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F i g. 1. 2 : Max Martin (left) and Denniz Pop (right) during an interview, 1995 269 Counterintuitively, Denniz' s limited musical experience allowed him to seamlessly blend the dance grooves of European clubs, hip-hop, and reggae with simplistic chord progressions, sticky melodies, and ear-catching lyrics fit for a teenage audience. “He called it the 'hit rake'... Three fingers and a keyboard. Any chord would do. And that's basically it... But you need a finely tuned... You need to have a great ear for music,” said Swedish musician E-Type, who frequently worked with Denniz, Martin, and other Cheiron writer-producers. 270 Methodical and undoubtedly manufactured, the creative process at Cheiron was equally intuitive and personality-driven. These two seemingly opposite qualities define much of Swedish pop songwriting and give it the unique ability to both attain 270 T h e L e g a c y o f D e n n i z P o p-D o c u m e n t a r y. 269 I n t e r v i e w w i t h D e n n i z P o p & M a x M a r t i n ( H o w T h e y S t a r t e d W o r k i n g w i t h A c e o f B a s e ). 66 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
commercial success and resonate with millions of listeners. Martin' s songs exemplify this dichotomy, feeling standardized and mathematically engineered for mass consumption while conjuring emotional responses that range from euphoria to melancholic nostalgia. Imagining the sound of Swedish pop or much of twenty-first-century American pop is impossible without Denniz and Cheiron. From style to workflow, Denniz provided a musical blueprint for Swedish writer-producers. He granted them invaluable access to American artists and labels and firmly established the Sweden-to-America song pipeline through networking and reputation. Where Denniz' s story ends, Martin' s begins though Denniz' s influence is felt across Martin' s songwriting and career. Making Connections Over the course of this chapter, I have traced key developments in the history of Swedish music from the nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century to outline how the modern Swedish music industry was built. The connections between Swedish writer-producers and American labels were formed because of the developments that transpired during this period, particularly at the height of globalization and the reform of Swedish media. Many of the events explained in the five sections of this chapter support one or multiple of the seven theses proposed by Ola Johansson in Songs Fr om Sweden: Shaping Pop Cultur e in a Globalized Music Industry and summarized in the Introduction of this thesis. 67 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
First, the shift from rural folk music communities to commercialized national and international music industries, caused by the advent and spread of radio and TV, revolutionized the distribution of Swedish music both within Sweden and globally ( The Globalization Thesis ). Swedish musical success abroad, specifically ABBA and Cheiron, was made possible by globalization and contributed to the recognition of Swedish talent (ABBA more explicitly than Cheiron) in the international music scene. Other Swedish musicians followed suit by exporting their work, as performers or songwriters or both, to large music markets like the United States and the United Kingdom. Martin has expressed his gratitude for ABBA and Denniz. Those who work independently of a direct mentor are equally indebted to the legacy of ABBA, Denniz, Martin, and other internationally successful Swedish acts, who have equated Swedish music with pop excellence ( The Role Model Thesis ). Music education and the opportunities presented by government-funded municipal music schools and grants meant that Swedish musicians, particularly those with professional goals like Martin, could reasonably engage in musical activity free of financial burden ( The Governmental and Institutional Support Thesis ). These programs, coupled with the small population in Sweden and its clustered musical communities, made it easier for musicians and other creatives to interact and network ( The Industrial Cluster Thesis ). Localized networks, such as municipal music schools, Stockholm, and Cheiron, demonstrate their importance repeatedly, as many of the writer-producers mentioned in this thesis are friends and collaborators who use their relationships to find work on a global scale. 68 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Starting with local resources in a concentrated music scene like Stockholm, Swedish writer-producers often expanded their reach to neighboring Scandinavian countries, followed by Europe and America. ABBA is a prime example: the group was formed by four Swedish musicians who had had national success before cultivating an audience at the national Melodifestivalen, international Eurovision, and finally, the world. Ace of Base mirrored them, and when Denniz began producing, he captured the Scandinavian market with Swedish acts, followed by Europe and the U. S. with Ace of Base and his work for American labels ( The Small Market Thesis ). Swedish writer-producers pursuing U. S. chart success must physically extend themselves to America, taking frequent trips to hubs like Los Angeles and New York City to sell their “product” (a studio session resulting in a song). Sweden has always accepted that, as a small country with an endemic language, its ability to thrive economically depends on its willingness to adopt global trends and English ( The Early Adopter Thesis ). Fluency in English is one of their most important assets; however, skills in technology and a curiosity for other musical genres are equally essential when writing music for a global audience ( The English Pr oficiency Thesis ). Because my thesis focuses on Martin, who grew up in Stenhamra and found his start in central Stockholm, the events in this chapter explain how the writer-producer and his sound originated. The following two chapters break down a selection of songs that exemplify Martin' s sound. 69 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
70 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Chapter Two: Defining Max Martin... [Britney] Spears and Max Martin entered the studio and reshaped the next quarter-century of pop music, like a dam redirecting a river 's flow. “... Baby One More Time” is the dam, a structure crackling with energy. Like so many great pop songs, it taunts the listener by conflating the romantic and the religious: confession, belief, begging for a sign. The spiritual desperation, alongside Martin' s precise melodic techniques, is what makes a high school crush feel like life or death. Would-be stars and ambitious producers have been chasing that transgressive thrill for decades, but it's tough to top the original sin. —Jamieson Cox, Pitchfork 271 “... Baby One More Time,” released as Britney Spears' debut single in 1998, is foundational to Max Martin' s songwriting and career. As previously stated, the song was a tremendous global success, leading to both Martin' s and Spears' global breakthroughs. The template for Spears' public persona--an all-American girl meets worldly vixen--and her corresponding musical model is best conveyed in “... Baby One More Time. ” Without “... Baby,” there is no Max Martin and consequently no Britney Spears. Without Spears, the sound of twenty-first-century pop would not be the same as her legacy informs the genre and has influenced countless female artists who similarly define twenty-first-century pop. Many of these female artists have worked with Martin to develop their sound because of his success with “... Baby” and Spears, and their successes will be explored in the following chapter. My goal throughout this chapter is to illustrate how “... Baby” has influenced twenty-first-century pop and 271 “The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s,” Pitchfork, P i t c h f o r k, September 27, 2022, https://pitchfork. com/features/lists-and-guides/the-best-songs-of-the-1990s/. 71 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
pop songwriting, particularly as it relates to the dissemination of various “Swedish” musical traits and Martin' s songwriting characteristics from Sweden to the U. S. and globally. By incorporating what I consider to be Martin' s five essential songwriting characteristics (Melody-first, Melodic Math, simplicity and immediacy, collaboration, and vocal-oriented), “... Baby” embodies the Cheiron method and serves as a musical model that is repurposed throughout successive generations of songwriters and performers. Martin has spoken about these songwriting characteristics in various interviews, acknowledging them as part of his songwriting “toolbox. ” However, these songwriting characteristics are not Martin' s “inventions,” nor are they used exclusively by Martin. Rather, they are widely practiced methods of songwriting, particularly in pop, that are typical of Martin' s songwriting and popularized by the success of his songs. I will explain how Martin' s songwriting characteristics appear in “... Baby One More Time” and how these characteristics have influenced Martin' s music more broadly. Many of these characteristics are derived from musical practices in Sweden and were passed on to Martin and other Cheiron writer-producers by Denniz Pop. Considerable influence is also derived from global music trends and the cultural customs and social behaviors mentioned in the previous chapter that define musical society in Sweden. In connection with the following chapter, I argue that all or most of these characteristics are present in every Martin song and are highly associated with his widespread sound. 72 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Melody-first The hook for “... Baby One More Time” struck Martin one night as he fell asleep. Written in 1997, Martin haphazardly recorded the chorus melody on a dictaphone between sudden bursts of inspiration. He came up with a melody, getting out of bed to record it. Then, back in bed, he came up with another. And then another. There were no lyrics, only melodies formed using vowel sounds. Before calling it a night, he landed on the phrase, “Hit me, baby, one more time. ” In the following weeks, Martin crafted the verse and bridge melodies and reworked his chorus in an alternative form. He decided he had written an R&B song and contacted Rami Yacoub, his protégé and frequent collaborator, to assist with the production. Together, they produced a demo performed by Martin, which they pitched to the American girl group TLC. Titled “Hit Me Baby (One More Time),” TLC vehemently opposed the song' s refrain, interpreting it as “an ode to domestic violence. ” 272 Years later, TLC member T-Boz recalled, “I was like, I like the song but do I think it's a hit? Do I think it's TLC? I'm not saying 'hit me baby. ' No disrespect to Britney. It's good for her. But was I going to say 'hit me baby one more time'? Hell no!” 273 Despite the group' s interpretation, “hit me, baby, one more time” was far from an allusion to domestic violence or sadomasochism. In fact, Martin had written the hook intending to adopt contemporary American lingo: “hit me” was short for “hit me 273 Cory Midgarden, “Why TLC Said 'Hell No' To Britney's '... Baby One More Time,'” MTV, October 17, 2013, https://www. mtv. com/news/oee6mv/tlc-britney-spears-baby-one-more-time. 272 Knowledge at Wharton Staff, “Behind the Music: How the Swedish Hit Factory Took Over Your Playlist,” Knowledge at Wharton, January 13, 2016, https://knowledge. wharton. upenn. edu/article/behind-the-music-why-a-few-guys-from-sweden-ow n-your-playlist/. 73 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
up” or “call me. ” 274 When Martin pitched the demo to Britney Spears a year later, he reworked it slightly, but the hook stayed. Spears' label, Jive Records, loved the song but was concerned the hook would be misinterpreted. At the suggestion of Barry Weiss, the former president of Jive, the original title “Hit Me Baby (One More Time)” was changed to “... Baby One More Time. ” However, the lyric, “hit me, baby, one more time,” stuck (see Appendix B for full lyrics). 275 The enormous success of “... Baby One More Time” in 1999, when it became the best-selling song of the year in the U. K. 276 and fifth in the U. S., 277 made it clear that the phrase was here to stay. Martin' s attempt to sound “American” might be considered a failure, but he had stumbled upon an unfor gettable catchphrase. Following the breakout success of “... Baby,” competing non-Swedish songwriters began vying to work with Spears, intentionally adopting Martin' s musical model. “Being in A&R, I had every songwriter in the world trying to submit songs for Britney. It's amazing how songwriters who never wrote like that before in their lives were suddenly writing things that sounded like they were Swedish,” observed Steve Lunt, the A&R executive at Jive who paired Martin with Spears. 278 “... Baby” illustrates Martin' s Melody-first approach by fitting 278 Andrew Unterberger, “Play It Again, Max: How the Piano Riff to Britney Spears' 'Baby One More Time' Became the Most Iconic Hook of Its Era,” B i l l b o a r d, October 23, 2018, https://www. billboard. com/music/features/britney-spears-baby-one-more-time-piano-hook-max-m artin-8480754/. 277 Melody Chiu, “Britney Spears Tops Rolling Stone's Greatest Debut Singles List with '... Baby One More Time,'” P e o p l e, May 19, 2020, https://people. com/music/britney-spears-tops-rolling-stone-greatest-debut-singles-list/. 276 Ash Percival and Connor Parker, “20 Years On, Here's 20 Facts About Britney Spears's '... Baby One More Time' You Definitely Didn't Know,” H u f f P o s t U K, October 23, 2018, https://www. huffingtonpost. co. uk/entry/britney-spears-baby-one-more-time-20th-anniversary-facts _uk_5bcdf22ce4b055bc94833432. 275 Jessica M. Goldstein, “'Britney Spears Wanted to Be a Star': An Oral History of '... Baby One More Time,'” E n t e r t a i n m e n t W e e k l y, October 23, 2018, https://ew. com/music/2018/10/23/baby-one-more-time-britney-spears-oral-history/. 274 Seabrook, “Blank Space. ” 74 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
words and syllables into a predetermined melody. Instead of writing lyrics first and setting them to music second or writing lyrics with poetic intention in the way a native English songwriter might, Martin built the lyrics around the melody and his initial catchphrase. Grammatically questionable and seemingly suggestive, the catchphrase acts as a hook that lures the listener and sticks with them long after the song ends. According to Michael Cragg, “including a 'juicy line' that sticks in the listener 's memory,” especially an idiosyncratic one, is typical of Martin' s songwriting. 279 A catchphrase and Martin' s Melody-first approach are also observable in Denniz Pop's work with Ace of Base (recall the hook “all that she wants is another baby”). Ace of Base member Ulf Ekber g argued that this Melody-first approach, and the inevitable hooks it creates, dates back to Schlager music which emphasizes melody over lyrics. 280 ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base, Denniz, and Martin, adapted Schlager music in their more deliberate pop-styled work. 281 Melodifestivalen, which regularly features entries from Swedish pop writer-producers, is sometimes referred to as “Schlagerfestivalen” because of the prominence of melodic pop on the show. 282 “ Schlager is very hooky and has strong melodies. Also Swedish is a very melodic language and it fits well with the 282 Ibid. 281 Ibid. 280 Saeed Saeed, “Ever since Abba: The Swedish Influence on Pop Music Is as Strong as Ever,” T h e N a t i o n a l, May 19, 2011, https://www. thenationalnews. com/arts-culture/music/ever-since-abba-the-swedish-influence-on-po p-music-is-as-strong-as-ever-1. 384965. 279 Michael Cragg, “'Britney Spears Is a Genius': Max Martin, the Powerhouse of Pure Pop,” T h e G u a r d i a n, October 25, 2019, https://www. theguardian. com/music/2019/oct/25/were-not-made-to-be-famous-max-martin-the-po werhouse-of-pure-pop. 75 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
tune and instrumentation of Schlager music,” said Ukber g in an interview with The National in 2011. 283 In the same interview, Ukber g explained what he determined to be a distinguishing factor in how Americans write lyrics versus Swedes: For Sweden [melody is] number one and has always been... While the Americans, it's the lyrics first, production second and melody last. I am not saying the lyrics are not important, but for us Swedes, for whom English is our second language, we just try to make it understood by a world audience. Because of this focus on lyrics, some of the American songs are complicated and can sometimes be not much fun. While for us, we always try to reach to [ sic ] as many people as we can, so we have feel-good melodies and simple lyrics so everyone can have fun. 284 Released half a year after “... Baby,” “I Want It That Way” by Backstreet Boys also uses the Melody-first approach. Martin and co-writer Andreas Carlsson wrote the lyrics to “I Want It That Way” to complement a pre-existing melody, resulting in verses that are vague in meaning: “Am I your fire / The one desire / Believe when I say / I want it that way / But we are two worlds apart / Can' t reach to your heart / When you say / That I want it that way. ” In the chorus, the boys declare they “ never wanna hear you [a love interest?] say, 'I want it that way,'” completely contradicting the preceding verse. The phrase “I want it that way,” which functions as a closing statement at the end of the chorus and is repeated nine times throughout the song, is devoid of any specific meaning. What exactly “it” refers to is equally unclear. Jive took issue with Martin and Carlsson' s lyrics and commissioned a rewrite by South African songwriter Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who changed the 284 Ibid. 283 Ibid. 76 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
main lyric to “I love it when I hear you say, 'I want it that way. '” 285 Backstreet Boys recorded this alternative version in January 1999 but ended up releasing the original Martin and Carlsson version because they felt it was more catchy and had a better rhythmic feel (the “Mutt” Lange version leaked on Napster and can be heard on You Tube but remains unreleased officially). 286 Backstreet Boys member Kevin Richardson admitted to LA W eekly in 2011, “Ultimately the song really doesn' t really make much sense... His [Martin' s] English has gotten much better, but at the time... There are a lot of songs out there like that don't make sense, but make you feel good when you sing along to them, and that's one of them. ” 287 “I Want It That Way” was a number-one hit in more than twenty-five countries and peaked at number six on the Billboar d Hot 100, later receiving three Grammy nominations, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Its success prompted other labels to request songs with “mysterious” lyrics, code for “Swedish. ” 288 The result of these “Swedish” affected lyrics are sounds that are simple and easy for a listener to understand and internalize, regardless of their native language. Furthermore, the simplified lyrics resonate perhaps most directly with their intended teenage audience but remain universal and, in some cases, vague enough to appeal to older listeners. Nana Hedin, the Swedish singer who sang backing vocals on “... Baby,” told The Guar dian, “I remember I thought the song 288 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 113. 287 Ben Westhoff, “What The Hell Is Backstreet Boys' 'I Want It That Way' About? UPDATE: Mind-Blowing Shit Has Come To Light,” L A W e e k l y, December 15, 2011, https://www. laweekly. com/what-the-hell-is-backstreet-boys-i-want-it-that-way-about-update-mind -blowing-shit-has-come-to-light/. 286 Ibid. 285 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 113. 77 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
[“... Baby One More Time”] was for teenagers but the production was filled with a grown-up attitude and sounds that I really liked. I was so impressed by how a guy like Max could write lyrics that got into the hearts and spoke to the teenage thinking. ” 289 Martin' s ability to tailor a song to the intended audience is one of his greatest strengths as a songwriter. It aligns with the practices of many Swedish musicians and writer-producers who deliberately cater to a global audience in sound, style, and language. Melodies prove more global in reach than lyrics, and when considering Top Forty radio, frequently listened to in the context of multitasking like commuting or shopping, more viable. “A pop banger doesn' t need to sound genius to be ingeniously constructed, but it's most effective, and financially lucrative, when it combines the elements that make it enjoyable across all demographics-the beat, the melody, the chorus almost scientifically calibrated to be unfor gettable,” wrote Josh O'Kane, a technology reporter for The Globe and Mail. 290 “... Baby” merges simple lyrics with a striking hook and carefully constructed melodies to appeal to a wide range of listener demographics. Melodic Math, explained below, increases the chance that these melodies stick with the listener. 290 O'Kane, “How Sweden Became a Dominant Force in Global Pop Music. ” 289 Michael Cragg, “'It Was a Bit of a Blur': Britney Spears on the Making of... Baby One More Time,” T h e G u a r d i a n, August 11, 2018, https://www. theguardian. com/music/2018/aug/11/britney-spears-making-baby-one-more-time. 78 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Melodic Math “Oh, baby, baby” are the first words Spears sings in “... Baby. ” This musical phrase can be represented as five eighth notes, all on the pitch C. Before the start of the first verse, this exact phrase has been sung twice. The phrase appears again at the start of the first verse: “ Oh, baby, baby / How was I supposed to know? / That something wasn' t right here / Oh, baby, baby / I shouldn' t have let you go / And now you're out of sight, yeah. ” When the chorus kicks in ten seconds later, it is sung again: “ My loneliness is killing me. ” Only the words have changed. Melodic Math is at work. Martin' s melodies are all about intention. Though Martin rejects the notion that his music is based on a formula, preferring the term “toolbox,” 291 it appears he uses a formula of some sort when composing and revising melodies for a song. Rami Yacoub clarified that Melodic Math is never the first step in the songwriting process but is a tool for critically evaluating and editing a melody that “doesn' t feel right. ” 292 As an extension of the Melody-first approach, Melodic Math is based on simplicity and repetition with enough variation to keep listeners engaged. Moderation is crucial, and melodies must strike a balance between being busy and sparse. There are more or less three basic rules of Melodic Math. One: If the verse is busy with lots of fast-paced melodies, then the chorus should be sparse with longer, legato passages, or vice versa. 293 Two: Corresponding sections, such as a first verse and second verse, or consecutive lines should have the same 293 Ballardie, “Denniz Pop. ” 292 George Garner, “The Aftershow: Rami Yacoub,” M u s i c W e e k, June 25, 2021, http://www. musicweek. com/interviews/read/the-aftershow-rami-yacoub/083597. 291 Johansson, S o n g s F r o m S w e d e n, 110. 79 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
