to hear the full conversation between Max Martin and Tom Power.
Although you may not recognize his name or face, Max Martin is the most influential in the last 30 years, including the Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys hits. I'm in charge of some of the pop music. ,'N Sync, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd.
"I'm a studio rat. I'm basically in the basement all day, all year long," said the silent Swedish songwriter and producerQ {14. } Tom power.
Martin is the third most popular Billboard Hot 100 writer after Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Although he rarely interviews, his latest project — a jukebox musical called & Juliet— has driven him out of “life in the shadows”.
"Depending on the success of this show, there aremanypeople involved in this show," he said. "If I can help something, it takes precedence over the feeling that something like that is a little hidden ... Basically, I don't want to disappoint people."
Martin Featuring the music ofDavid West Read(Schitt's Creekwriter and executive producer),&Julietis Shakespeare Rethink theRomeo and Julietand explore what would happen if Juliet did not die at the end of the story. The North American premiere in front of Broadway was recently held at the Princess of Wales Theater in Toronto until August 14th.
He was a huge success helping other artists realize their creative vision, Martin. Said that his collaboration with Reed caused some anxiety.
"I'm an uneasy songwriter," he told Power. "That is, David West Read is a genius. I want to see it because he's there. I felt. I don't know .... But he did a great job. His usage is a song. Is a miracle to me, at least for me, the way the song actually sounds, as it was actually written for the show. "
Martin is an impressive catalog of jukebox musicals. He said it was a nervous experience to hand over. Most importantly for him, there was a great story that didn't involve him or the artist who first played the song.
"I don't do anything negative about other so-called jukebox musicals, but sometimes it feels like [the song] is a kind of shoehorn," he said. "But I made it very clear that you had to go to the theater, and you're supposed to enjoy the show even if you haven't heard one song yet."
Since starting his musical career in 1993, Martin has produced hits for nearly 30 years. From Spears' debut singleBaby One More Timeto Perry's hitRoarto Weekund'sCan't Feel My Face, he enjoys an unusual longevity. increase. A writer in the music industry.
"Many of these songs are very old to me," he said. "There have been a lot of songs with me for a long time, so it's hard to hear as such a new song ... it was, for me, the most exciting thing for me. To see the song come back to life. "
The longest lasting gap when Martin didn't have the No. 1 song was the sound of pop music by producers like Farrell Williams. It was from 2000 to 2004 that shook.
"I thought it was all bad music. What we were doing was some kind of good music .... I realize that the world is moving forward and I'm actually making it. Until then, for the sake of simplicity. It's bad [music], irrelevant, or whatever you want to call it, "he said.
Martin began to spend more time in the United States to gain a new perspective. When his daughter got a chicken pox on a flight to New York, he and his family were trapped in a hotel room for two weeks, and as a result he learned how to play the guitar. The first thing he wrote on the guitar was a riff for Kelly Clarkson's 2004 hit. It's very complicated, "he said with a laugh. "But it didn't really know how to do it, so by default it automatically returned to naive again. So it became like this wonderful move in a strange way."
Martin says that looking at&Juliet,, the evolution of songwriting style is clear. rice field. But he prefers to be positive rather than backward.
"I hear this other sound in the music," he said. "It's like eating an apple and I know things now, so it would be difficult to write a Backstreet Boys song like it was back then."
Martin said in the background. As a songwriter and producer who prefers to stay in, one of the most amazing things about creating a musical is that he was given the opportunity to hear about the impact his music had on people.
"It told me a little dawn. All these, all these stories I can hear ... how people were ... hey, I experienced this — it really It was hard, and I heard this song, and it really helped me, "he said. "It's amazing, but I've never done it before."
Written by Vivian Rashotte. Interview with Vanessa Nigro.
