If you have even a passing interest in pop music, the name Max Martin has almost certainly come across your radar. The Swedish savant is the writer and producer behind basically every huge pop hit over the past decade or so – pumping out a prodigious volume of supernaturally catchy bangers via what I can only assume is some kind of ancient Scandinavian black magic.
He has the third-most number one Billboard singles of any artist in history, surpassed only by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. For the record, he’s written and produced tunes like The Weeknd‘s Cant Feel My Face, Taylor Swift‘s Blank Space, Katy Perry‘s I Kissed A Girl and – yes – Britney Spears‘ …Baby One More Time.
I just picked these at random, really. There are many more.
He’s also quite a recluse. He rarely gives interviews or speaks broadly on his craft. In fact, he hasn’t given a big interview in 16 years – until now. He gave a long interview to a Swedish site at the end of last year, which has only now been translated into English for your perusal.
He speaks on why he chooses to be behind the scenes rather than at the front of the pack:
If nobody recognizes you, if nobody cares, it’s easier to avoid getting carried away. That’s way harder if you’re a famous artist. I’ve seen many examples of when things have gone really wrong … That, too, goes back to Prince. I thought it was so cool that all you knew about Prince was about his artistry and music. Early on, Dagge (Denniz Pop) and I did an interview for some weekend supplement. We left the studio and did the interview in a cafe somewhere. Right away, I realized how wrong it all felt. ‘What am I doing, sitting here blabbing away? I should be in the studio. That’s my place.’ Then, for two weeks, I was anxious about what it would say in the paper. One upside of saying no is that nothing happens. If you say yes, stuff can happen, if you say no, you don’t need to worry … I don’t think most people who listen to music are that interested in all the work that goes into making it. It’s the artist you like.
But much of the interview is oriented around the question that basically everyone wants to ask Max Martin: how the fuck do you write a perfect pop song (and then, obviously, become a millionaire because of it):
Well, I can only say what I think. I think that a great pop song should be felt when you hear it. You can hear songs that are technically great, songs that tick all the boxes. But for a song to be felt, you need something else. It’s incredibly important to me that you remember a song right after the first or second time you hear it. That something sticks to you, something that makes you feel: ”I need to hear that song again”. That’s fundamental. Something you want again. And again.
On building a song structure:
That’s really true for all songs. 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 his or her concentration. When I play a song to someone and ask ”So how do you like this?”, I don’t care all that much about what they say. What I really pay attention to is how they act, their body language. People who lose their concentration give themselves away very quickly. If they start fiddling with their phones as the second verse kicks in, there may be something about the tune that wasn’t good enough. Something also happens when I listen as if with other people’s ears. I get nervous and think to myself, ’Shit, this part is a bit too slow’.
On his approach to building vocal melodies:
I have lots of theories when it comes to this. If you’ve got a verse with a lot of rhythm, you want to pair it with something that doesn’t. Longer notes. Something that might not start at the same beat. As I say this, I’m afraid it might sound like I’ve got a whole concept figured out…But it’s not like that. The most crucial thing is always how it feels. But the theories are great to have on hand when you get stuck. ’We can’t think of anything, is there anything we could do?’ In those cases, you can bring it in as a tool. If you listen to Shake It Off with Taylor Swift (he hums the verse melody). After that segment, you need a few longer notes in order to take it all in, otherwise it’s simply too much information.
It’s a long interview, and absolutely worth your time – especially if you’re keen on picking up some technical or procedural insights from basically the most successful pop music producer since George Martin. Get amongst it HERE.
Source: Storytelling.
Photo: Getty Images.