number of syllables. 294 Third: Melodic phrases can be lifted from a verse to a chorus so that the chorus feels familiar. 295 ABBA used this last strategy on hits like “S. O. S. ” These three rules dictate the composition of “... Baby,” written in verse-chorus form with an additional variation on the chorus, called the b-chorus. Below are examples of each Melodic Math rule as it occurs in “... Baby. ” Rule One: Rhythmic and Melodic Balance During the verse, Martin primarily uses eighth note rhythms and the previously mentioned recurring “Oh, baby, baby” melodic motif (Figure 2. 1). In the next section, the pre-chorus, he places the rhythmic emphasis on quarter notes instead: “ Show me how you want it to be / Tell me, baby, 'cause I need to know now ” (Figure 2. 2). The quarter notes appear on the first two beats of each measure, the first of which is the downbeat or the strongest beat of the measure. When Martin reintroduces the eighth note, “Oh, baby, baby,” melodic motif on the words “My loneliness” at the start of the chorus, it is a welcome return to familiarity that manages to feel new. By separating the eighth note rhythms in the verse and chorus with quarter notes in the pre-chorus, Martin provides a necessary rhythmic and melodic balance that allows him to reintroduce familiar musical ideas without them feeling monotonous. 295 Ibid. 294 Ibid. 80 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
F i g. 2. 1 : “... Baby One More Time” verse fragment F i g. 2. 2 : “... Baby One More Time” pre-chorus Rule Two: Uniformity It should be noted that almost every pop song follows a pattern of melodic repetition and uniformity where corresponding sections or consecutive lines are identical. In “... Baby,” this shows up where expected. For example, each half of the verse is the same melodically and syllabically: part one, “Oh, baby, baby / How was I supposed to know? / That something wasn' t right here,” and part two, “Oh, baby, baby / I shouldn' t have let you go / And now you're out of sight, yeah. ” But Martin takes things one step further. During the chorus, he stretches phrases with unequal syllables to become the same. Take the consecutive phrases, “Give me a sign / Hit me, baby, one more time. ” The first phrase has four syllables, while the second has seven. Martin elongates the melody on the word “sign” to sound like “si-i-i-ign” and brings the four syllables to seven. 296 Now the two phrases match. 296 Ballardie, “Denniz Pop. ” 81 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Rule Three: Same Melody, Different Section As previously mentioned, the eighth note, “Oh, baby, baby,” melodic motif appears in the introduction, verse, and chorus of “... Baby. ” A casual listener might recognize the motif in the introduction and verse because the lyrics are the same; however, a more attuned ear is required to notice that this motif also opens the chorus. What anyone will realize, most likely subconsciously, is that the chorus is singable even on a first listen. Martin uses parts of the same melodies from the verse in the chorus so that by the time the chorus kicks in, the listener already knows what to expect, whether or not they realize it. He picked up this trick from “I Wanna Be Your Lover” by Prince, explaining to the Swedish newspaper Di W eekend that though the verse and chorus are the same in the song, the change in energy between the verse and chorus makes it so that the listener feels like they are hearing something different. 297 Martin uses the “Prince method” on numerous songs, including his 2011 hit with Katy Perry, “E. T.,” where the melody remains the same between the verse and chorus but the intensity of the vocal performance, the lyrics, and the production changes. The bridge in “... Baby,” which comes after two repetitions of the verse, pre-chorus, and chorus, reuses melodic and lyrical fragments from the verses to form a “new” section with a noticeably softer vocal performance and lush, quasi-classical texture in the instrumental. The bridge leads into another “new” section, a reworking of the chorus, called the b-chorus (Figure 2. 3). This b-chorus, a signature Martin and 297 Jamie Milton, “The World's Biggest Songwriter Has Revealed the Secrets to Penning a Hit,” N M E, February 28, 2017, https://www. nme. com/blogs/nme-blogs/max-martin-interview-perfect-pop-song-1996673.. 82 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Yacoub technique, rearranges melodies and lyrics from the original chorus (Figure 2. 4). F i g. 2. 3 : “... Baby One More Time” b-chorus F i g. 2. 4 : “... Baby One More Time” original chorus At the end of the song, the original chorus and b-chorus overlap in counterpoint (Figure 2. 5). Popular since the Renaissance, counterpoint is the superimposition of two or more harmonically related but melodically and 83 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
rhythmically complementing or contrasting musical lines. 298 Before the original chorus and b-chorus overlap, the listener has heard the original chorus four times and the b-chorus once. When combined, the standard chorus and b-chorus form a final “new” section that effectively serves as the musical climax. This climax, though based on repeated material, feels momentous nonetheless. F i g. 2. 5 : “... Baby One More Time” chorus and b-chorus in counterpoint Martin told Di W eekend, “If you listen to the first, second and third chorus of a song, they don't sound the same. It's the same melody and all that but what really happens is that the energy changes. It's all about getting the listener to keep 298 Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding, S w i t c h e d o n P o p : H o w P o p u l a r M u s i c W o r k s & W h y I t M a t t e r s, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2020), 114. 84 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
his or her concentration. ” 299 “... Baby” continuously builds to its explosive finale, layering the vocals of Spears, singer Nana Hedin, and Martin himself to create a larger-than-life chorus. There are nods to the Swedish choir tradition and the Western classical music Martin was exposed to as a pupil at Södra Latin. ABBA also used vocal layering to create massive musical moments. Yacoub' s description of the b-chorus to Music Radar reveals its significance in creating texture and melodic and rhythmic variation: Yeah, we called it the B-chorus! The chorus would come back and then the B-chorus would play under the chorus in harmony.... You have to write another chorus that sounds amazing by itself. But then it has to fit perfectly under the other chorus, and you kind of have to use the same words but less busy. If the original chorus is staccato then the B-chorus has long notes[. ] 300 The three chorus variations in “... Baby,” all based on the next, ensure memorability. Maximalism and tension building are Martin' s specialties, and “... Baby” is a prime example. Chart analyst and pop critic Chris Molanphy explained, “The way the song is structured, how the chorus goes to this chorus of voices — the song is structured to deliver maximum pleasure. ” 301 Subsequent songs Martin and Yacoub produced for Spears, including the singles “Oops!... I Did It Again,” “Lucky,” and “Stronger” (which references “... Baby” with the updated line “My loneliness ain' t killing me no more”) employ the b-chorus and counterpoint strategy and the precision of Melodic Math in a nearly identical manner. 301 Goldstein, “'Britney Spears Wanted to Be a Star. '” 300 Griffiths, “Pop Super-Producer Rami Yacoub. ” 299 Milton, “The World's Biggest Songwriter Has Revealed the Secrets to Penning a Hit. ” 85 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Simplicity and Immediacy As much as Martin' s melodies are about intention, they are about immediacy. Immediacy increases memorability, and for a song to burrow into the memory of the average listener, its melodies must be immediate. A 2014 study performed by music blogger Paul Lamere revealed that nearly a quarter of all songs on Spotify get skipped within their first five seconds. 302 After that, the odds of a song being played all the way through are slightly less than fifty percent. 303 With the popularity of Tik Tok and other short-form media platforms impacting attention spans and influencing popular music, hit songs are becoming noticeably shorter. 304 Four decades earlier, Denniz Pop, still a DJ in Stockholm, predicted this trend. “You know he had this philosophy because he came from the DJ world, and to keep people on the floor when you change the song, you couldn' t be like, 'What' s this?'... He liked playing songs where they knew exactly what it was just from the very start. So that came from that, so it needed to be some kind of ID thing in the beginning,” explained Martin during his Polar Prize masterclass. 305 The “ID thing” Martin references is, like the “Oh, baby, baby” motif, an identifying musical trait that introduces a song and immediately distinguishes it. 305 P o l a r M u s i c M a x M a r t i n M a s t e r c l a s s I n t e r v i e w, 2016, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=Fc16Y1g KUDc. 304 Anita Singh, “Hit Songs Getting Shorter Because of Tik Tok Generation's Attention Span,” T h e T e l e g r a p h, February 7, 2022, https://www. telegraph. co. uk/news/2022/02/07/hit-songs-getting-shorter-tiktok-generations-attentio n-span/. 303 Lamere, “The Skip. ” 302 Paul Lamere, “The Skip,” M u s i c M a c h i n e r y (blog), May 2, 2014, https://musicmachinery. com/2014/05/02/the-skip/. 86 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Denniz' s rule was that the listener should recognize the song in just one second. 306 “Keep 'em on the [dance] floor,” as Martin described it. 307 Martin extends this rule to two or three seconds, but the principle remains: the hook must be front and center. There also cannot be only one hook. Jay Brown, the co-founder of Roc Nation, told John Seabrook, “It's not enough to have one hook anymore.... You've got to have a hook in the intro, a hook in the pre, a hook in the chorus, and a hook in the bridge, too. ” 308 Immediately before the “Oh, baby, baby” vocal motif in the introduction, a syncopated three-note piano riff, simply a B flat followed by two Cs, opens “... Baby. ” Best translated into onomatopoeia as “dun-dun-dun,” this riff is unmistakable. “As soon as you hear those notes, you know what song it is... I can't think of another song like that,” said Steve Lunt to Billboar d. 309 The riff is played three times in the ten-second introduction alone and punctuates the end of each verse, pre-chorus, and chorus, so by the time the song ends, it is equally as compelling as the vocal melody. 310 Martin and Yacoub enhanced the riff using “more distortion,” though Yacoub attested that it was “rock solid, so we never touched it or strayed away from the blueprint. ” 311 Aside from its simplicity and catchiness, the riff is also distinctive in the way it subverts expectations. Kristin Yost, a piano expert and the Executive Director for the Centre for Music Minds, explained, “The rising movement of the 311 Ibid. 310 Ibid. 309 Unterberger, “Play It Again, Max. ” 308 Nathaniel Rich, “The Elaborate Charade to Obfuscate Who Writes Pop Music,” T h e A t l a n t i c, September 14, 2015, https://www. theatlantic. com/magazine/archive/2015/10/hit-charade/403192/. 307 P o l a r M u s i c M a x M a r t i n M a s t e r c l a s s I n t e r v i e w. 306 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 117. 87 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
three-note hook starts a full step below the key the song is written in, which in itself is unique — you don't expect it... Combine this with the syncopated rhythm and punchy accents, and you get what I would call a power move. 'Pay attention to me!'” 312 She added, “The riff is like the bold accessory to an otherwise sharp-looking, all-black outfit; similar to say red, uniquely shaped glasses... The outfit is good on its own, but add a pop of something special — and simple — and all of a sudden the whole outfit stands out. ” 313 This “accessory” is a quintessential component of Martin' s Cheiron songwriting style, and it is also evident in his later work. Clear examples from across his catalog include Backstreet Boys' “We've Got It Goin' On,” P!nk' s “So What,” and The Weeknd' s “Blinding Lights. ” Each of these songs begins with an instrumental theme or motif that repeats throughout the song and informs the vocal melody in some way. Often the vocalist will sing this instrumental motif repeatedly using lyrics or non-lexical vocables like “na na na. ” The motif, therefore, becomes an essential part of the melody and the song, more than an “accessory. ” In the case of these three examples, the verse or chorus melody that makes up most of the song is a direct reiteration of the motif using lyrics or vocables. The secret to an effective motif is that it is simple. Denniz prided himself on his ability to strip away unnecessary musical elements to get to the core of a song. Much of Swedish pop songwriting is defined by its analytical and minimalist approach. 314 Minimalism is an inherent part of Swedish culture and fundamental to Scandinavian design and lifestyle, with a focus on functionality. 314 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 107. 313 Ibid. 312 Ibid. 88 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
The ready-to-assemble products of the Swedish company IKEA provide an excellent model. Denniz believed it is much harder to write a simple song than a complex one. 315 When writing, Martin often wonders what Denniz would do to simplify. 316 P!nk observed this minimalist approach in Martin: I think what he's great at is, 'Stop, take a deep breath, simplify. ' I mean, a great chef says the most important ingredient is the thing you leave out and I think that's also great for producing. That' s what he brings. He sort of takes all of you and then goes, 'These parts are fantastic, let's work with this. ' How do you create? Creating is a miracle and he's one of the best creators I've ever met. 317 Other Swedish writer-producers endorse this “less is more” approach as well. Shellback and American writer-producer Savan Kotecha, both Martin protégés, are proponents of simple-sounding songs that are cleverly crafted and, in a sense, complex. 318 Jake Schulze of Cheiron described the Cheiron songwriting method to The Globe and Mail as “the really cliché concept of 'Don' t bore us, get to the chorus,'” a reference to Roxette' s 1995 greatest hits compilation of the same name. 319 For Martin, simplicity goes hand in hand with immediacy. The chorus in a Martin song almost always arrives within the first forty to fifty seconds. 320 It is common in pop songwriting to include a sample or snippet of the chorus at the start of the song before the full chorus kicks in. This practice is reminiscent of two Melodic Math strategies: the application of the same melodies across different 320 Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding, “Searching for Max Martin,” Switched on Pop, Accessed January 5, 2023, https://open. spotify. com/episode/2q Op6owi9fo HNxky ZSjo ZH?si=c558a5a91f7b4d25. 319 O'Kane, “How Sweden Became a Dominant Force in Global Pop Music. ” 318 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 109. 317 F a m o u s A r t i s t s o n W o r k i n g w i t h M a x M a r t i n ( B r i t n e y S p e a r s, P ! n k, J u s t i n T i m b e r l a k e, K a t y P e r r y ), 2016, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=a G0r1y W2fds. 316 Ibid, 109. 315 Ibid, 108-109. 89 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
sections and the inclusion of a riff or motif that “teases” later musical material. Examples of an immediate chorus in Martin' s songs include Britney Spears' “3,” Taylor Swift' s “Bad Blood,” and Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj' s “Side to Side. ” With each successive chorus repetition in each song, the chorus becomes slightly bigger, with added production and vocal adlibs, before culminating in the final, climactic chorus. Recall that part of Melodic Math involves repeating the same musical material with increased “ener gy. ” Just as Melodic Math is an extension of the Melody-first approach, Martin' s focus on simplicity and immediacy expands upon and informs these two concepts. In the following two sections, the focus will shift to Martin' s collaborators on “... Baby,” co-producer Yacoub and Spears herself, to explain how Martin maintains creative control while harnessing the talents of others. Collaboration Is Critical Collaboration is critical in modern pop songwriting to increase productivity and “bounce around” ideas. Historically, various collaborative models of pop songwriting have existed, from the factory-like approach of Tin Pan Alley and Motown to many prolific duos such as Lennon-Mc Cartney, Jagger-Richards, and John-T aupin. Sweden' s close-knit music industry is an ideal environment for both models to flourish. Cheiron primarily utilized a factory-like approach and, following its dissolution, produced several successful songwriting duos. Of course, partnerships and collaborations are hardly exclusive to Sweden. 90 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
However, their prevalence among Swedish writer-producers makes them an integral part of Swedish pop songwriting. As established, most Cheiron songs were written in groups of three or more in a highly industrialized process. Many Cheiron writer-producers, including Martin and Yacoub, continued in songwriting partnerships after Cheiron closed in 2000. Elsewhere, Swedish songwriting duos are common, from ABBA 's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus to Bloodshy & Avant (Christian “Bloodshy” Karlsson and Pontus “Avant” Winnber g), Mattman & Robin (Mattias Per Larsson and Robin Lennart Fredriksson), and Vargas & Lagola (Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir). Stargate (Tor E. Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen) is another highly successful writer-producer duo from Norway. Martin' s songwriting partnerships are crucial to the development of his songwriting and, as explained in Chapter Three, vital to his international reach and long-standing relevance. The success of these partnerships has also expanded opportunities for his mentees, most of whom are Swedish. Martin' s first mentee was Rami Yacoub, whose career path is similar to Martin' s. Yacoub was born in Sweden to Palestinian immigrants and grew up listening to heavy metal bands like AC/DC and Iron Maiden. 321 As a teenager, he played in a cover band and produced jingles and remixes for a Swedish radio station. 322 His professional breakthrough came in 1996 as a co-producer on American singer Lutricia Mc Neal' s debut single “Ain' t That Just the Way,” a 322 Ibid. 321 Dale Kawashima, “Rami Yacoub Interview-Hit Songwriter and Producer,” S o n g w r i t e r U n i v e r s e, May 7, 2021, http://www. songwriteruniverse. com/rami-yacoub-songwriter-producer-2021. htm.. 91 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
cover of American model Barbi Benton' s 1975 song, both of which were major hits in Scandinavia. Mc Neal' s cover shot to number one in Sweden and reached numbers six 323 and sixty-three 324 in the U. K. and U. S., respectively. Her third single, the original song “Stranded,” was co-written and produced by Yacoub and charted high in Europe. Martin met Yacoub through a mutual friend around the same time these songs were gaining popularity. After hearing additional songs Yacoub had produced inspired by the Cheiron sound, Martin invited him to work at Cheiron. 325 Their first collaboration was “... Baby. ” Denniz was battling stomach cancer and unable to work with Martin on material for Spears. In his absence, Yacoub became Martin' s primary musical collaborator and a permanent member of the Cheiron team. One of the defining characteristics of a Cheiron song is the presence of an R&B or “urban contemporary” feel derived from black musical influences. 326 Denniz blended black styles like reggae with Europop to create the sound of Ace of Base. He and Martin did the same with R&B, hip-hop, and funk for Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Spears, Robyn, and 5ive. It is unsurprising then that Martin decided “... Baby” was an R&B song despite its clear-cut pop melodies and Europop influence. Any of its R&B elements--a funky bass slap and wah-wah guitar--are subtle, if even classifiable as authentic “R&B. ” 327 Martin described it 327 Ibid. 326 Seabrook, “Blank Space. ” 325 Kawashima, “Rami Yacoub Interview-Hit Songwriter and Producer. ” 324 “Billboard Hot 100-Week of February 21, 1998,” B i l l b o a r d, January 2, 2013, https://www. billboard. com/charts/hot-100/. 323 Justin Myers, “Official Charts Pop Gem #53: Lutricia Mc Neal-Ain't That Just The Way,” Official Charts, April 12, 2014, https://www. officialcharts. com/chart-news/official-charts-pop-gem-53-lutricia-mcneal-ain-t-that-ju st-the-way__4761/. 92 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
