Did Max Martin sell his soul to the lord of the underworld?

Let's be honest...probably. No, really!

If you're into music and have listened to the charts over the last 20 years, you're going to have heard a Max Martin track. Ingenious Martin has had 22 Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits since 1999, as well as creating countless other famous tracks.

As well as being the brains behind everybody's (let's be honest) favourite Britney track ... Baby One More Time, his list of songwriting credits is, to put it lightly, fucking ridiculous:

Kelly Clarkson

Taylor Swift

Jessie J

Taio Cruz

Justin Bieber

The Weeknd

Kesha

Ace of Base

Katy Perry

Usher

Backstreet Boys

Demi Lovato

NSYNC

P!nk

Adam Lambert

Selena Gomez

Justin Timberlake

Bon Jovi

Celine Dion

Jennifer Lopez

Nicki Minaj

Cyndi Lauper

...

It just keeps going.

...

But how did it all begin?

Max Martin, formerly known as Karl Martin Sandberg, born 26 February 1971, is a Swedish songwriter and producer. He became popular in the 1990’s after writing multiple major hits for artists like the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and NSYNC. Sandberg was introduced to music through Sweden’s state-sponsored music-education programs, where he received free music lessons. Inspired by this early access to music, Sandberg joined a metal band as the front man and lead songwriter, under the alias Martin White. However in an interview with Time magazine, Sandberg states “I couldn’t admit to my friends that I liked pop music”. (Seabrook, 2015) Years later in 1994, Martin met a DJ and producer called Denniz Pop, who discovered Martin was better suited to songwriting and showed him the inner workings of a studio and how songwriting and production could go hand in hand. Denniz Pop actually choose Max Martin’s new name by crediting him under the name on Ace of Bases’ final hit Beautiful Life. Despite finding immense success so early on, Martin describes how he discovered the limelight was not for him. After an interview he did with Pop, he remembers thinking: ‘'What am I doing, sitting here blabbing away? I should be in the studio. That's my place.’ (Stutz, 2017)

And that's where he's been ever since.

So, to sum it all up.

Not only is it immensely refreshing to see an individual who's found unfathomable success, seemingly disregard the limelight, but to do so and be able to continue to triumph in the music industry ... it's nothing short of a miracle and honestly gives me a little hope for humanity.

So thank-you Max Martin for being the songwriting wizard of the century.

P.S

I still believe he did a deal with the devil!!