards Single of the Year
• MTV Europe Music Awards Best Song
• sold over 26 million copies worldwide- one of the best-selling singles of all time

• released April, 1999
• co-written by Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson, co-produced by Max Martin and Kristian Lundin
• hit #1 in 25 countries
• set a record for most weeks at #1 on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream
• #10 on MTV/Rolling Stone List of 100 Greatest Pop Songs of All Time in 2000
• the album Millennium, on which it appears, sold over 1.1 million copies it's debut week.
• Martin co-wrote and co-produced 7 out of 12 songs on Millennium which has sold over 12,168,000 albums

Martin started up a new production company in Jan. of 2001 with his partner Tom Talomaa. Cheiron Studios was closed and a new beginning was necessary to continue expanding and experimenting with new sounds. The production company, Maratone, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. The artists come to him. He spends time with the artists, getting a feel for what they're like, what music they listen to, in order to capture the chemistry needed to make it their song. Martin has stated; "I want the input because that makes the chemistry of the song." Every song should get people moving, anyone, every kind of person, the woman at the cash register, the truck driver, the couple on the dance floor. It's impossible not to move when you hear his music!

Maratone is a team of talented professional, award- winning songwriters and producers including Martin, Shellback (Moves Like Jagger/Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera) and Alexandra. There are two studios fully equipped with state of the art tools necessary to produce hit making songs. I have included a link to Maratone in the Reference section below which includes a complete listing of all production equipment used in the studios.

• released Dec. 2004
  
• written and produced by Max Martin and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald
  
• a song about feeling alive again after a failed relationship
  
• EuroPop funk beat hit #1 for 2 weeks
  
• remained in the top 10 for 20 weeks in the US
  
• Clarkson won a GRAMMY Award in 2006 for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
  
• Clarkson's biggest hit
  

• released Aug. 2008
• written by Max Martin, Pink, Shellback; produced by Martin
• Pink's first #1 in US
• reached #1 in 25 countries
• #1 Adult Top 40 & Hot Dance Airplay in US
• 4X Platinum worldwide selling over 8,500,00 digital downloads/singles
  

• released June 2010
• written by Max Martin, Shellback, Kotecha, Pitbull; produced by Martin, Shellback
• synthpop, europop club song; 120 beats per minute/metronome (highly danceable!)
• reached Top Ten on 19 charts worldwide
• one of Usher's most successful singles
• #4 Billboard Hot 10

Rani Hancock of RCA Records said, "He has an amazing sense of lyric and melody and he always comes up with these brilliant lyric concepts that are not only hits, but are very identifiable."

Louis Walsh is quoted as saying, "his songs are worldwide pop monsters". And they are. Few people realize how much of today's pop music is written and produced by this Swedish hitmaker. We identify this music with the artists who perform it so well, but behind these mega hits is a genius who wants every part of the song perfect.

"I'm excited to be co-executive producing with Max Martin, the person who kind of invented Britney..." Dr. Luke

Listen with a new ear if this is your first introduction to Max Martin, the pop music hitmaker. Turn up the speakers to get full effect! Personally I like to listen with a great set of headphones to hear 'everything.' The production is so clean. Pure pop bliss.

Max Martin fans, thanks for reading!

Q & A With Max Martin

Pop Music Is Always About Now Interview

TIME Europe- Top of the Pops

Maratone.se (including Martin discography)

Cheiron Songwriters Forum (www.swedishsongs.de)

Dr. Luke: The Billboard Cover Story

Britney Spears Interview- Making My First Album (includes Max Martin) This is a great (old) interview series with Spears which includes Martin discussing the making of her first album.

Shellback/Martin Article - Swedish Magazine 'Studio' - English Translation

All of these songs were written/ co-written by Martin. All were produced/ co-produced by Martin. Complete discography can be found at the Maratone link which I have included above in the Reference section. Four of her biggest hits have debuted on the charts at #1. Three of them have Martin's distinctive signature, (asterisks*). This makes Britney Spears the second artist in a 52 year history of having multiple debuts at the #1 spot!

1. ...Baby One More Time- 1999 *
   
2. (you drive me) Crazy- 1999
3. I Will Be There- 1999
4. Stronger- 1999
5. OOPS- I Did It Again- 2000
6. Can't Make You Love Me- 2000
7. Don't Go Knocking On My Door- 2000
8. Lucky- 2000
9. Where Are You Now- 2000
10. Bombastic Love- 2001
11. Overprotected- 2001
12. Cinderella- 2001
13. I'm A Girl, Not Yet A Woman- 2001
14. If U Seek Amy- 2008
15. 3- 2009 *
    
16. Hold It Against Me- 2011*
17. Till The World Ends- 2011
18. Inside Out- 2011
19. I Wanna Go- 2011
20. Criminal- 2011
21. Up n' Down- 2011
22. Seal It With A Kiss- 2011