in 1998 as “Pop music with a flavor-what we call R&B in Sweden, what you guys [in America] say is pop,” revealing a rather simplistic perspective on the genre. 328 Like his attempt to sound “American,” Martin' s second-hand understanding of R&B made it difficult for him to write a genuine R&B song, which inadvertently made “... Baby” stand out. Steve Lunt explained why this second-hand understanding became a defining characteristic of Martin' s sound: Max, at that point in his career, thought he was writing an R. & B. song. Whereas, in reality, he was writing a Swedish pop song. It was ABBA with a groove, basically. But all those chords are so European, how could that possibly be an American R. & B. song? No black artist was going to sing it. But that was the genius of Max Martin. Without being fully aware of it, he'd forged a brilliant sound all his own, and within a few weeks every American producer was desperately scrambling to emulate it. 329 The R&B feel was, according to Martin, executed thanks to Yacoub. 330 By the time Yacoub joined “... Baby,” Martin had written the melodies and most of the lyrics. However, Yacoub' s undertones of R&B combined with Martin' s “European” chord progressions and ABBA-like melodies took “... Baby” to the next level and created a captivating and “original” sound. “... Baby” is thus a product of collaboration and a hybrid of individual talents; Martin is the melodist and lyricist, and Yacoub is the provider of the seductive “groove. ” Martin probably could have produced “... Baby” by himself, but it inevitably would have sounded different, if only slightly. After Denniz died, Martin and Yacoub' s songwriting partnership was central to defining the sound of teen pop, particularly in its fusion of pop and R&B. Since first working with Martin, Yacoub has contributed to hits for One Direction, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, 330 Goldstein, “'Britney Spears Wanted to Be a Star. '” 329 Seabrook, “Blank Space. ” 328 Cragg, “'It Was a Bit of a Blur. '” 93 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
and Lady Gaga, among others, returning to many of the same songwriting characteristics he acquired from Martin in Sweden. Martin and Yacoub remain collaborators today, working together as recently as 2023. The following chapter examines the other effects Martin' s songwriting partnerships have had on his music and career trajectory and, in turn, those of his collaborators. The Voice as an Instrument Though Spears did not contribute to the writing of “... Baby” and was not the originally intended vocalist for the song, her personality-driven voice was the perfect fit for Martin' s musical dramatics. Since its debut, Spears' voice has been among the most criticized aspects of her identity. Inflected with her Southern twang, it is, like many aspects of her public persona, made up of contradictions: nasally and girlish, it is simultaneously seductive and strange. 331 Her singing voice, commonly referred to as the “baby voice,” is synonymous with her artistry. 332 This “baby voice” is distinct for its reliance on vocal fry, a slow vibration of the vocal cords in the lowest register of the voice, which results in a breathy, guttural quality. Vocal fry has a contentious history among singers for the supposed damage it can cause to the vocal cords and, more broadly, has negative cultural associations with the speech patterns of young women. 333 Interestingly, 333 “From Upspeak To Vocal Fry: Are We 'Policing' Young Women's Voices?,” NPR, July 23, 2015, 332 Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding, “Listening 2 Britney:... Baby One More Time,” Switched on Pop, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://open. spotify. com/episode/0BFd MEg XFj FBHwn3q5Ka Ac?si=5b599321bde14912. 331 Sloan and Harding, S w i t c h e d o n P o p. 94 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
recordings of Spears before signing with Jive are devoid of vocal fry, 334 and some fans and critics speculate that Spears was “forced to change her sound to make a career. ” 335 On “... Baby,” Spears sings with conviction, accenting each word with a percussiveness that emphasizes her pronounced and deliberately performed vocal fry. 336 Each syllable is over-enunciated, most clearly on the recurring “Oh, baby, baby” motif (more accurately transcribed as “Oh, bay-bay, bay-bay”), and punctuated with a micro-breath (an exhaled “ah” sound) reminiscent of Michael Jackson' s rhythmic vocal style. 337 As a result, words that might naturally be performed legato, such as “breathe” or “you” in the second verse, “The reason I breathe is you,” are made multisyllabic and staccato (“breathe-ah” and “you-ah”). 338 They are inflected with urgency and, owing to vocal fry, a kind of unevenness. The focus is not on what Spears is saying but how she is saying it, reinforcing the “sound” of Martin' s lyrics rather than their semantics. Recordings of other Martin songs from the same period, particularly Backstreet Boys' “It's Gotta Be You” (1999) and *NSYNC' s “It's Gonna Be Me” (2000), follow the Martin pronunciation rulebook as well. “Baby,” “make me,” and “crazy” become “bay-bay,” “make may,” and “cray-zay” in the Backstreet Boys' “It's Gotta Be You. ” “It's gonna be me” becomes, in the words of *NSYNC 338 Ibid. 337 Ibid. 336 Sloan and Harding, “Listening 2 Britney:... Baby One More Time. ” 335 Oliver Browning, “Britney Spears Reveals 'Real' Deep Singing Voice in Tik Tok Video,” T h e I n d e p e n d e n t, July 2022, https://www. independent. co. uk/tv/lifestyle/britney-spears-tiktok-real-voice-b2126750. html. 334 Sloan and Harding, “Listening 2 Britney:... Baby One More Time”; https://www. npr. org/2015/07/23/425608745/from-upspeak-to-vocal-fry-are-we-policing-young-wo mens-voices. 95 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
member JC Chasez, “Et's gonna bay may. ” 339 Chasez described the vocal recording process in a 2021 interview with Billboar d commemorating twenty years of “It's Gonna Be Me”: For certain words, we bent the pronunciation. We were hitting the L's hard on “lose. ” Instead of saying, “You don't wanna lose” — which would be kind of boring — we'd be like “You don't wanna NLUUSE. ” But when you're listening to someone in the studio singing it that way, at first you're like, “What is wrong with you?” But you have to dig and hit these different shapes of consonants and vowels to give them energy. Instead of saying, “It's gonna be ME ” we said “ET'S GONNA BA Y MA Y!” for it to hit harder. 340 Justin Timberlake, who sang lead vocals on the song' s chorus, credited Martin with the eccentric pronunciation in a 2016 interview with radio station Capital FM, jokingly saying, “In my defense, Max Martin made me sing 'me' that way. ” 341 Yacoub, who co-wrote and produced “It's Gonna Be Me” with Martin and Andreas Carlsson, told Headliner Magazine that the modification of the vowel sound from “me” to “may” was a common tactic Martin used to enhance the clarity of the lyrics. 342 Carlsson opined that Martin' s distinct vocal style comes from Martin' s musical experience with the Swedish band It's Alive. 343 “May” and “bay-bay” (in lieu of “bay-bee”) appear in Spears' “Stronger” and “Overprotected,” both written by Martin and Yacoub. Ten years later, Martin 343 Tailor, “How NSYNC's 'It's Gonna Be May' Meme Came Back Early Thanks to COVID-19. ” 342 “Rami Yacoub Talks Baby One More Time, It's Gonna Be Me, And *That* Meme,” H e a d l i n e r M a g a z i n e, December 2022, https://headlinermagazine. net/rami-yacoub-the-hit-maker. html. 341 Leena Tailor, “How NSYNC's 'It's Gonna Be May' Meme Came Back Early Thanks to COVID-19,” O b s e r v e r, April 29, 2020, https://observer. com/2020/04/its-gonna-be-may-meme-nsync-justin-timberlake-lance-bass-corona virus/. 340 Ibid. 339 Bianca Gracie, “Digital Get Downs, Memes and Y2K's Joyride: *NSYNC's JC Chasez Reflects on 20 Years of 'No Strings Attached,'” B i l l b o a r d, March 25, 2020, https://www. billboard. com/music/pop/nsync-jc-chasez-no-strings-attached-20th-anniversary-interv iew-9342015/. 96 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
co-wrote and produced Spears' 2011 single “Hold It Against Me,” which returned to his vernacular; “crazy” and “hazy” are sung as “cray-zay” and “hay-zay. ” The extent to which Spears contributed to the decision to apply these modifications and the prominent use of vocal fry in her vocal style is unclear. Considering the commentaries of frequent collaborators, it appears Martin was the initiator. This assumption results in an intriguing question: To what extent are the iconic vocal stylings of some of the biggest artists in twenty-first-century pop the product of the songwriter, in this case, Martin? Among a select few who have heard Martin' s demo for “... Baby,” John Seabrook claims that Spears sings it exactly like Martin. 344 “In a sense, Spears, [Katy] Perry, and [Taylor] Swift are all singing covers of Max Martin recordings. ” 345 Ola Johansson points out the “noticeable Swedish inflection” of Spears' vocals in “... Baby. ” 346 A&R executives, including Steve Lunt, who heard Martin' s demo containing his multi-tracked vocals, agree that the final version of the song is almost identical to the demo. 347 “Martin' s demo vocals for '... Baby One More Time,' which he delivered with the seductive inflection suited for an R&B ballad, laid out much of what would become Spears' iconically alluring 'Britney voice,'” wrote Robert Kelly for Billboar d. 348 Though none of Martin' s demos are publicly available, many demos performed by songwriters of Billboar d Hot 100 hits from the last two decades can be heard on You Tube. In many cases, the songwriter 's vocal 348 Ibid. 347 Robert Kelly, “'Sexy and Coy Without Trying Too Hard': How Britney Spears' 'Baby One More Time' Vocals Influenced a Generation,” B i l l b o a r d, October 25, 2018, https://www. billboard. com/music/pop/britney-spears-singing-voice-baby-one-more-time-vocals-8 481607/. 346 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 113. 345 Seabrook, “Blank Space. ” 344 Goldstein, “'Britney Spears Wanted to Be a Star. '” 97 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
performance on the demo is identical to that of the final performer. For example, the leaked demo for Spears' “Hold It Against Me,” performed by co-writer Bonnie Mc Kee is a near-duplicate of Spears' version, which was recorded after the demo and became a number-one hit. 349 Therefore, it is not uncommon to hear Martin referred to as a Svengali, nor is it unreasonable to credit him as the driving force behind the sound of much of Spears' and groups like Backstreet Boys' and *NSYNC' s output. In 2016, Backstreet Boys member AJ Mc Lean credited Max and Denniz as responsible for “the whole birth” of Backstreet Boys. 350 Martin' s musical education and background as a vocalist have influenced how he collaborates with a vocalist. He said in 2016, “The one thing I've found most useful in this job from day one is my background in singing. Singing and presenting a vision, even if it's just a demo recording, has been totally critical... The whole thing is how the artists sing the songs. That' s really the most important thing. Apart from the song. ” 351 Martin frequently encourages and even insists that artists mirror his vocal style when recording a song, which is likely how the iconic vocal style on “... Baby” originated. 352 Backing vocalist Nana Hedin explained to The Guar dian, “I tried to sound exactly like her [Spears]. It was hard, but a lot of fun. I'm like a parrot in many ways. I try to get the same vibe and use the exact same pronunciation as the artist. ” 353 Her commentary suggests a cycle of vocal mirroring, where the backing 353 Cragg, “'It Was a Bit of a Blur. '” 352 Seabrook, “Blank Space. ” 351 M a x M a r t i n-P o l a r M u s i c P r i z e 2 0 1 6 O f f i c i a l A n n o u n c e m e n t, 2016, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=Fuzy7ODVNz M. 350 F a m o u s A r t i s t s o n W o r k i n g w i t h M a x M a r t i n ( B r i t n e y S p e a r s, P ! n k, J u s t i n T i m b e r l a k e, K a t y P e r r y ). 349 B r i t n e y S p e a r s-H o l d I t A g a i n s t M e ( B o n n i e M c K e e D e m o ), 2011, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=bcr2a Rfs Bbo. 98 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
vocalist also imitates Martin' s particular vocal nuances because they are mimicking the lead singer, who is mimicking Martin. Occasionally, Martin' s insistence on imitation can cause conflict, particularly when an artist has an individual vocal style or a specific direction that differs from what Martin has in mind. After TLC rejected “... Baby,” Martin offered it to Swedish singer Robyn. Nothing came of that, partly because Robyn was a “forceful artist” who did not respond to Martin' s demands. 354 Spears, on the other hand, was more easily persuaded. In saying this, I do not mean to suggest that Spears did not exert a certain level of control over the creation of “... Baby” (she famously devised the concept for its iconic music video, which was crucial to its commercial success and cultural relevance). 355 I also do not mean to suggest that Martin is domineering, and the profuse praises from his collaborators prove otherwise. Spears' input may have been limited regarding compositional and stylistic contributions. However, she provided an undeniable vocal charisma, incapable of being manufactured, and a willingness to shape her voice per Martin' s recommendations. While “... Baby” was passed from TLC to Robyn and later considered for the British boy band 5ive and Clive Davis signee Deborah Cox, it is hard to imagine anyone but Spears singing it. Martin affirmed, “When I heard her singing, I just knew instantly. The way she recorded that song, she added another dimension. ” 356 Of Martin and Spears' musical partnership, Chris Molanphy 356 Cragg, “'Britney Spears Is a Genius. '” 355 Cragg, “'It Was a Bit of a Blur. '” 354 “The Give Me a Sign Edition. ” Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://open. spotify. com/episode/32c N9jg HHdoc2Kkc L2Zc Xb?si=27b3a57f068241af. 99 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
shared, “The reason why it [“... Baby One More Time”] remains one of the most iconic songs of the 1990s teen pop boomlet is it's kind of a perfect marriage of song and artist and songwriter. If Max Martin is John Hughes, he found his Molly Ringwald. His muse-vehicle for his particular brand of writing. You can't picture it being sung by anybody else. ” 357 Spears, as an artist and brand, was pivotal to making “... Baby” a success. To his credit, Martin' s trust in the then-unknown Spears was a bold risk that undoubtedly paid off. Even so, Spears captured the emotion of “... Baby” in such a way that it resonated with teenagers and made them intimately identify with her. Her success with “... Baby” was as much a career transformation for her as it was for Martin. Cultivating a network and reputation is essential to maintaining relevance in the music industry, particularly as a non-American or non-Brit, and “... Baby” granted Martin considerable leverage for future projects. Once he established himself in America, Martin extended the relationship started by Denniz between Swedish writer-producers and American artists into the twenty-first century. The Legacy of “... Baby One More Time” Nearly a quarter-century since its release, “... Baby One More Time” remains a cornerstone in the development of twenty-first-century pop. The song marked the formal shift towards millennial pop on Top Forty Radio after a cycle of alternative and R&B dominated throughout the 1990s (its music video did the 357 Goldstein, “'Britney Spears Wanted to Be a Star. '” 100 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
same on MTV). 358 Scott Plagenhoef, a former Editor-In-Chief at Pitchfork, noted, “Songs like Nirvana' s 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', Dr. Dre's 'Nothing But a G Thang', and Britney Spears' '... Baby One More Time' altered the landscape of pop culture so quickly in large part because they were delivered to all corners of the U. S. simultaneously by MTV. ” 359 T otal Request Live ( TRL ), MTV' s iconic music video countdown program, launched the same year as “... Baby” and its accompanying music video debuted. Directed by British music video and film director Nigel Dick, the music video features Spears in a midrif f-baring Catholic schoolgirl uniform dancing through high school hallways, a basketball court, and a gymnasium in pursuit of her crush. The music video was a sensation in American media and made Spears a fixture on TRL and similar music video programs well into the 2000s. 359 Scott Plagenhoef, “The Top 50 Music Videos of the 1990s,” P i t c h f o r k, August 23, 2010, https://pitchfork. com/features/lists-and-guides/7849-the-top-50-music-videos-of-the-1990s/. 358 Cragg, “'It Was a Bit of a Blur. '” 101 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
F i g. 2. 6 : Britney Spears in the music video for “... Baby One More Time,” 1998 360 Buoyed by other popular videos by teen pop acts like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, TRL became the go-to music program for teenagers, the demographic most responsible for defining popular music at any given moment. Chris Molanphy told Entertainment W eekly : I'm sure if you were 40 and wanted to call TRL, you could. But no one over 20 was calling TRL. So it was this mainline, hooked to your veins, of what teenagers were most obsessed with. And it was either the stuff that made them feel like a hard badass or the stuff that made them swoon. And Britney arrived just as this is beginning. The way she was presented as this schoolgirl gone bad, it had a combination of Swedish pure pop crossed with a little frisson of edge. It could not have been more perfect for the era of TRL. 361 As the juggernauts of teen pop, Spears, Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC, captured the zeitgeist of millennial pop, both musically and visually. The fact that practically all of their earliest hits were written by Cheiron writer-producers 361 Goldstein, “'Britney Spears Wanted to Be a Star. '” 360 B r i t n e y S p e a r s-... B a b y O n e M o r e T i m e ( O f f i c i a l V i d e o ), 1998, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=C-u5WLJ9Yk4. 102 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
meant that the Cheiron sound was situated in the center of the American mediascape. “... Baby” can be proposed as the centerpiece of teen pop, which peaked between 1999 and 2000, 362 and is also a reasonably comprehensive representation of American pop of the late 1990s and early 2000s. This era-defining musical style can be traced back to Cheiron, where Spears' sound was born. Spears' success with this musical style prompted dozens of copycats who mimicked her sound and image and “kicked off a new era of pop vocal stylings that would influence countless artists to come,” 363 contributing to the proliferation of the Cheiron (and Martin) sound in the American mainstream. Though the perceptible sonic qualities--synths, signature snare and kick-drum combination, over-pronounced vocals--of Cheiron songs would fade by the early 2000s, the compositional structure and songwriting approach of these songs is rooted in twenty-first-century pop. Spears' musical model, conceived at Cheiron, has served as a template for acts like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, frequent Martin collaborators, who mix “family-friendly, girl-next-door fun with good old fashioned controversy. ” 364 Likewise, this model informs the musical direction of other major twenty-first-century female acts, including Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Ariana Grande. These women have unsurprisingly worked with Martin or his mentees and have been frequent clients of Swedish writer-producers. Male acts like Justin Bieber and One Direction equivalently updated the sound of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC for a twenty-first-century 364 Cragg, “'It Was a Bit of a Blur. '” 363 Kelly, “'Sexy and Coy Without Trying Too Hard. '” 362 “The Give Me a Sign Edition. ” 103 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
audience. In the case of One Direction, the parallel is obvious: Yacoub co-wrote and produced their debut single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” as well as the hits “One Thing” and “Live While We're Young” alongside Swedish writer-producer Carl Falk and American Martin-protégé Savan Kotecha. Within Spears' discography, “... Baby” is arguably her signature song, only disputed by “Oops!... I Did It Again” (also produced by Martin and Yacoub) and “Toxic” (produced by Swedish duo Bloodshy & Avant). For Martin, it is one of his most enduring classics and perhaps his most important song, birthing a superstar and cementing his legacy. On the strength of Spears' mammoth debut, Martin became an in-demand powerhouse pop producer capable of breaking unknowns (he had done the same with Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, but their rise to fame was more gradual than Spears'). In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked “... Baby” as the best debut single of all time 365 and, the following year, included it at number 205 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. 366 Thirteen years after “... Baby,” Martin was enlisted to co-executive produce Spears' seventh studio album Femme Fatale. He co-wrote all four singles, including the Billboar d Hot 100 top-ten hits “Hold It Against Me,” “Till the World Ends,” and “I Wanna Go,” the most U. S. top-tens from a single Spears album to date. Spears told Rolling Stone in 2011: Max played a huge role on this album and he has been there since the beginning so there is such a huge level of trust. He gets exactly what I am saying when I tell him what I want and don't want musically. His melodies 366 Rolling Stone, “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” R o l l i n g S t o n e, September 15, 2021, https://www. rollingstone. com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/. 365 Rob Sheffield, Brittany Spanos, Claire Shaffer, Jonathan Bernstein, Elias Leight, Jon Freeman, Kory Grow, et al, “The 100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time,” R o l l i n g S t o n e, May 19, 2020, https://www. rollingstone. com/music/music-lists/greatest-debut-songs-singles-990470/. 104 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
