flâneur

Blank Space: What Kind of Genius Is Max Martin? | The New Yorker

newyorker.com · 3,558 words · saved by 1 readers

Many of the biggest hits of the past twenty years—by Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift—have been co-written by a forty-four-year-old Swede.

Save this story Save this story Max Martin, pictured at the 2015 Grammy Awards, has written nearly two dozen No. 1 songs, for performers including Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift. PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL TRAN / FILMMAGIC VIA GETTY Among the stranger aspects of recent pop music history is how so many of the biggest hits of the past twenty years—by the Backstreet Boys, ’NSync, and Britney Spears to Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and the Weeknd—have been co-written by a forty-four-year-old Swede. His real name is Karl Martin Sandberg, but you would know him as Max Martin, if you know of him

related reading