are incredible and he is always coming up with weird sounds, which I love.... There is nobody I feel more comfortable collaborating with in the studio. 367 She later called Martin “the greatest songwriter of all time” and a “genius,” 368 a word Martin used in return when reflecting on their early relationship: “She' s a genius. So much had happened to her in that [early period] and she had to grow up quickly. We had conversations with her about what she wanted to do and what she wanted to say. ” 369 Martin' s relationship with Spears is just one of his many sustained artistic partnerships, a sign of his positive network and reputation. F i g. 2. 7 : Max Martin and Britney Spears, 1998 370 370 Michael Cragg, “Do You Know (What This Website Is All About),” May 15, 2016, https://maxopedia. co/about/. 369 Cragg, “'Britney Spears Is a Genius. '” 368 Cragg, “'It Was a Bit of a Blur. '” 367 Steve Knopper, “Britney Spears On Her New Album, Her Favorite Music and Working With Will. i. Am,” R o l l i n g S t o n e, March 17, 2011, https://www. rollingstone. com/music/music-news/britney-spears-on-her-new-album-her-favorite-m usic-and-working-with-will-i-am-236054/. 105 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
In the next chapter, which examines the career transformations of American singer-songwriters Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift through their work with Martin, the importance of establishing a network and reputation in the music industry will become increasingly clear. Consequently, Martin positions his protégés, many of whom are Swedish and appear in the next chapter, within the American music market, producing a chain of songwriters who can trace their lineage to his sound and style, rooted in Sweden. Furthermore, Martin mentors various American songwriters who embark on their own hugely successful careers. Finally, in his deliberate geographic relocation to the U. S., specifically New York City and Los Angeles, where the American pop music industry is based, Martin positions himself within the American music market. By solidifying the prominence and success of Swedish pop in the global music industry, in the next chapter I propose that Martin continues the tradition of mentorship started by Denniz. More explicitly, by highlighting several landmark songs and collaborations that have redirected and redefined the landscape of twenty-first century pop, I will demonstrate how Martin' s work has evolved from the foundation laid by “... Baby. ” 106 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Chapter Three: The Many Phases of Max Martin Pop, by its very transient nature, doesn' t have a specific sound. While the basics don't alter massively — verse, chorus, verse, bridge/guest rap, chorus, etc. — pop music in general is constantly shifting, absorbing and fusing bits of other genres to create something new. Pop gives little to no respect to anyone refusing to shape-shift with it, eventually leaving them behind to lick their wounds or wait and see if their moment comes back around again. All of this second-guessing about where the fickle world of pop is heading next means that very few people involved in its creation are able to maintain relevance: They have their moment, ride the zeitgeist of that sound for a few years and then when pop does one of its hasty U-turns, they get left behind. —Michael Cragg, Billboar d 371 The sound of pop is fleeting, constantly shifting to reflect emer ging and previously established musical tastes and trends. Correspondingly, the shelf life of most pop musicians, whether as performers or writer-producers, is exceptionally short. Those who remain at the top of the dynamic global pop marketplace must be willing to under go routine artistic transformations. By 2001, teen pop had reached its apex, and teen pop stars and their maturing fans were ready to move on from a genre deemed artificial. 372 For her fourth studio album, In the Zone, Britney Spears shed her teen pop image, opting to work with Swedish production duo Bloodshy & Avant, who specialized in the kind of R&B foreign to Max Martin. This deliberate shift to R&B--as a marker of “maturity” and a reflection of emer ging musical trends--was set in motion by her previous album, Britney, 372 Seabrook, John. T h e S o n g M a c h i n e : I n s i d e t h e H i t F a c t o r y. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016. 371 Michael Cragg, “Max Martin Receives Polar Music Prize: Here's How He's Stayed on Top All These Years,” B i l l b o a r d, June 17, 2016, https://www. billboard. com/music/pop/max-martin-polar-prize-maxopedia-7408702/. 107 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
which contained considerably fewer contributions from the former Max Martin and Rami Yacoub dream team. In 2002, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC both entered hiatuses as their respective members, most notably Justin Timberlake of *NSYNC, focused on solo projects. Between 2001 and 2004--an eternity in the pop world--Martin had zero Billboar d Hot 100 top-ten hits. Building upon my analysis of “... Baby One More Time” in the previous chapter, in this chapter, I will analyze the songs “Since U Been Gone,” “Teenage Dream,” and “Blank Space” to demonstrate how Martin adapts his songwriting formula to capitalize on the shifting sound of popular music and continues to shape the direction of twenty-first-century pop. Through an analysis of each song, I argue that the impact of Martin' s music, mentorship, and songwriting techniques are intrinsic to and inextricable from twenty-first-century pop and pop songwriting. As much as the respective genres associated with these three songs demonstrate the evolution of Martin' s musical style, they also correlate with broader musical trends in the mainstream. I mark each genre as a “phase” of Martin' s career and thus will describe these phases in relation to the development of Martin' s career and twenty-first-century pop at large. These phases are labeled pop-rock, dance-pop, and “musician-driven,” the last of which is related to hip-hop and R&B. I will also describe Martin' s collaborators (songwriters and producers) and explain their relevance to Martin and the particular song in question. Martin' s varied collaborations and his pivots into different genres at the brink of their mainstream popularity reflect both his role in shaping mainstream 108 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
musical trends and his ability to reinvent his sound when old trends die, and new ones emer ge. Phase One: Pop-rock; Dr. Luke The aftermath of 9/11 meant fewer artists were willing to travel to Sweden, causing a mass migration of Swedish writer-producers to the U. S., specifically Los Angeles, where many still reside. 373 Before moving to Los Angeles, where he has lived semi-permanently since 2013, Martin ventured to New York City in search of a new sound. There he explored clubs and met Lukasz Gottwald, a budding producer who went by the name of Dr. Luke. 374 Martin and Luke' s relationship was not initially forged on the basis of musical collaboration. 375 Instead, Luke was Martin' s tour guide to New York City' s extensive nightlife. 376 However, Martin eventually phoned Luke with a request to rent his West Twenty-First Street recording studio. 377 Luke let him use it for free, proving himself an asset in more ways than one and opening the door for collaboration. 378 At this point, Luke regularly traveled to Stockholm to collaborate with Rami Yacoub but remained cautious of coming on too strong to Martin. 379 Born on September 26, 1973, Luke grew up in a loft on West Thirtieth Street in Manhattan. He attended the Manhattan School of Music during the early 379 Ibid, 135. 378 Ibid. 377 Ibid, 136. 376 Ibid. 375 Ibid, 135. 374 Ibid, 134-135. 373 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 122. 109 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
1990s but dropped out in 1995 to produce for the under ground hip-hop label Rawkus Records. 380 Rawkus was, in some ways, similar to Swe Mix Records, the label Denniz Pop was a part of before opening Cheiron; not quite mainstream, they signed some of the most influential talents in the under ground New York rap scene of the 1990s. They also distributed one of Luke' s earliest commercial recordings, a twelve-inch single titled “Wet Lapse,” released in 1998 under the name Kasz. 381 Luke' s first recordings as “Dr. Luke” came shortly after. 382 In addition to producing for Rawkus, Luke deejayed at New York clubs and played guitar in the Satur day Night Live ( SNL ) house band, a gig he held from 1997 to 2007. 383 However, like Denniz Pop before him, he dreamed of bigger things. After the decline of teen pop, Martin needed a new collaborator to reinvigorate his sound: Luke was his answer. Given his upbringing in the U. S. and diverse musical background, Luke possessed a fresh musical perspective that, combined with Martin' s experience, reputation, and network, was a recipe for success. Like Denniz Pop had done in assembling the Cheiron team to help produce his sound, Martin identified Luke as the key to a new musical palette as his success with Rami Yacoub, and other Cheiron collaborators dried up. Other Cheiron writers-producers found continued success with boy bands like 5ive and Westlife but sacrificed the evolving American pop market for something safe, primarily limited to Britain, Ireland, and Oceania. Martin told Billboar d in 2010: We [Martin and Luke] were friends for a long time before we started working. I came to New York and just wanted to write something, so I 383 Ibid, 243-244. 382 Ibid, 245. 381 Ibid, 244. 380 Ibid, 243-244. 110 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
called him up, because I knew he had a studio in his basement. We started working, and I instantly knew, because his instincts are really, how do you say it? He wants it to be effective. I was struck by that. 'No, no, that's too long. Get to the point!' And I'm known for that. But he took it even further, and I really liked that. 384 Through Luke, Martin learned of the burgeoning American indie rock scene partly led by New York bands like The Strokes, Interpol, TV on the Radio, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This scene, rooted in a musical aesthetic so removed from teen pop, would profoundly impact Martin' s songwriting during the 2000s and form the basis for his songwriting partnership with Luke. In Sweden, recording engineer Michael Ilbert had also exposed Martin to indie rock. Recognizing the potential to extrapolate this sound on a large scale, Martin and Luke set to work on a song that would change the trajectory of their respective careers, as well as that of a gifted singer: Kelly Clarkson. Kelly Clarkson's “Since U Been Gone” By the end of 2002, twenty-year-old Texas native Kelly Clarkson had gone from obscurity to national fame as the winner of the inaugural season of the reality TV singing competition American Idol. In 2004, Clive Davis, the CEO of RCA Records, where Clarkson was signed, began seeking songwriters to craft material for her second album. 385 Towards the end of the album recording process, Martin visited Davis in his office in hopes of placing two songs he had written with Luke in New York, “Since U Been Gone” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” 385 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 138. 384 Chris Willman, “Dr. Luke: The Billboard Cover Story,” B i l l b o a r d, September 3, 2010, https://www. billboard. com/music/music-news/dr-luke-the-billboard-cover-story-956518/. 111 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
with one of Davis' rock-oriented acts. 386 To Martin' s dismay, Davis suggested Clarkson. “They weren' t prepared for the casting idea. Max was looking to move on from what he had done with Backstreet Boys, and I really spent time convincing them that an American Idol winner could bring all the feeling and passion that was required to the song ['Since U Been Gone']” remembered Davis in a 2010 profile on Luke for Billboar d. 387 Clarkson, who was committed to writing her own material for the album, was equally resistant to working with Martin. 388 At Davis' insistence, she recorded both songs with Martin and Luke at Maratone Studios in Stockholm. 389 Upon completion, Clarkson met with Davis for a scheduled meeting where, according to Davis in his memoir, The Soundtrack to My Life, she expressed her dislike for the songs and requested to remove them from the album. 390 They battled, but Davis would not change his mind, forcing Clarkson to surrender; “ Since U Been Gone ” was released as a single on November 16, 2004, exactly two weeks before Clarkson' s sophomore album, Br eakaway, hit shelves. Despite Clarkson' s feelings, “Since” was a musical breakthrough, blending the stylistic tropes of indie rock with Martin' s signature pop melodies to create a novel sound. Luke described the inspiration for “Since” in his profile for Billboar d : That was a conscious move by Max and myself, because we were listening to alternative and indie music... I said, 'Ah, I love this song,' and Max was like, 'If they would just write a damn pop chorus on it!' It was driving 390 Ibid, 140-141. 389 Ibid. 388 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 139. 387 Willman, “Dr. Luke. ” 386 Ibid. 112 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
him nuts, because that indie song was sort of on six, going to seven, going to eight, the chorus comes... and it goes back down to five. It drove him crazy. And when he said that, it was like, light bulb. 'Why don't we do that, but put a big chorus on it?' It worked. 391 The song in question was purportedly the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 2003 single “Maps,” a quintessential indie rock record of the 2000s. 392 Sparse, moody, and lyrically vague, “Maps” lacks the core elements necessary for a pop hit. Most offensive to Martin, there is no climax; just as the song reaches its chorus, the vocal melody descends, and the accompanying lyrics and deadpan vocal performance by lead singer Karen O are a musical low point. If any part of “Maps” can be considered the climax, it would be the instrumental guitar-and-drums breakdown in the bridge, a section typically reserved for contrast and tension. 393 Lifting the sonic palette, melodic motifs, and even the key from “Maps,” Martin and Luke reworked the song as “Since. ” 394 What separates “Since” and “Maps” is how the former builds lyrically and melodically. Beginning with a minimalist guitar rhythm reminiscent of “Maps,” Martin and Luke create the illusion of an indie rock song. However, while “Maps” spends its first thirty seconds on an instrumental introduction, “Since” wastes no time. 395 Clarkson enters immediately with a melody that, like the one in “Maps,” sits low in her vocal range. Martin and Luke adapt the opening three-note phrase in “Maps” (“Pack up”) for the opening line in “Since” (“Here' s the thing”) (Figure 3. 1). 396 They do the same with the descending chorus melody in “Maps” 396 Ibid. 395 Ibid, 151. 394 Ibid, 150-151. 393 Sloan and Harding, S w i t c h e d o n P o p, 150. 392 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 136. 391 Willman, “Dr. Luke. ” 113 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
(“They don't love you like I love you”) for part of the verse in “Since” (“It was cool, but it was all pretend”) (Figure 3. 2). 397 Luke accompanies the verse with an intentionally amateur-sounding guitar line meant to evoke the lo-fi sound and aesthetic associated with indie rock. 398 F i g. 3. 1 : Opening phrases of “Maps” (top) and “Since U Been Gone” (bottom) F i g. 3. 2 : “Maps” descending chorus melody (top) and “Since U Been Gone” verse fragment (bottom) 398 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 139-140. 397 Ibid, 152. 114 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
As the pre-chorus rolls around, a punk-rock bass and distorted electronic drums add tension to the rising melody. 399 Then a burst of feedback, typical of indie rock, gives way to the explosive chorus, bolstered by multiple guitars and live drums. 400 The chorus melody soars as Clarkson sings two octaves above the song' s lowest note. The second verse returns to the muted minimalism of the first, followed by another repetition of the pre-chorus and chorus, both slightly bigger than before. Tension reaches a high during the bridge, which contains an instrumental interlude almost identical to the breakdown in “Maps. ” 401 However, instead of acting as the climax, the interlude in “Since” is the boiling point: a flurry of solo guitar and pounding drums erupting into a final chorus that reaches new heights. Lyrically, “Since” is straightforward, taking a considerably more linear narrative approach than “Maps” or even Martin' s “... Baby One More Time” and “I Want It That Way” (see Appendix C for full lyrics). In a sense, Martin' s move to the U. S. and collaboration with Luke prompt a reassessment of his songwriting as it pertains to lyrics. 402 Lyrics become a vehicle for storytelling as much as they serve the consistent purpose of being hooky melodic motifs made to “sound” appealing. In “Since,” Martin ditches most of the Swedish neologisms that permeated his Cheiron songs for a logical narrative that describes the dissolution of a relationship (like “Maps”) and the newfound happiness of being single. The deliberate building of musical tension underscores this celebratory narrative. In 402 DJ Louie XIV, “MAX MARTIN (with The New Yorker's John Seabrook). ” 401 Sloan and Harding, S w i t c h e d o n P o p, 153-154. 400 Ibid. 399 Ibid, 140. 115 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
the hushed verses, Clarkson reminisces on the past and the budding problems that led to the breakup. Before the chorus forty seconds in, she repeats the refrain “since you been gone” twice, clearly foreshadowing how the story will unfold. By the pre-chorus, the relationship has worn thin, and the melody rises accordingly. Finally, at the chorus, Clarkson triumphantly announces her newfound sense of freedom: “But since you been gone, I can breathe for the first time / I'm so moving on, yeah-yeah / Thanks to you, now I get what I want / Since you been gone. ” Clarkson' s critical reaction to the demo for “Since” reveals that the melody was written first and likely developed as an improvisation, similar to how Martin wrote the melody for “... Baby One More Time. ” She told Billboar d in 2011, “It [“Since U Been Gone”] didn' t have any lyrics and the melody really wasn' t finalized. The track was done on a computer, there was no band on it. My record label was freaking out about it and I was, like, why? But they were right... ” 403 Adhering to Melodic Math, Martin and Luke pair the vocal melodies with syllabically weighted lyrics. Take, for example, the first verse: “Here' s the thing, we started out friends (8) / It was cool, but it was all pretend (9) / Yeah, yeah, since you been gone (6) / You dedicated, you took the time (9) / Wasn't long till I called you mine (8) / Yeah, yeah, since you been gone (6). ” Verbalizing these lines, we will hear that the corresponding, melodically identical stanzas “Here' s the thing, we started out friends / It was cool, but it was all pretend” and “You 403 Shirley Halperin, “Kelly Clarkson Talks Bygone Label Drama, New LP and Why She's Now 'Stronger,'” B i l l b o a r d, October 25, 2011, https://www. billboard. com/music/music-news/kelly-clarkson-talks-bygone-label-drama-new-lp-an d-why-shes-now-stronger-1162714/. 116 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
dedicated, you took the time / Wasn't long till I called you mine” each add up to seventeen syllables. Clarkson sings “pretend” as three syllables and “mine” as two, bringing each to eighteen syllables, equal still. The hushed verse is sparse in texture, allowing the melody to breathe before the energy skyrockets during the belted chorus. This contrast relates to another Melodic Math rule: rhythmic and melodic balance; the anthemic, legato chorus complements the broody, staccato verse. While “Maps” expends most of its energy within its introduction, leaving little to be desired, “Since” relishes in the textural, melodic, and lyrical contrast of the verse and chorus, creating multiple high-intensity climaxes that are gratifying. Clarkson' s vocal performance in “Since” is another example of Martin' s at times overbearing, albeit informed, and often justified attention to vocal style. During the recording process, Martin insisted that Clarkson imitate his demo for “Since,” which caused tension. 404 Not only was Clarkson looking to have more creative control over her material, but unlike a Britney Spears-type, she already had an established vocal identity. Also, Clarkson hated Martin' s tactic of meticulously “comping” vocals, 405 a common production practice in popular music by which multiple vocal takes are compared and then stitched together, sometimes syllable-by-syllable, for the “perfect” composite. Martin regarded comping as a breakthrough in the production process for “Since”: “I remember when we comped vocals for Kelly on 'Since U Been Gone. ' We listened back to it and it started sounding like a record. I remember that was a big moment, like, 'Holy shit! I think we did it!' There was a lot of jumping and laughing. ” 406 406 Ibid. 405 Ibid. 404 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 139. 117 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Besides Clarkson' s stellar vocal performance, and her suggestion to enhance the guitars and drums, 407 “Since” sounds as big as it does because of her comped and layered vocals. These same elements make the chorus of “... Baby One More Time,” with its engineered choir of voices, explode. Arriving at a crossroads in his career, Martin took the sound he perfected with Britney Spears and other teen pop stars and modified it for an evolving musical landscape. Chris Molanphy described “Since” as a “Frankenstein' s monster” and “an amalgam of everything that had been on the radio, all melded together into one song,” adding, “Max Martin found a way to graft the pop sound that he had perfected with artists like Britney and Backstreet to almost an indie-rock vibe. ” 408 While derived from an existing musical genre, “Since” is widely credited with reviving a sound that, at the time, existed only at the periphery of mainstream pop. 409 Gary Trust of Billboar d wrote, “Kelly Clarkson' s 'Since U Been Gone', co-written by Max Martin, especially helped lead to pure pop's reemer gence, and the breakthroughs of Rihanna, Katy Perry, [Taylor] Swift and Lady Gaga would soon follow (as well as [Britney] Spears' own revival). ” 410 In the same way that “... Baby One More Time” redirected radio towards pure pop after years of alternative and R&B dominance, “Since” pushed through the hip-hop and R&B that dominated the early 2000s and popularized the pop-rock 410 Gary Trust, “Ask Billboard: In 2015, the Top of the Hot 100 Is Where the Boys Are,” B i l l b o a r d, October 17, 2015, https://www. billboard. com/pro/ask-billboard-in-2015-the-top-of-the-hot-100-is-where-the-boys/. 409 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 126. 408 Ryan Kailath, “Anatomy Of A Hit: Kelly Clarkson's 'Since U Been Gone,'” NPR, December 2, 2014, https://www. npr. org/2014/12/02/368013489/anatomy-of-a-hit-kelly-clarksons-since-u-been-gone. 407 Catherine Walthall, “Behind the Song Lyrics: 'Since U Been Gone,' Kelly Clarkson,” A m e r i c a n S o n g w r i t e r, December 10, 2021, https://americansongwriter. com/since-u-been-gone-kelly-clarkson-behind-song-lyrics/. 118 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
sound of the remainder of the decade. 411 Ola Johansson deems “Since” one of “three seminal moments in the Swedish pop writing canon,” the other two being Bloodshy & Avant' s “Toxic” for Spears, a fusion of Bollywood strings and surf guitar, and Red One' s work with Lady Gaga, summarized in the following section. 412 “Since” transformed Clarkson from “ American Idol winner” to a global superstar, achieving a similar effect to what “... Baby” did for Spears. In January 2005, “Since” cracked the top forty of the Billboar d Hot 100, eventually peaking at number two in April of that year and remaining in the top ten for twenty weeks. 413 It was also a success in Europe and became Clarkson' s first single to peak in the top five in the United Kingdom. 414 The other song Martin and Luke wrote for Clarkson, “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” was a top-ten hit in the U. S. and the United Kingdom. National Public Radio (NPR) called “Since” “one of the decade' s finest pop anthems,” 415 and The Atlantic named it the best pop song of the decade in 2014. 416 Clarkson' s struggle in recording “Since,” a song she disliked that became her biggest hit, exhibits a common conflict between artists and writer-producers, 416 Kevin O'Keeffe, “'Since U Been Gone' Is Still the Best Pop Song of the Decade,” T h e A t l a n t i c, December 2, 2014, https://www. theatlantic. com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/since-u-been-gone-is-still-the-best-po p-song-of-the-decade/383263/. 415 Stephen Thompson, “The Decade In Music: Kelly Clarkson's 'Since U Been Gone' (2005),” NPR, November 16, 2009, https://www. npr. org/2009/11/16/120442498/the-decade-in-music-kelly-clarksons-since-u-been-go ne-2005. 414 “Kelly Clarkson | Full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company,” Official Charts, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://www. officialcharts. com/artist/13611/kelly-clarkson/. 413 “Kelly Clarkson,” B i l l b o a r d, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://www. billboard. com/artist/kelly-clarkson/. 412 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 125-126. 411 Ibid. 119 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
or more appropriately, artists and their labels. John Seabrook offered a compelling proposition in an interview with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania: Well, the thing is, we come out of the singer-songwriter era, which is an aberration in the whole history of pop music. Most of it has been professional songwriters writing songs for the artists who don't write songs. But because the singer-songwriter era was so resonant, and because the artists who do write their songs are seen as critical darlings and the ones that don't, aren' t, you get a lot of artists who feel like in order to really make it as an artist, you have to write your own songs. And I think Kelly was coming out of that. 417 Interestingly, Clarkson seized creative control of her third studio album, My December, which failed to replicate the success of Br eakaway. 418 She returned to Martin and Luke, who wrote “My Life Would Suck Without You,” a number-one hit on the Billboar d Hot 100 and in the U. K., for her fourth album, All I Ever W anted. 419 Her other two number ones in the U. S., “A Moment Like This” and “Stronger (What Doesn' t Kill You),” were co-written by former Cheiron writer-producer Jörgen Elofsson. Clarkson' s case exemplifies that a top writer-producer can be critical to an artist' s commercial success. Beyond elevating Clarkson' s career, “Since” was the start of a commercial comeback for Martin and the beginning of Luke' s career in mainstream pop. Martin' s aptitude for mentorship, innate to the Cheiron workflow, was crucial to his musical evolution and the simultaneous preservation and evolution of the Cheiron sound in contemporary pop. As a mentor to Luke, Martin fostered one of the most successful writer-producers of the twenty-first century and one of the 419 Ibid, 145. 418 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 144-145. 417 Knowledge at Wharton Staff, “Behind the Music. ” 120 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
most successful songwriting partnerships in history. His musical philosophies and songwriting techniques are inherent to Luke' s work and, as elucidated in the following two sections, that of Luke' s protégés. Martin taught Luke, “Instead of making tracks for five thousand people, why not make tracks for a million?” 420 Jarret Myer, co-founder of Rawkus Records and the digital media brand Uproxx, told Seabrook, “You can't overstate the influence Max had on Luke... One day he is remixing under ground records, and the next day he is doing Kelly Clarkson. After Max, he had no inhibitions. ” 421 As of 2022, Luke has written and produced eighteen Billboar d Hot 100 number-one singles, ranking him fourth in number-ones as a writer (tied with Mariah Carey) and third as a producer (for reference, Martin ranks third as a writer and is tied with Geor ge Martin for first as a producer). 422 Ten of those number ones were written with Martin. Another eleven of their collaborations reached the top ten. Phase Two: Dance-pop; Benny Blanco, Cirkut, and Bonnie Mc Kee Around 2008, mainstream music shifted from pop-rock to dance-pop partly due to the success of the Moroccan-Swedish writer-producer Red One. Native to Morocco, Red One (born Nadir Khayat) immigrated to Sweden in 1991 422 Gary Trust, “The Songwriters & Producers With the Most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s,” B i l l b o a r d, August 24, 2022, https://www. billboard. com/pro/hot-100-writers-producers-most-no-1s/. 421 Ibid. 420 John Seabrook, “The Doctor Is In,” T h e N e w Y o r k e r, October 7, 2013, https://www. newyorker. com/magazine/2013/10/14/the-doctor-is-in. 121 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
at nineteen years old. During the early 2000s, he wrote and produced for several Swedish acts and maintained a brief working relationship with Rami Yacoub. 423 In 2002, he followed many of the biggest Swedish writer-producers to the U. S. and settled in New York. 424 Red One achieved worldwide fame in 2008 as the writer-producer behind New York native Lady Gaga. Essentially a revamp of 1980s and 1990s Europop, the “Lady Gaga sound” is another musical style Ola Johansson regards as revolutionary in the Swedish pop canon. 425 Many other critics and publications agree, citing Lady Gaga' s debut single “Just Dance,” produced by Red One, as leading the dance-pop revival of the 2010s. Sasha Frere-Jones, a former music critic for the New Y orker, wrote: Red One' s longtime residence in Sweden means that he has access to the enormous ice pool of Nordic hooks that Americans never seem to match. ... 'Just Dance' was one of the first big records to ride the sea change in pop, away from hip-hop and back toward disco, the music that has been in charge of the charts in Europe for a long time. 426 To Frere-Jones' point, much of Lady Gaga' s music evokes Europop. Her 2009 single “Alejandro,” also produced by Red One, received constant comparisons to the music of ABBA and Ace of Base upon release. 427 The popularity of Lady 427 “Lady Gaga, 'Alejandro,'” Billboard Staff, B i l l b o a r d, April 16, 2010, https://www. billboard. com/music/music-news/lady-gaga-alejandro-1069470/; Sal Cinquemani, “Review: Lady Gaga, The Fame Monster,” S l a n t M a g a z i n e, November 18, 2009, https://www. slantmagazine. com/music/lady-gaga-the-fame-monster/; Jon Dolan, “The Fame Monster,” R o l l i n g S t o n e, November 18, 2009, https://www. rollingstone. com/music/music-album-reviews/the-fame-monster-101912/; Scott Plagenhoef, “Lady Gaga: The Fame Monster,” P i t c h f o r k, January 13, 2010, https://pitchfork. com/reviews/albums/13823-the-fame-monster/. 426 Sasha Frere-Jones, “Ladies Wild,” T h e N e w Y o r k e r, April 20, 2009, https://www. newyorker. com/magazine/2009/04/27/ladies-wild. 425 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 126. 424 Aida Alami, “Hollyworld: Meet Morocco's Starmaker,” The World from PRX, September 30, 2011, https://theworld. org/stories/2011-09-30/hollyworld-meet-moroccos-starmaker. 423 Kimbel Bouwman, “Interview with Red One, Producer and Songwriter for Lady Gaga (US & UK No. 1), Michael Jackson, Akon (US Top 10),” Song Quarters, March 23, 2009, https://www. songquarters. com/2009/March23_1_12_9. html. 122 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Gaga' s music in the early 2010s had a ripple effect across the music industry as many musicians attempted to capitalize on the dance-pop trend. Beginning with Katy Perry in 2008, Martin delved into pure, dance-inspired pop while retaining some of the pop-rock edge of his work with Kelly Clarkson and acts like P!nk, Avril Lavigne, and The Veronicas. As defined by the online music database All Music: Dance-Pop was an outgrowth of disco. Over a pounding, dance-club beat, there are simple, catchy melodies--dance-pop has more fully-formed songs than pure dance music. Dance-pop is primarily a producer 's medium. The producer writes the songs and constructs the tracks, picking an appropriate vocalist to sing the song. These dance divas become stars, but frequently the artistic vision is the producer 's. 428 Most Martin recordings released between 2009 and 2011 fall between the sonic aesthetics of pop-rock and dance-pop. Songs like “Raise Your Glass” by P!nk and “My Life Would Suck Without You” by Kelly Clarkson are clear pop-rock and electropop fusions. Others, such as Taio Cruz' s “Dynamite” or Usher and Pitbull' s “DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love,” replace any lingering elements of pop-rock with throbbing club beats. Though Martin' s musical pivot was seemingly motivated by the growing popularity of dance-pop in the mainstream, it was also somewhat of a return to form, drawing upon the sound he helped pioneer with Ace of Base and the teen pop pack in the 1990s. Luke, too, would explore dance-pop and, following his rise to fame, embrace the Swedish mentorship model to mentor other writer-producers. In 2009, Luke launched the independent Los Angeles-based publishing company 428 “Dance-Pop,” All Music, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://www. allmusic. com/html/error-banned403_new. html. 123 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Prescription Songs, which currently houses nearly 140 writer-producers. 429 Its earliest configuration resembled the workflow at Cheiron; writer-producers specializing in different skills collaborated on different parts of the same song. 430 Luke described Prescription Songs as “a combination of artists, producers, topliners, beat makers, melody people, vibe people, and just lyric people” (vibe people are people who may be untrained musically but “know how to make a song happen”). 431 In 2011, he founded Kemosabe Records, a record label, in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. Among the musicians Luke signed to Prescription Songs, three, in particular, would become Martin' s frequent collaborators during the early 2010s, most prominently as part of the hit-making team for Katy Perry. They are the American writer-producer Benny Blanco (born Benjamin Joseph Levin), the Canadian writer-producer Cirkut (born Henry Russell Walter), and the American singer-songwriter and longtime Perry friend Bonnie Mc Kee. In the tradition of great Martin-helmed debut singles, “I Kissed a Girl” 432 made Perry a star, topping the charts globally and remaining at number one in the U. S. for seven consecutive weeks. 433 Perry' s major label debut album, One of the Boys, was released in 2008 and included the additional Martin and Luke 433 “Katy Perry,” B i l l b o a r d, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://www. billboard. com/artist/katy-perry/. 432 Written by Cathy Dennis, Max Martin, Katy Perry, and Lukasz Gottwald (Dr. Luke) and produced by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco. 431 Ibid. 430 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 236. 429 Nolan Feeney, “Inside Prescription Songs, the Company Behind Some of 2020's Biggest Hits,” B i l l b o a r d, April 22, 2021, https://www. billboard. com/pro/prescription-songs-dr-luke-publishing-company/. 124 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
collaboration “Hot n Cold,” 434 another top ten hit. Like their two songs for Kelly Clarkson' s Br eakaway, Martin and Luke' s songs for One of the Boys were last-minute additions that became the album' s biggest hits. For her sophomore album, T eenage Dr eam, Perry was inspired by the Swedish acts ABBA, Ace of Base, and the Cardigans and chose Martin and Luke to co-executive produce the album with her. 435 She told John Seabrook, “It [her, Martin, and Luke] was a combination pack. I really liked them together. They have great taste, and I have an intuition that has never failed me. I am very lyrics-based, and Max is very melody-based, and Luke is very track-based, so put the combination of us together and you get that ultimate pop song. ” 436 Martin and Luke added Benny Blanco and Bonnie Mc Kee to the team, and with Perry, they wrote the title track to T eenage Dr eam. Katy Perry's “Teenage Dream” The song “ Teenage Dream ” is a prime example of how Martin' s musical philosophies and songwriting techniques influence a song, even with the addition of multiple collaborators. Martin, Luke, Blanco, Mc Kee, and Perry wrote the song using a collaborative songwriting process akin to the system used at Cheiron. First, Martin and Luke blended their guitar-driven pop-rock sound with 436 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 257. 435 Oli Simpson, “Katy Perry Reveals ABBA-Inspired New LP,” Digital Spy, April 23, 2010, http://www. digitalspy. com/music/a216248/katy-perry-reveals-abba-inspired-new-lp/; Jocelyn Vena, “Katy Perry On New LP: 'We Nailed It!,'” MTV, March 29, 2010, https://www. mtv. com/news/bbdq8p/katy-perry-on-new-lp-we-nailed-it. 434 Written by Max Martin, Katy Perry, and Lukasz Gottwald and produced by Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco. 125 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
synthesizers and other electronic influences native to dance-pop to produce the instrumental with Blanco. 437 Next, Martin and Luke composed most of the melody. 438 The final step was writing the lyrics, which Perry and Mc Kee found challenging. They developed “four or five” 439 versions of the then-untitled song for over a week. Their goal was to write lyrics about the proposed themes of nostalgia and romance that fit with Martin and Luke' s predetermined melody. 440 Hence they used a Melody-first approach. Over the years, Mc Kee has revealed lyrics from early drafts in various interviews and a video posted to Instagram on July 23, 2021. One of these drafts referenced the fictional character Peter Pan, and another used the metaphor of “trying me on” to compare the feeling of wearing new clothes to sex. 441 Each idea Mc Kee shared on Instagram, including the ridiculous, “You touch me it's like a miracle / I'm melting just like a popsicle,” and the prefigurative, “You and me are just a couple of / teenagers we're never growing up,” she sang to the “Teenage Dream” chorus melody, showing how she and Perry wrote the lyrics to the same chorus melody used in the final version of the song (see Appendix D for final lyrics). 441 Alex Kazemi, “Alex Kazemi-SINGLE REVIEW OF TEENAGE DREAM-KATY PERRY / INTERVIEW WITH ITS SONGWRITER BONNIE MCKEE,” Internet Archive, August 7, 2010, https://web. archive. org/web/20100807001855/http://alexkazemi. com/2010/07/listensingle-review- teenage-dream-katy-perry/. 440 Crowley, “Bonnie Mc Kee Breaks Down 'Teenage Dream' & 'Dynamite' Choruses-and Why She Felt Insulted by Lorde's Lyrics. ” 439 K a t y P e r r y T a l k s “ T e e n a g e D r e a m, ” 2010, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=qh BBtq Pclf0. 438 Patrick Crowley, “Bonnie Mc Kee Breaks Down 'Teenage Dream' & 'Dynamite' Choruses- and Why She Felt Insulted by Lorde's Lyrics,” B i l l b o a r d, April 25, 2017, https://www. billboard. com/music/pop/bonnie-mckee-teenage-dream-dynamite-interview-chorus-w eek-7768099/. 437 Ibid, 262. 126 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
The idea to base “Teenage Dream” around a “teenage” concept came to Mc Kee after a recording session with her collaborators during which Blanco played them the song “Homecoming” by French musical comedy trio The Teenagers. 442 The trio's name inspired Mc Kee to ruminate on her adolescence and the teenage condition, as she explained to Canadian journalist Alex Kazemi in 2010: I thought about my own adolescent years, my own first love. I thought about watching Baz Luhrmann' s Romeo and Juliet and putting on a little mini disco ball light and just dreaming of Leo. I thought about me and my friends sitting around at slumber parties in the 90's, giddy even just thinking about boys. Back when love and sex were still mysterious and magical. I thought about what Benny said and I listened to the song [“Homecoming”] again, and I was like The Teenagers... that's such a great word, Teenager. It is a very descriptive word; it packs a lot of emotion and imagery into three syllables. 443 From the word “teenager,” Mc Kee came up with the phrase “teenage dream,” which became the song' s title and hook. Coming up with this hook was pivotal, allowing Perry and Mc Kee to prescribe the emotions associated with the teenage condition to the evocative imagery Perry had brainstormed for the verses. 444 “Once we had 'teenage dream,' it all came together,” explained Mc Kee to Billboar d. 445 In addition, some of the elements from Perry and Mc Kee' s earlier drafts found their way into the final version; the “skin tight jeans” line in the song' s bridge, which conveniently rhymes with “teenage dream,” was repurposed from their “trying me on” concept. 446 Mc Kee called “Teenage Dream” “the most 446 Kazemi, “Alex Kazemi-SINGLE REVIEW OF TEENAGE DREAM-KATY PERRY / INTERVIEW WITH ITS SONGWRITER BONNIE MCKEE. ” 445 Crowley, “Bonnie Mc Kee Breaks Down 'Teenage Dream' & 'Dynamite' Choruses-and Why She Felt Insulted by Lorde's Lyrics. ” 444 Ibid. 443 Ibid. 442 Ibid. 127 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
difficult song I've ever been a part of” 447 and compared the songwriting process to solving a puzzle. 448 In this process, the same one Martin used to write “... Baby One More Time,” the melody is written first, and different pieces, specifically lyrical phrases, are put together to form a narrative that rhythmically “fits” this melody, thus solving the puzzle. Collaborating with Martin to write lyrics based on his methodical melodies forced Perry and Mc Kee to follow the rules of Melodic Math. Using Perry' s song “California Gurls” as an example, Mc Kee explained to John Seabrook how Martin influenced her songwriting process: Max doesn' t really care about the lyrics because he's Swedish, so I have to work around that. I can write something I think is so clever and be proud of that, but if it doesn' t hit the ear right then he doesn' t like it. He's also really stubborn about syllables. A line has to have a certain number of syllables and they have to be mirror images of each other--it' s very mathematical. The syllables in the first part of the chorus have to repeat in the second part. Like 'Cal-i-forn-ia girls un-for-get-ta-ble/Dai-sy Dukes bi-kinis on top'--if you add a syllable, or take it away, it's a completely different melody to him. I remember I wrote him a song and I was so proud of it, and he was like, 'Why are the melodies completely different in the first and second verse?' I was like, 'What do you mean? It's the same melody. ' But I had added three or four syllables. He was right, he's always right, as much as it drives me crazy sometimes, he's always right. 449 In “Teenage Dream,” each line of the first verse is made up of twelve syllables, the number allotted by the melody: “You think I'm pretty without any makeup on (12) / You think I'm funny when I tell the punchline wrong (12) / I know you get me, so I let my walls come down (12). ” In the second verse, each line is eleven syllables, though the final line Perry and Mc Kee wrote is twelve: “We drove to 449 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 264-265. 448 Kazemi, “Alex Kazemi-SINGLE REVIEW OF TEENAGE DREAM-KATY PERRY / INTERVIEW WITH ITS SONGWRITER BONNIE MCKEE. ” 447 Crowley, “Bonnie Mc Kee Breaks Down 'Teenage Dream' & 'Dynamite' Choruses-and Why She Felt Insulted by Lorde's Lyrics. ” 128 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Cali and got drunk on the beach (11) / Got a motel and built a fort out of sheets (11) / I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece (12). ” To preserve the math of the line, Perry sings “finally” as two syllables (like “finely”) instead of three. Similarly strict rules govern the pre-chorus, chorus, and bridge. In a 2014 article written for Slate, the composer Owen Pallett analyzed “Teenage Dream” using music theory. One of his primary observations was how the weighting of the melody differed across different sections of the song. In the verse, the melody begins on the beat and ends syncopated: “You think I'm pretty without any” is sung on the beat, while the end of the line, “makeup on,” is syncopated. 450 All of the verse lines follow this pattern. In the pre-chorus, the melody is entirely on the beat, introducing melodic and rhythmic variation, a critical component of Melodic Math. Syncopation returns in the chorus, but the emphasis flips from the straight/syncopated pattern of the verse to syncopated/straight: “You make me” is syncopated, “feel like I'm livin' a” is straight, “teenage dream” is syncopated, “the way you turn me on” is straight, and so on. 451 During the bridge, Perry repeats the phrase “teenage dream” from the chorus, but the rhythmic emphasis is straight instead of syncopated. 452 Pallett notes that we are primed to remember this line not only because it is the song' s title and hook but also because it is weighted in two distinct, catchy ways. Melodic Math, therefore, functions on three levels in the song. First, to establish 452 Ibid. 451 Ibid. 450 Owen Pallett, “Skin Tight Jeans and Syncopation,” S l a t e, March 25, 2014, https://slate. com/culture/2014/03/katy-perrys-teenage-dream-explaining-the-hit-using-music-theor y. html. 129 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
melodic and syllabic uniformity. Second, to provide rhythmic and melodic variation. And finally, to repeat the hook in a distinct way to ensure memorability. Pallett' s other observation relates to the absence of musical resolution in the chord progression. This absence of resolution is due to the absence of the I chord, the most consonant or “stable” chord in a song' s respective key. “Teenage Dream” begins on the I chord, but at the start of the first verse, four seconds in, it is gone and never heard again. 453 Perry begins on the tonic, the root note of the I chord, and frequently returns to it, leading us to anticipate resolution even when it is repeatedly denied. 454 Pallett wrote: This song is all about suspension—not in the voice-leading 4-3 sense, but in the emotional sense, which listeners often associate with “exhilaration,” being on the road, being on a roller coaster, travel... The insistence of the tonic in the melody keeps your ears' eyes fixed on the destination, but the song never arrives there. Weightlessness is achieved. Great work, songwriters! 455 Martin and Luke increase the suspension in “Teenage Dream,” like in “Since U Been Gone,” by juxtaposing the soft verses Perry sings in falsetto with an explosive chorus. Nolan Feeney, a senior features editor for Billboar d, described “Teenage Dream” as having “an undeniable levity to it: There' s the romantic subject matter, the fragile high notes, the steady but gentle kick drum; even when the chorus hits, the whole thing bounces like it's wearing moon boots, never staying on the ground too long. ” 456 The lack of resolution in the chord progression helps create the “levity” he describes, and the similar “weightlessness” Pallett 456 Nolan Feeney, “Songs That Defined the Decade: Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream,'” B i l l b o a r d, November 21, 2019, https://www. billboard. com/music/music-news/katy-perry-teenage-dream-songs-that-defined-the-d ecade-8544087/. 455 Ibid. 454 Ibid. 453 Ibid. 130 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
describes, and, in combination with the song' s nostalgic lyrics about finding someone who makes you feel like a teenager again, gives the song an almost melancholic or bittersweet ambiance despite its dance-pop production. Therefore, juxtaposition exists not just in the weighting of the vocal melody, the lack of resolution in the chord progression, and the difference in energy between the verses and chorus; it also operates on an emotional level. In the same Billboar d article by Feeney, Mc Kee said, “The word teenager, it makes us all a little sad, because it's not something that can last forever. There' s a sick sadness when you think about your teenage years. ” 457 Singer-songwriter Lorde echoed this sentiment in a 2017 interview with The New Y ork T imes : There' s this sadness about it [“Teenage Dream”], where you feel young listening to it, but you feel impermanence at the same time. When I put that song on, I'm as moved as I am by anything by David Bowie, by Fleetwood Mac, by Neil Young. It lets you feel something you didn' t know you needed to feel. There' s something holy about it. 458 Though not explicitly one of Martin' s songwriting characteristics, the juxtaposition of sad song lyrics and upbeat production, and vice versa, is a common characteristic of Swedish pop songs. Ola Johansson considers minor key tonality and a melancholic “mood” to be identifying traits of Swedish music. 459 As explained in Chapter One, this melancholic tone is thought by some to be the result of the historically harsh climate in Sweden and, thus, derived from traditional Swedish folk music that reflected the Swedish experience. Therefore, Martin' s influence can be seen in the song' s compositional development and sonic 459 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 37. 458 Jonah Weiner, “The Return of Lorde,” T h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s, April 12, 2017, sec. Magazine, https://www. nytimes. com/2017/04/12/magazine/the-return-of-lorde. html. 457 Ibid. 131 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
qualities, taken from his pop-rock and dance-pop sensibilities and his musical upbringing in Sweden. Along with its parent album, “Teenage Dream,” is a time capsule of the 2010s dance-pop sound that Perry would come to exemplify. Owing in large part to Martin and Luke' s involvement, Perry' s sound can be thought of as a cross between the pure pop of Britney Spears and the power pop of Kelly Clarkson, reflecting the influence of these artists and, consequently, the influence of Martin on her sound (coincidentally, Perry has written songs recorded by both Clarkson and Spears). Perry described T eenage Dr eam (the album) as a “wonderful collaborative effort” between her, Martin, and Luke 460 and described it as “pure, unabashed pop,” adding that Martin and Luke “definitely have the Midas touch when it comes to radio. ” 461 In a retrospective review of T eenage Dr eam for Pitchfork, Anna Gaca wrote, “This album is a crowning achievement, not just of her [Perry' s] career but of its style: EDM and disco and pop, bold and belting, entirely processed yet instantly recognizable, robust yet chintzy. ” 462 The title track, in particular, was named one of the best songs of the decade by several publications. Billboar d labeled it a song that “both shaped and reflected the music and culture of the period” and included it in a series of essays on the 100 songs that defined the decade. 463 463 Feeney, “Songs That Defined the Decade: Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream. '” 462 Anna Gaca, “Katy Perry: Teenage Dream,” P i t c h f o r k, February 21, 2021, https://pitchfork. com/reviews/albums/katy-perry-teenage-dream/. 461 Monica Herrera, “Katy Perry: The Billboard Cover Story,” B i l l b o a r d, July 23, 2010, https://www. billboard. com/music/music-news/katy-perry-the-billboard-cover-story-957236/. 460 Robert Copsey, “Katy Perry Records Answer to Jay-Z Song,” Digital Spy, April 16, 2010, http://www. digitalspy. com/music/a214850/katy-perry-records-answer-to-jay-z-song/. 132 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Following the massive success of the album' s lead single, “California Gurls,” 464 “Teenage Dream” was released on July 23, 2010, a month before its accompanying album. T eenage Dr eam would eventually produce five number-one hits on the Billboar d Hot 100, including “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” 465 “E. T.,” 466 and “Last Friday Night (T. G. I. F. ). ” 467 Perry became the only artist besides Michael Jackson to amass five number-one hits from the same album with these five songs. 468 She also became the only artist to spend sixty-nine consecutive weeks in the top ten, beating previous record holders Ace of Base, who logged forty-eight consecutive weeks between 1993 and 1994. 469 Except for “Firework,” Martin and Luke co-wrote and co-produced all of the album' s singles, including the sixth single, “The One That Got Away,” which peaked at number three and has a similar happy/sad duality to “Teenage Dream. ” A re-release of the album in 2012, titled T eenage Dr eam: The Complete Confection, yielded two more Martin and Luke mega-hits, “Part of Me” 470 and “Wide Awake,” 471 which reached numbers one and two in the U. S., respectively. 471 Written by Bonnie Mc Kee, Henry Walter (Cirkut), Max Martin, Katy Perry and Lukasz Gottwald and produced by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut. 470 Written by Bonnie Mc Kee, Max Martin, Katy Perry, and Lukasz Gottwald and produced by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut. 469 Gary Trust, “Katy Perry Still Holds Record, as The Chainsmokers Fall From Hot 100's Top 10 After 61 Consecutive Weeks,” B i l l b o a r d, July 10, 2017, https://www. billboard. com/pro/katy-perry-record-chainsmokers-fall-hot-100-top-10/. 468 Gary Trust, “Katy Perry Makes Hot 100 History: Ties Michael Jackson's Record,” B i l l b o a r d, August 17, 2011, https://www. billboard. com/music/music-news/katy-perry-makes-hot-100-history-ties-michael-jack sons-record-467879/. 467 Written by Bonnie Mc Kee, Max Martin, Katy Perry, and Lukasz Gottwald and produced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin. 466 Written by Max Martin, Joshua Coleman, Katy Perry, and Lukasz Gottwald and produced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin. 465 Co-written and co-produced by Norwegian writer-producer duo Stargate. 464 Written by Bonnie Mc Kee, Max Martin, Benjamin Levin (Benny Blanco), Calvin Broadus (Snoop Dogg), Katy Perry, and Lukasz Gottwald and produced by Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, and Max Martin. 133 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
F i g. 3. 3 : Katy Perry and Max Martin at the 2012 ASCAP Pop Music Awards (Photo by Michael Tran) 472 Perry' s peak years of popularity, between 2010 and 2013, bookend the beginning and end of Martin, Luke, and Mc Kee' s fruitful songwriting partnership. During this period, Perry scored eight number-one hits on the Billboar d Hot 100, seven of which were written and produced by Martin and Luke, including five written with Mc Kee. 473 As a result of her initial collaboration with Martin, Luke, and Perry on T eenage Dr eam, a team Mc Kee called “the dream team,” 474 Mc Kee' s career as a songwriter skyrocketed. Prior to her involvement with Martin and Luke, she had not written a hit. However, with their assistance, she gained entry 474 Dale Kawashima, “Bonnie Mc Kee Interview-Writing Hit Songs For Katy Perry and Taio Cruz,” S o n g w r i t e r U n i v e r s e, September 16, 2013, http://www. songwriteruniverse. com/bonnie-mckee-songwriter-123. htm. 473 “Katy Perry,” B i l l b o a r d, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://www. billboard. com/artist/katy-perry/. 472 Abby Jones, “Katy Perry Reunites With Max Martin in Sweden: Watch,” B i l l b o a r d, June 12, 2018, https://www. billboard. com/music/pop/katy-perry-max-martin-reunite-video-8460607/. 134 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
to major projects and learned invaluable lessons about “hit songwriting. ” She told the music website Songfacts in 2019: I was so fortunate to work with some of the best in the world, and Max really taught me a lot about the importance of symmetry and melody. There were some early sessions I did with him and Luke where I would write something and they would be like, “No, that's wrong,” and I was like, “You can't tell me it's wrong. It's art, and there' s no right and wrong in art. ” And they were like, “Yes, there is!” I remember being really upset about that, literally going and crying and being like, “I can't work with these people... they're telling me I'm wrong. ” And then once I got the hang of it, I was like, “Oh, they're right, there is a right and wrong way to do this when it comes to hit songwriting. ” I learned an important lesson while writing “Teenage Dream. ” We rewrote that lyric five times front to back. Same melody, same everything.... I reference those sessions all the time[. ] 475 Mc Kee continued by explaining the importance of syllabic emphasis and the vocalist' s role in delivering this emphasis, 476 touching on the concepts of Melodic Math and Martin' s focus on vocal delivery. Later in the interview, she added that Martin' s “nonsensical bumbling,” where “he sings nonsensical stuff, just phonetically pleasing lyrics” (another way of describing his Melody-first approach), was how the lyrics for other collaborations with Martin and Luke, such as Taio Cruz' s “Dynamite” and Perry' s “Wide Awake,” began. 477 After T eenage Dr eam, Mc Kee contributed to Britney Spears' 2011 album Femme Fatale and Perry' s 2013 album Prism, both number-one albums co-executive produced by Martin and Luke. Without Martin and Luke, she co-wrote the U. K. number-one hits “How We Do (Party)” for Rita Ora and “I Don' t Care” for Cheryl. Luke' s protégés, Benny Blanco and Cirkut, were also major contributors to Perry' s music (each was involved in three separate number-one hits for her) 477 Ibid. 476 Ibid. 475 Ibid. 135 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
and, like Mc Kee, benefitted significantly from working with Martin and Luke. When Blanco met Luke in 2007, he, like many of the writer-producers in this thesis, had no experience with pop. He told Seabrook, “I knew nothing about pop music. I didn' t even think about pop music--that wasn' t part of my realm. ” 478 Under Luke' s tutelage, however, he received impeccable training, shifting his focus from off-beat electronic and hip-hop to commercial pop. His first major credits were alongside Luke in 2008 on three songs for Britney Spears' Cir cus album and Perry' s hits “I Kissed a Girl” and “Hot n Cold,” which earned him the reputation and experience required to penetrate the pop charts. Cirkut trained with Luke around the same time. He worked with Martin, Luke, and Mc Kee on songs for the re-release of T eenage Dr eam and Prism and on songs for Britney Spears and Kesha. Collaboration among some combinations of Martin, Luke, Mc Kee, Blanco, and Cirkut was high during the early 2010s. During and following their apprenticeships with Luke, Blanco and Cirkut have been a part of a plethora of top ten hits: Blanco with thirty-two (eleven number ones) and Cirkut with nineteen (eight number ones). Phase Three: “Musician-driven”; Shellback By 2013, the trajectory of mainstream music shifted dramatically as streaming platforms like You Tube and Spotify altered music consumption and 478 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 238. 136 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
production. 479 Spotify, founded in Sweden in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, was revolutionary in the “de-genrefication” of music by allowing users to eschew tastemakers like the radio and access millions of songs, genres, and artists at little or no cost. 480 A rule change to the Billboar d chart in 2013 that would count streaming in its chart calculations reflected the prominence of streaming in the United States. 481 In 2017, R&B and hip-hop eclipsed rock and pop as the most listened-to genres in the U. S. for the first time due to streaming. 482 Writing for The Atlantic, Spencer Kornhaber stated, “By 2017, streaming had fully upended the radio-centric monoculture that stars like [Katy] Perry once thrived in. ” 483 The fun and frivolity of dance-pop, epitomized by T eenage Dr eam, was, like teen pop during the early 2000s, seen as vapid by the mid-2010s. Pop artists like Lorde, who debuted in 2013 with her minimalist hip-hop and R&B-influenced single “Royals,” represented a new kind of star that embraced intimacy in favor of glitz and grandeur. Influenced by the evolving musical landscape, Martin' s music during the mid-2010s cannot be neatly categorized into one subgenre of pop. John Seabrook suggests that Martin' s collaborations with already established, “musician-driven” artists looking to reinvent their careers musically constitute another phase of 483 Kornhaber, “How Pop Music's Teenage Dream Ended. ” 482 “2017 U. S. Music Year-End Report,” Nielsen, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://www. nielsen. com/insights/2018/2017-music-us-year-end-report/. 481 Unterberger, “2013 Was the Year That... Streaming Officially Became Unignorable. ” 480 Kristin Robinson, “15 Years of Spotify: How the Streaming Giant Has Changed and Reinvented the Music Industry,” V a r i e t y, April 13, 2021, https://variety. com/2021/music/news/spotify-turns-15-how-the-streaming-giant-has-changed-and-r einvented-the-music-industry-1234948299/. 479 Andrew Unterberger, “2013 Was the Year That... Streaming Officially Became Unignorable,” B i l l b o a r d, December 5, 2019, https://www. billboard. com/music/music-news/2013-year-of-streaming-8545169/. 137 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Martin' s career following the decline of dance-pop. 484 The artists who satisfy this criterion, namely Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and The Weeknd, comprise Martin' s most consistent clients during the second half of the 2010s. Martin' s role as a writer-producer became more artist-centered during this period as certain artists, particularly those with a strong background in songwriting like Taylor Swift, became equal collaborators in the songwriting process. In some cases, such as in the development of Ellie Goulding' s “Love Me Like You Do” and Selena Gomez' s “Hands to Myself,” Martin' s role was similar to that of an editor in that he refined in-progress songs rather than constructing them from the ground up. 485 Musically, the influence of R&B and hip-hop, though subtle, can be heard on several Martin songs towards the end of the decade, for example, “break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored” by Ariana Grande and “Ordinary Life” by The Weeknd. During the 2010s, Martin continued to mentor Swedish and American writer-producers, forming a multinational team of musicians that collaborated together and with other writer-producers. The production companies MXM Music & Publishing Productions and Wolf Cousins were founded by Martin in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Many longtime Martin collaborators, such as Rami Yacoub and Dr. Luke, signed with MXM, while Wolf Cousins primarily focused on newcomers. In 2007, the same year Luke met Benny Blanco, Martin met his new mentee, the sixteen-year-old Shellback (born Karl Johan Schuster), through a mutual friend in Sweden. Shellback' s backstory is, at this point, a textbook 485 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 73, 91. 484 DJ Louie XIV, “MAX MARTIN (with The New Yorker's John Seabrook). ” 138 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
example of the Swedish writer-producer: he attended municipal music schools, played in metal bands as a teenager, and entered the close-knit Stockholm music industry, where he met Martin, who mentored him. Shellback would eventually become one of Martin' s most consistent collaborators, assuming the roles of Yacoub and Luke, both of whom continued to work with Martin during the early 2010s but had developed their own careers and mentee relationships. In collaboration with Taylor Swift, Martin and Shellback formed an intimate and long-standing artist and writer-producer songwriting partnership similar to Martin' s partnership with Katy Perry. Martin and Shellback' s first collaborations with Swift in 2012 were deliberate attempts to fuse Martin' s precision-oriented pop with the country sound and narrative lyricism Swift was known for by that point. Martin' s reputation was critical to landing him the job with Swift, who was a fan of his work and wanted to combine their disparate sounds and songwriting techniques. 486 Swift recalled in an interview with GRAMMY Pro in 2015, “The idea of Max Martin, he's enigmatic, he's so mysterious. You're like, 'What does he look like? What does he talk like? Does he wear a cloak?' And I just wanted to know. I was like, 'What is a Swedish pop mastermind? What does that look like?” 487 “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” the lead single from Swift' s 2012 album Red and her first collaboration with Martin and Shellback, became her first number-one single in the U. S. and noticeably leaned more pop than Swift' s previous material. “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “22,” the two additional Martin and Shellback 487 G r a m m y P r o 2 0 1 5-T a y l o r S w i f t P t 1, 2015, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=7Venl V7Qxak. 486 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 60. 139 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
collaborations included on Red, are similarly pop-centric, combining elements of pop-rock, dance-pop, and Swift' s native country. The musical diversity of Red, which straddled primarily pop and country musical aesthetics, led Swift to reassess her artistry. 488 Hoping to create a more sonically cohesive project, she abandoned her country sound and fully transitioned into pop for her next album, 1989, titled after her birth year to signify her musical rebirth. 489 Swift drew inspiration from 1980s synthpop and enlisted Martin as her co-executive producer, who, in turn, recruited Shellback as his co-producer. Taylor Swift's “Blank Space” Martin and Shellback' s songwriting dynamic with Swift is well exemplified by “ Blank Space. ” A “voice memo” included on the deluxe edition of 1989 captures the first time Swift performed a draft of “Blank Space” for Martin and Shellback, clarifying the stage at which Martin and Shellback joined Swift' s songwriting process. In the voice memo, Swift plays acoustic guitar and sings a melody nearly identical to the one she would later record for the final version of “Blank Space. ” Though Swift sings part of the melody using words, most of her vocalizations are gibberish that act as placeholders for lyrics. The only point at which she fully sings words is in the chorus. Therefore, she composed the melody first and added most of the lyrics later. Martin and Shellback' s voices appear in the background of the recording as they provide positive feedback and call out 489 Ibid. 488 Ibid. 140 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
spontaneous production ideas, such as the shouted interjection “oh!” that would later be added during the production process. Swift wrote “Blank Space” as a satirical response to the media' s relentless criticism of her dating history and portrayal of her as a “serial dater” and “man-hater,” among other things. 490 She explained in various interviews that she wrote the lyrics like “a crossword puzzle” by piecing together different lyrical phrases and one-liners, such as “'Cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream,” she had written over several years (see Appendix E for final lyrics). 491 After Swift played “Blank Space” for Martin and Shellback, they decided to make the production simple to highlight Swift' s lyrics and vocals. 492 Martin and Shellback' s experience in pop was crucial to familiarizing Swift with various pop production aesthetics that differed from the acoustic soundscape of country. While Swift revised her lyrics, Martin and Shellback crafted the instrumental, beginning with drum samples from the iconic Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer (commonly known as the 808), a 1980s drum machine widely used in hip-hop production. 493 Martin and Shellback combined the 808 with acoustic guitars (the only stylistic callback to Swift' s country sound), synthesizers, and the electro-mechanical keyboard known as the Mellotron. 494 The Mellotron, in particular, guided the sonic direction of many of the songs Martin and Shellback produced for 1989. 495 495 Ibid. 494 Ibid. 493 Ibid. 492 G r a m m y P r o 2 0 1 5-T a y l o r S w i f t P t 1. 491 Ibid. 490 T a y l o r S w i f t-H o w I W r o t e M y M a s s i v e H i t “ B l a n k S p a c e, ” 2015, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=8b YUDY4lmls. 141 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Unlike Martin and Shellback' s previous collaborations, “Blank Space” is noticeably sparse, evoking the minimalism of hip-hop production. The verses feature only the Mellotron and a simple snare and kick-drum combination from the 808. In the chorus, Martin and Shellback add acoustic guitars and electronic bass, but the instrumental remains relatively sparse to keep the focus on Swift' s melody, lyrics, and vocals. Eschewing the typical immensity of Martin' s production style, Martin and Shellback still manage to create a discernible increase in energy between the verses and chorus by comping and layering Swift' s vocals. They also include affected samples of Swift and Shellback shouting the interjection “oh!” between every other phrase Swift sings in the chorus. These samples, combined with the intensity of Swift' s comped and layered vocals, give the chorus considerable depth and texture even though the instrumental remains sparse. With the “oh!” backing vocals, the chorus can be transcribed as: “[Oh!] So it's gonna be forever / Or it's gonna go down in flames / [Oh!] You can tell me when it's over / If the high was worth the pain / [Oh!] Gotta a long list of ex-lovers / They'll tell you I'm insane / [Oh!] 'Cause you know I love the players / And you love the game. ” At the point in the voice memo when Martin spontaneously comes up with the “oh!” backing vocals, Swift compares it to the work of rapper Nelly. Swift' s spoken vocal delivery throughout “Blank Space” furthers the song' s flirtation with hip-hop. During the verses, Swift oscillates between a clipped vocal delivery 496 reminiscent of rapping and a more melodic pop vocal 496 Nate Sloan, “Taylor Swift and the Work of Songwriting,” C o n t e m p o r a r y M u s i c R e v i e w 40, no. 1 (January 2, 2021): 11-26, https://doi. org/10. 1080/07494467. 2021. 1945226. 142 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
style: “Nice to meet you, where you been?” is almost spoken, while “I could show you incredible things” is sung. The melody reinforces this difference between spoken and sung. The beginning of the phrase, when Swift sings, “Nice to meet you, where you been?” is on the same pitch, whereas the melody at the end of the phrase, when Swift sings, “I could show you incredible things,” moves up and down in pitch. The verse continues this pattern of spoken and sung with the same repeated melody. Towards the end of the verse, right before the chorus, Swift speaks the line “I can make the bad guys good for a weekend” (in the second verse, this line is “'Cause darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream”) as the music momentarily drops out. Seconds later, when the instrumentation returns at the beginning of the chorus, Swift sings, and the melody becomes increasingly more melodic and high in her vocal range. The instrumentation builds, and Swift' s vocals receive Martin and Shellback' s comped and layered treatment, resulting in a climax that is suddenly interrupted as the music drops out again. This moment happens across five critical seconds: Swift sings the hook, “'Cause I've got a blank space baby,” the music drops out, and the sound of a pen clicking cues Swift' s coy remark, “And I'll write your name. ” 497 The sparse instrumentation returns for the following verse, and the song' s spoken and sung dichotomy resumes. 498 The melodic and rhythmic contrast of Melodic Math is most evident in the verse' s contrasting spoken and sung lines, juxtaposed further by the more melodic delivery of the chorus. Absent from the lyric writing process, Martin and 498 Ibid. 497 Ibid. 143 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Shellback assisted Swift with revising her melodies, particularly so that their production would emphasize her melodies. 499 The hip-hop-tinged production, for example, parallels the spoken, rap-like segments of the verse while guitars and synthesizers reinforce the melodic pop chorus. Swift' s lyrics are also emphasized by the production, most cleverly when Swift sings the titular phrase “blank space,” and the instrumental dissipates, only to be followed by the pen-click sound that makes the tongue-in-cheek “And I'll write your name” all the more satisfying. Other instances of Melodic Math appear, but Swift' s voice memo makes it clear that much of the melody was there from the beginning, and Martin and Shellback took on editor roles. Concerning “Blank Space,” Martin and Shellback' s principal roles were to support Swift' s musical vision and elevate her songwriting in a pop context, roles they maintained throughout the development of 1989. In the context of Swift' s prolific career, 1989, which Swift referred to as her “first documented, official pop album,” 500 is a landmark album that cemented her status as a global pop icon. Unlike Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, and Katy Perry, Swift already had an established career long before working with Martin. However, her decision to work directly with Martin to facilitate her transition from country to pop reveals the significance of Martin' s reputation as a hitmaker and a profound determining force in the careers of several of the century' s biggest female pop stars. Ola Johansson determined in his research that “Star performers are frequently quoted in the data wanting to work with top producers like Max Martin because of his 500 T a y l o r S w i f t W o r l d w i d e L i v e S t r e a m P a r t 2-S e c r e t 2, 2014, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=8f Dlh MAe N9Y. 499 G r a m m y P r o 2 0 1 5-T a y l o r S w i f t P t 1. 144 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
general reputation as a hit song maker. This reputation can also be attractive for artists who want to cross over into pop from other genres. ” 501 His second point can be applied to Ariana Grande and The Weeknd, both of whom worked with Martin the same year 1989 was released on their sophomore albums to transition into mainstream pop. More than just a creative redirection for Swift, 1989 was a smashing commercial and critical success. The album was released on October 27, 2014, and sold more than a million copies in its opening week, becoming the first album to do so since Swift' s Red in 2012 and the biggest opening sales week since 2002. 502 Martin and Shellback co-wrote and co-produced nine of the album' s sixteen songs, including the first five singles, “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Style,” 503 “Bad Blood,” and “Wildest Dreams. ” These five singles reached the top ten of the Billboar d Hot 100 with “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” and “Bad Blood,” peaking at number one. 504 1989, thus, became the second album released in the 2010s to generate five or more top ten hits in the U. S. after Katy Perry' s T eenage Dr eam, the very album Martin helped make a blockbuster hit. 505 Andrew Unterber ger noted in Billboar d in 2017 that 1989 “achiev[ed] a kind of cultural 505 Trevor Anderson, “The Albums With The Most Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 Hits: Drake's 'Certified Lover Boy' & More,” B i l l b o a r d, September 15, 2021, https://www. billboard. com/photos/albums-five-top-10-hot-100-hits/. 504 “Taylor Swift,” B i l l b o a r d, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://www. billboard. com/artist/taylor-swift/. 503 With additional writing and production from Ali Payami. 502 Keith Caulfield, “Official: Taylor Swift's '1989' Debuts With 1. 287 Million Sold In First Week,” B i l l b o a r d, November 5, 2014, https://www. billboard. com/pro/official-taylor-swifts-1989-debuts-with-1287-million-sold-in/. 501 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 60. 145 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
omnipresence that's rare for a 2010s album. ” 506 As with Perry, Martin' s collaboration with Swift was fundamental to developing her sound and expanding the reach of her music. John Seabrook wrote in The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory, “In Swift, the Swedish master may have found his ultimate collaborator: an artist strong enough to stand up for her vision, but canny enough to appreciate his genius. ” 507 1989, in all its glory, demonstrates the power of genuine collaboration between superstar artist and mega writer-producer. Many of the songs Martin and Shellback produced for 1989 involved Swedish musicians, making the album a wide-scale Swedish collaborative effort. 508 For example, “Style” was developed from an instrumental the Iranian-Swedish writer-producer and Martin protégé Ali Payami had created that Swift overheard and requested to use. 509 In addition, much of the live instrumentation, such as the saxophone in “Shake It Off” or the strings in “Wildest Dreams,” was recorded by Swedish musicians in Sweden. 510 American mastering engineer Tom Coyne praised Martin' s production, saying, “My job was easy. Max Martin' s collaboration with Taylor Swift pretty much assured the album was going to be big, bold and beautiful. ” 511 In the two years following 1989, Martin earned his first Grammys for Producer of the Year and as a producer on 1989, which won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2016 511 Ibid. 510 Ibid. 509 Ibid. 508 Paul Zollo, “The Oral History of Taylor Swift's '1989,'” C u e p o i n t (blog), February 14, 2016, https://medium. com/cuepoint/the-oral-history-of-taylor-swift-s-1989-d9869cc13adc. 507 Seabrook, T h e S o n g M a c h i n e, 306. 506 Andrew Unterberger, “While You Weren't Looking, Taylor Swift Scored Her Biggest 'Reputation' Radio Hit,” B i l l b o a r d, July 6, 2018, https://www. billboard. com/pro/taylor-swift-delicate-reputation-biggest-radio-hit/. 146 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
ceremony. Swift accepted the Grammy for Album of the Year with Martin and many of her other collaborators onstage, specifically thanking Martin, whom she said: “deserved to be up here for twenty-five years. ” 512 Swift later spoke highly of Martin and Shellback when accepting the National Music Publishers Association' s Songwriter Icon Award in 2021 and emphasized the “lessons” she learned from them “in a melodic sense. ” 513 F i g. 3. 4 : Max Martin (right), Shellback (middle), and Taylor Swift (left) circa the recording period of 1 9 8 9 514 514 Dylan Matthews, “How a Swedish Hair-Metal Singer Took over American Pop Music,” V o x, October 7, 2015, https://www. vox. com/2015/10/7/9465815/max-martin-john-seabrook. 513 Ashley Jones, “Read Taylor Swift's Speech on the 'Magical, Mystical' Art of Songwriting When Accepting NMPA Icon Award | Variety,” National Music Publishers' Association, June 15, 2021, https://www. nmpa. org/read-taylor-swifts-speech-on-the-magical-mystical-art-of-songwriting-when -accepting-nmpa-icon-award/. 512 T a y l o r S w i f t | A l b u m o f t h e Y e a r | 5 8 t h G R A M M Y s, 2016, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=d MCAEUb0h34. 147 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Many critics have lauded “Blank Space” as the highlight of 1989 and one of the best songs in Swift' s extensive catalog. Numerous contemporary reviews at the time of 1989 's release noted similarities to the minimalist production and speak-sing vocal style of the then “it girl” Lorde, illustrating how Martin, Shellback, and Swift successfully borrowed from popular musical aesthetics of the time while retaining the album' s timeless 1980s sonic palette. 515 Corey Beasley summarized the strengths of “Blank Space” in a 2014 review of 1989 for the online magazine Pop Matters :... 'Blank Space' builds as masterfully as a gleaming skyscraper, with Swift and co-producers Max Martin and Shellback adding layers and layers of sounds—here a percussively strummed acoustic guitar, there an 'oh!' backing vocal—to the track' s simple, Lorde-lite electro foundation. Weapons-grade, professional pop like this doesn' t come around often. It may sound bright and easy, but it's anything but the latter to create. 516 The hip-hop-influenced production on “Blank Space,” another element the song shares with Lorde' s brand of pop, reappeared on “Bad Blood,” a parallel that became more blatant when Swift released a remix of the song featuring guest vocals from rapper Kendrick Lamar and additional production by Martin protégé ILYA. The remix was released as a single and peaked at number one on the Billboar d Hot 100. 517 Swift' s dabbling in hip-hop and the satirical lyrics of “Blank Space” foreshadowed the eventual sonic and narrative tone of her subsequent album, r eputation, written in response to the increased public scrutiny she faced. 517 “Taylor Swift,” B i l l b o a r d, Accessed January 6, 2023, https://www. billboard. com/artist/taylor-swift/. 516 Corey Beasley, “Taylor Swift: 1989, Pop Matters,” Pop Matters, October 31, 2014, https://www. popmatters. com/187585-taylor-swift-1989-2495596654. html. 515 Lyndsey Havens, “Songs That Defined the Decade: Lorde's 'Royals,'” B i l l b o a r d, November 21, 2019, https://www. billboard. com/music/music-news/lorde-royals-songs-that-defined-the-decade-854412 2/. 148 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Critics noted the album' s use of trap, R&B, and EDM production and Swift' s rapped delivery on many songs. Martin and Shellback have songwriting and production credits on nine of the fifteen songs, and several other Swedish writer-producers, courtesy of Martin, also worked on the album. Shellback' s partnership with Martin extends far beyond Swift, and their partnership remains one of the most successful in contemporary pop. Martin' s mentorship was once again fundamental to Shellback' s success, completely adjusting Shellback' s musical ambitions from Swedish heavy metal to mainstream global pop and providing him with training, collaborations, and connections that have helped make him arguably the most successful Swedish writer-producer working today after Martin. Now, Shellback remains based in Stockholm and heads Martin' s Wolf Cousins collective. 518 He frequently works with other Martin writer-producers signed to Wolf Cousins and has maintained a successful songwriting partnership with Benny Blanco, most notably on hits for Maroon 5. To date, Shellback has co-written and co-produced ten Billboar d Hot 100 number-one singles, nine of which were written with Martin and one with Blanco. He has credits on sixteen other top ten hits, including fourteen with Martin and two with Blanco. 518 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 56. 149 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
A Summary of Max Martin's Impact (2004-2014) Throughout this chapter, I have covered substantial ground to summarize and closely examine the impact of Martin' s music, mentorship, and songwriting characteristics on the development of twenty-first-century music. My argument has thus linked Martin' s personal musical developments with those of the music industry at large. Briefly detailing what I have identified as several among many other major shifts in the sound and style of mainstream pop, I have shown how Martin has adapted his sound to the rapidly changing musical landscape, particularly by working with an array of different collaborators. Whether Martin is a trendsetter or a trend hopper is debatable, but the answer likely lies somewhere in between. In the case of teen pop and pop-rock, Martin was arguably a pioneer. His pivots to dance-pop and a more flexible approach to working with artists and on songs that span genres and stages of development are perhaps less innovative but equally defining in the sound of pop. Moreover, his adaptability and willingness to embrace new sounds, genres, and collaborators have contributed to his exceptional longevity as a hit writer-producer. Martin has acknowledged the transformative power collaboration has had on his career. Referring to his songwriting partnership with Shellback, Martin told Swedish journalist Jan Gradvall during his Polar Prize Masterclass, “This guy changed my life. This guy's a genius.... Because I have to now keep up with him and I think that's a good thing... You need better people around you to evolve... ” 519 When Gradvall asked Martin why he so regularly embraces new 519 P o l a r M u s i c M a x M a r t i n M a s t e r c l a s s I n t e r v i e w. 150 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
writer-producers and collaborators, especially when most would view younger writer-producers as a threat, Martin responded by saying: But I come from that. That' s what Denniz did. It's from that school of bringing new talent. He loved new talent. That was his thing. The whole mentor thing that we are doing, and I guess I'm doing now, and I see we're now on the sort of third and fourth generation of people doing it, and it just makes the whole difference. 520 Martin sees his role as a mentor to many leading writer-producers in pop as a continuation of Denniz' s mentorship. Martin' s mentorship has created a pronounced ripple effect across generations of writer-producers. One clear example is Dr. Luke, who followed Martin' s lead to mentor Benny Blanco and Cirkut, major contemporary writer-producers in Martin' s lineage. Another example is Shellback' s work with many new Swedish talents signed to Wolf Cousins. Wolf Cousins, as a collective of writer-producers collaborating, is analogous to Cheiron and adds to the many parallels between Martin and Denniz. The other effect Martin' s mentorship has had on other writer-producers beyond providing them with a launchpad for their careers is steeping them in the various songwriting characteristics he has perfected and cultivated, many of which he learned at Cheiron. As I stated in Chapter Two, none of these characteristics (Melody-first, Melodic Math, simplicity and immediacy, collaboration, and vocal-oriented) can be rightfully attributed to Martin, Cheiron, or any particular songwriter as their “inventions. ” However, they are closely linked with Martin' s work. Nearly every writer-producer and performing artist who has worked with Martin to some significant extent has associated elements of these characteristics with Martin. Other media sources and journalists like John 520 Ibid. 151 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Seabrook who write about Martin similarly assign these characteristics to Martin' s songwriting style. The strength and clarity of Martin' s songwriting and production create exemplary pop songs that are consistently used as templates for writing other songs. Bonnie Mc Kee, for instance, said, “Since U Been Gone” “has a roadmap hook that I refer to all the time. ” 521 She told Metro L yrics in 2013, “Dr. Luke and Max Martin are like my songwriting Yodas. I feel like they're my mentors, they've taught me everything. I came in with raw talent and they kind of helped me chisel away and make it into almost a science. ” 522 Continuing with a Star Wars metaphor, Seabrook wrote in The New Y orker, “If Luke is the Skywalker of pop songcraft, Max is the Obi-W an: the reclusive master. ” 523 Frequently called a “master,” Martin is widely seen as the model for a certain level of pop songcraft. This association further explains why, along with his reputation as a hitmaker, Martin is in-demand; to some extent, performers know what to expect from Martin, even as elements of his sound and style change. Martin' s mentorship has led to several long-term partnerships with performers who collaborate with him regularly and hire him to produce numerous songs from multiple albums. As I have explained throughout this chapter and the previous chapter, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift are all repeat Martin clients who have had Martin executive produce at least one of their albums. *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, P!nk, Ariana Grande, and The Weeknd have 523 Seabrook, “The Doctor Is In. ” 522 B o n n i e M c K e e S h a r e s H e r S o n g w r i t i n g S e c r e t s ( L I N E R N O T E S ), 2013, https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=z-wv EM36_Lc. 521 Crowley, “Bonnie Mc Kee Breaks Down 'Teenage Dream' & 'Dynamite' Choruses-and Why She Felt Insulted by Lorde's Lyrics. ” 152 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
also worked with Martin repeatedly. The result of these long-term partnerships and critical shorter-term collaborations, such as Martin' s work with Kelly Clarkson, is that Martin is inextricably linked to the musical style of many defining pop acts of the twenty-first century. Unbeknownst to most, Martin' s music, sound, and songwriting characteristics are woven into American pop's fabric. There is no denying Martin' s influence on songs like “... Baby One More Time,” “Since U Been Gone,” “Teenage Dream,” and “Blank Space” and the transformation these songs have had on their respective performers' careers. Because the three songs I have chosen to analyze in this chapter cover ten years following Martin' s time at Cheiron, they provide a rich perspective on how Martin' s relevance has endured in the competitive music industry. The Billboar d Hot 100 chart in 2014, the year “Blank Space” and 1989 were released, shows how far Martin' s success and impact had expanded by that point. Four of the ten number-one singles on the Hot 100 that year had some combination of Martin, Shellback, Luke, and Cirkut attached to them, representing forty percent of the number-one singles. Including these ten number-one singles, forty-eight songs reached the top ten, eleven of which featured some combination of the writer-producers listed above plus Blanco and the Martin affiliates ILYA, Savan Kotecha, Ali Payami, Rickard Göransson, Peter Svensson, and Peter Carlsson (all but Luke, Cirkut, Blanco, and Kotecha are Swedish). Ariana Grande had the most top ten hits that year, with four, all of which were co-written and co-produced by Martin. Billboar d reported in 2015 that “on any given week on the Hot 100 these days, Swedish songwriters pop up on a minimum of 20% of the whole chart....the 153 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Swedish invasion is at peaks unseen since the late '90s. ” 524 Martin' s success, which has enhanced the reputation of the Swedish songwriter as a hitmaker, and his deliberate willingness to foster a new generation of Swedish talent are chief reasons why the Swedish writer-producer has survived and developed from the model Denniz first began in the 1990s at Cheiron. 524 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 57. 154 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Conclusion As “one of the primary architects of the sound of the modern Top 40,” 525 Max Martin has widened Sweden' s position in the global music industry, building off the successes of ABBA, a wave of 1980s and 1990s acts, and, most specifically Denniz Pop, to bridge the gap between the Swedish and American music industries. In Songs fr om Sweden: Shaping Pop Cultur e in a Globalized Music Industry, Johansson presents data beginning with Denniz' s work with Ace of Base in 1993 and culminating in 2018 that correlates peaks in the number of Swedish songwriting and production credits with Martin' s success. 526 Before Cheiron became a hotspot for American artists to record music written and produced by Swedish musicians, the connection between American record labels and Swedish writer-producers did not exist. Even as the Swedish music industry has globalized, resulting in many prominent Swedish writer-producers migrating to America, Stockholm has maintained its allure. For example, the American writer-producer Savan Kotecha, who had his first hit as a songwriter on Carrie Underwood' s American Idol coronation song “Inside Your Heaven,” 527 moved from his native Texas to Stockholm in the late 2000s to improve career opportunities when he felt “pop was dead in America [at the time]. ” 528 Many 528 Michael Cragg, “Savan Kotecha Interview: 'The People with the Longest Careers Are the People Who Learn How to Do It on Purpose,'” Popjustice, October 5, 2015, https://www. popjustice. com/articles/savan-kotecha-interview-the-people-with-the-longest-careers- are-the-people-who-learn-how-to-do-it-on-purpose/. 527 Co-written by Andreas Carlsson. 526 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 58. 525 Joe Coscarelli, “Max Martin, Pop's Low-Key Mastermind, Takes Center Stage (Sort Of),” T h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s, November 11, 2022, sec. Arts, https://www. nytimes. com/2022/11/11/arts/music/max-martin-and-juliet. html. 155 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Swedish writer-producers have dual residency in Sweden and elsewhere, most often in Los Angeles, and international artists, especially smaller ones, still travel to Stockholm to write and record. Swedish pop has become a source of national pride, and a Swedish ethnicity or association can be a reputation enhancer for writer-producers. Martin' s production companies MXM and Wolf Cousins, both based in Stockholm, are an ever-growing network of primarily Swedish writer-producers who represent, by and large, the biggest Swedish writer-producers in pop today. Rami Yacoub, Shellback, ILYA, Savan Kotecha, Ali Payami, Peter Svensson, Alexander Kronlund, Johan Carlsson, Peter Carlsson, Rickard Goransson, Oscar Holter, Oscar Görres, and Mattman & Robin, and several women, including Laleh, Tove Lo, and Elvira are all tied to Wolf Cousins. In general, these musicians are part of the second and third generations of globally successful Swedish writer-producers. Collaboration and mentorship are paramount to their operations. Each year they collectively (in different combinations and often with additional writer-producers) produce dozens of songs for a wide-ranging clientele. The role of the Swedish writer-producer as one of the biggest exporters of Swedish-related music holds serious weight in the present. Export Music Sweden (Ex MS), a Swedish organization that tracks Swedish music exports, predicts a revenue slowdown in the Swedish music industry as the total addressable market (people living in Sweden who “possess a Spotify-enabled smartphone and credit or debit card to pay for it”) reaches a plateau. 529 Data acquired by Ex MS from 529 Page and Safir, “Ex MS Report-Sustaining Sweden's Music Export Success. ” 156 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Spotify indicates that “for every stream Swedish artists get on Spotify at home, they are achieving two overseas. ” 530 This points to opportunities for increasing Swedish music exports to foreign consumers in established markets like the U. S. and Europe and untapped markets like Asia and Australia. 531 Ex MS recommends increasing governmental support to both musicians and music organizations such as the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM) and the Swedish Artists' and Musicians' Interest Organisation (SAMI) to double the Swedish export ratio from 2:1 to 4:1. 532 Swedish writer-producers, as “middlemen” between the Swedish and American music industries with the greatest export potential, bode well for the future of the Swedish music industry. Though the focus of this thesis has been predominantly on Martin' s influence on the Swedish and American music industries, his methods have spread to other non-English music markets more recently. In a rare and recent 2022 profile on Martin for The New Y ork T imes, Joe Coscarelli wrote, “Martin has proved equally influential in his methods of assembly, pushing producers and songwriters around the world toward the Swedish model of broad collaboration, optimization, reliability and populism. ” 533 Some Swedish writer-producers have taken to writing K-pop (Korean pop) songs, working in duos or large teams at international songwriting “camps” organized by Korean record labels or publishers in an assembly line method similar to that of Cheiron. 534 Swedish 534 Alex Marshall, “Sweden's Songwriters Dominated U. S. Pop. Now, They're Looking to Korea,” T h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s, January 26, 2022, sec. Arts, https://www. nytimes. com/2022/01/26/arts/music/sweden-kpop-bts-red-velvet. html. 533 Coscarelli, “Max Martin, Pop's Low-Key Mastermind, Takes Center Stage (Sort Of). ” 532 Ibid. 531 Ibid. 530 Ibid. 157 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
songwriters write melodies using English lyrics, and then Korean songwriters write new lyrics in Korean, keeping certain English words. 535 The resulting songs are thus a hybrid between English and Korean. While the global popularity of K-pop is relatively new, Korean labels have sought out European songwriters since the late 1990s with “Max Martin productions in mind,” according to Michael Fuhr, author of Globalization and Popular Music in South Kor ea: Sounding Out K-Pop. 536 Several songwriting and publishing companies in Stockholm currently employ Swedish K-pop songwriters, including EKKO (based in Korea with studios in Stockholm), Cosmos, and The Kennel. 537 As I near the end of this thesis, I want to offer two additional perspectives that I did not address here and ultimately warrant further exploration. The first is the hegemonic nature of Martin and his peers' prolonged and dominant success. If we revisit the Billboar d Hot 100 chart in 2014 that I summarized at the conclusion of Chapter Three, we will notice the firm grasp Martin and his collaborators had on the charts (four of the ten number-one singles that year were written by some combination of Martin, Shellback, Luke, and Cirkut). 2014 was not a total anomaly; in 2013, Martin and songwriters directly connected to him produced nearly twenty percent of the number-one singles. 538 That percentage was 538 The songs “Roar” (Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Bonnie Mc Kee, and Cirkut) and “Wrecking Ball” (Dr. Luke and Cirkut). 537 Ibid. 536 Ibid. 535 Ibid. 158 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
approximately thirty percent in 2012 (nearly forty if including Jörgen Elofsson' s co-write on “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson), 539 2011, 540 and 2010. 541 So-called music purists often dismiss contemporary pop music as “sounding all the same. ” Indeed, this is an oversimplification, yet there is some truth to the statement. When over a quarter of the number-one hits in a year are written and produced by the same few musicians, who are collaborators, is it not inevitable that songs from this period will sound similar or contain familiar attributes? Many songwriters strive to replicate successful songs through subtle “plagiarism” because audiences latch on to familiarity. 542 Jan Gradvall wrote in 2016, “As soon as a brand new Max Martin tune begins climbing the charts, 10,000 songwriters all over the world immediately try to copy it. ” 543 The signature Cheiron sound was one such Martin style that was heavily copied by other writer-producers, and Martin and Luke have not been shy about recycling elements of their hit songs for subsequent songs (listen to the similar chorus melodies of Kesha' s “Ti K To K” and Katy Perry' s “California Gurls” as an example). I present two additional follow-up questions to my thoughts here. First: What implications does this musical “hegemony” have on the development of 543 Johansson, S o n g s f r o m S w e d e n, 61. 542 Seabrook, “Blank Space. ” 541 The songs “Ti K To K” (Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco), “California Gurls” (Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, and Bonnie Mc Kee), “Teenage Dream” (same as “California Gurls”), “We R Who We R” (Ammo, Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco), and “Raise Your Glass” (Max Martin and Shellback). 540 The songs “Hold It Against Me” (Max Martin, Dr. Luke, and Bonnie Mc Kee), “E. T. ” (Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Dr. Luke protégé Ammo), “Last Friday Night (T. G. I. F. )” (Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Bonnie Mc Kee), and “Moves Like Jagger” (Benny Blanco and Shellback). 539 The songs “Part of Me” (Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Bonnie Mc Kee, and Cirkut), “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (Taylor Swift, Max Martin, and Shellback), “One More Night” (Shellback, Max Martin, and Savan Kotecha), and “Diamonds” (Benny Blanco). 159 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
popular music? And second: If and how has this hegemony changed with the democratization of music permitted by streaming services like Spotify? The second perspective I want to address is gender. There are overwhelmingly more men than women working as songwriters and producers. The role of the producer, in particular, has long been male-dominated. Women are more commonly accepted as songwriters because songwriting is seen as an “emotional” form of expression that aligns with societal expectations of women. 544 Female songwriters are also seen as valuable because they bring an inherently female perspective to a song, which is ideal for material sung by female vocalists. 545 Martin and many other Swedish writer-producers, almost all of whom are male, have a long history of collaborating with female vocalists. Many of these female artists, such as Britney Spears or Kelly Clarkson, were not typically involved in the composition of their songs (the same goes for many male artists). One interesting result of male songwriters writing for female vocalists is that the songs are imbued with the male songwriter 's perspective of the female experience. This is especially interesting when contemplating the predominantly young female fan bases of artists like Spears, Clarkson, and Katy Perry, who absorb these lyrics from their female role models. Unfortunately, as I touched on in my discussion of Clarkson' s “Since U Been Gone” in Chapter Three, young female artists, in particular, are often dissuaded and even prohibited from exerting creative control over their music when they request to be involved. Often the writer-producer is uninformed of the 545 Ibid. 544 Ibid, 79. 160 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
nuances of this conflict; their job is to produce what the label has requested, and their awareness of artist and label dynamics is minimal, if it exists at all. Nonetheless, the dynamics between writer-producer and artist can also be gender imbalanced, especially when the writer-producer is male and the artist is female. Power dynamics in the music industry are unavoidable and can create not only creatively limiting and uncomfortable environments for women, who are frequently working in a room full of men, but also environments that are dangerous and predatory. In 2014, the singer-songwriter signed to Dr. Luke' s Kemosabe Records, Kesha (formerly Ke$ha), accused Luke of sexual, physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, accusations which Luke denied. 546 Martin and many other longtime Luke collaborators immediately terminated their professional partnerships with Luke and have not worked with him since the accusations were made public. Nevertheless, Luke continues to write and produce major hits under the “Dr. Luke” moniker as well as “Tyson Trax” and “Made in China. ” The legal case with Kesha is ongoing, and Kesha remains under contract with Kemosabe Records. In November 2017, 2,000 women in the Swedish music industry, including major Swedish pop stars, signed a petition alleging the industry perpetuates “sexual assault and harassment, sexism, and a culture of silence....” 547 In July of that year, Martin partnered with Spotify to launch the Equalizer Project in Sweden, which promotes women, transgender, and non-binary professionals in 547 O'Kane, “How Sweden Became a Dominant Force in Global Pop Music. ” 546 Maura Johnston, “Kesha, Dr. Luke: The Case Explained,” R o l l i n g S t o n e, February 22, 2016, https://www. rollingstone. com/music/music-news/kesha-and-dr-luke-everything-you-need-to-know -to-understand-the-case-106731/. 161 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
the music industry. 548 As of 2022, the project has become part of Spotify' s global EQUAL program and has hosted networking and education events with Martin, Shellback, and Katy Perry. The EQUAL program celebrates role models in the music industry to provide opportunities for up-and-coming talent. 549 The program' s Nordic division organizes producer camps, discussion panels, yearly meetups, and the Equalizer podcast. 550 Discussing his position as a male writer-producer, Martin told The Guar dian in 2019, “We try and do our best to make [the studio environment] diverse, welcoming and inclusive. Let's try and inform and be role models as much as possible in our world and hopefully it will spread. ” 551 He has consciously “adapt[ed] with the times” to incorporate his female collaborators' input, allowing them to tell their stories through lyrics and turning his attention to other musical elements like melody-writing and production. 552 Since his tremendous success with Taylor Swift on 1989 in 2014, Martin has stayed busy. He was awarded the prestigious Swedish Polar Music Prize in 2016 at a ceremony attended by the King of Sweden and three members of Backstreet Boys with virtual appearances by Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, P!nk, and Adam Levine of Maroon 5. He was also responsible for nineteen Billboar d top ten hits, including five number ones, between 2015 and 552 Ware and Ware, “S12 Ep 8: Max Martin. ” 551 Cragg, “'Britney Spears Is a Genius. '” 550 Ibid. 549 “About | Spotify Equal,” Spotify EQUAL, Accessed January 11, 2023, https://equalnordics. byspotify. com/about. 548 “Equalizer Project Opens Opportunities for Women in the Nordic Music Industry,” Spotify, March 4, 2019, https://pr-newsroom-wp. appspot. com/2019-03-04/equalizer-project-opens-opportunities-for-wome n-in-the-nordic-music-industry/. 162 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
2021. & Juliet, a new musical retelling of Shakespeare' s Romeo & Juliet, features more than thirty of Martin' s songs spanning most of his career. The show opened on London' s West End in 2019 to critical acclaim and is currently playing on Broadway. It will premiere in Melbourne in February 2023. Martin assisted with auditions and workshops and produced both the London and Broadway cast recordings. 553 He lives and works mainly in Los Angeles. In 2022, he collaborated on songs with The Weeknd, Måneskin, Lizzo, P!nk, and Kim Petras, and for the first time in decades, recorded lead vocals on a song called “Red Lights” for Tik Tok and Universal Music Group' s Stem Drop campaign. 2022 was notably the first year Martin did not score a Billboar d top ten hit since 2007. Is this the first sign Martin' s reign is over? His excellent track record says otherwise. Maybe we are approaching another major pivot in popular music, and Martin is anticipating a new sound and style like he has time and time again. Either way, he seems content, telling The Guar dian : I've come to a point where I try not to think about the perception of the work.... The first time it happened, when the boyband era crashed in front of my eyes, I was freaking out a bit, but I've never really been worried.... I'm not [making music] because I want to be successful; I would be doing this anyway. Also, popular culture is supposed to move. 554 Predicting the long-term evolution of Martin' s music or who he will collaborate with next is like predicting the direction of popular music: virtually impossible. It will be intriguing, especially as Martin has entered his fifties in an industry where youth is paramount, to see where he pivots next and if the hits follow. 554 Ibid. 553 Cragg, “'Britney Spears Is a Genius. '” 163 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
At the beginning of 2023, Martin' s 2019 collaboration with The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights,” became the most-streamed song in Spotify history. 555 It has spent more weeks in both the top five and top ten of the Billboar d Hot 100 than any song in history and is the longest-charting song by a solo artist on the Hot 100. 556 The influence of “Blinding Lights” is apparent in the recent 1980s synthpop revival in pop and will likely unfurl itself more throughout the decade. In January 2023, at the completion of this thesis, Martin contributed to four new songs for Italian Eurovision winner Måneskin' s debut international album. Wolf Cousins writer-producers have contributed to numerous songs in January, including songs for Måneskin, Kim Petras, Sam Smith, and ROSALÍA. They will contribute to many additional songs this year, both with and without Martin' s direct involvement. Martin' s influence prevails through his music and his mentorship, and, for now, the master himself shows no sign of stopping. The music plays; the hits live on. 556 Heran Mamo, “The Greatest Hit: The New No. 1 Song of All Time,” B i l l b o a r d, November 23, 2021, https://www. billboard. com/music/features/the-weeknd-blinding-lights-billboard-cover-story-2021- interview-1235001282/. 555 Marisa Dellatto, “The Weeknd's 'Blinding Lights' Is Now The Most-Streamed Song In Spotify History,” F o r b e s, Accessed January 12, 2023, https://www. forbes. com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/01/04/the-weeknds-blinding-lights-is-now-the- most-streamed-song-in-spotify-history/. 164 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |
Appendix A: Max Martin's B i l l b o a r d Hot 100 Top Ten Hits Song Artist U. S. Single Release Y ear Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position Do You Know (What It Takes) Robyn 1997 #7 Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) Backstreet Boys 1997 #2 Show Me Love Robyn 1997 #7 Everybody (Backstreet' s Back) Backstreet Boys 1998 #4... Baby One More Time Britney Spears 1998 #1 I Want It That Way Backstreet Boys 1999 #6 (You Drive Me) Crazy Britney Spears 1999 #10 That' s the Way It Is Céline Dion 1999 #6 Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely Backstreet Boys 1999 #6 Oops!... I Did It Again Britney Spears 2000 #9 It's Gonna Be Me *NSYNC 2000 #1 Shape of My Heart Backstreet Boys 2000 #9 165 | Melodies Music and Mentorship The Legacy of Max Martin in Sweden America and Beyond.pdf |