Searching for Max Martin

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2015

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The most omnipresent figure in pop music is also the most elusive: Karl Sandberg, AKA Max Martin, the mad Swedish genius who’s ruled the charts for 20 years. With the help of New Yorker writer John Seabrook, author of The Song Machine, and comedian Chris Duffy, host of You’re The Expert, we go deep into a 21st century pop classic to try and locate the secret formula behind Max Martin’s success. FEATURING Taylor Swift – Blank Space The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face Backstreet Boys – I Want It That Way Kelly Clarkson – Since You Been Gone Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps Kelly Clarkson – My Life Would Suck Without You Katy Perry – California Girls Taylor Swift – We Are Never Getting Back Together Ariana Grande – Problem N’Sync – It’s Gonna Be Me Britney Spears – Oops I Did It Again Taylor Swift – Bad Blood Icona Pop (ft. Charlie XCX) – I Love It Tove Lo – Talking Body Backstreet Boys – We’ve Got It Going On Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So I got this email from a listener the other day.
0:02.6	A listener says, the nagging question is really about how much real influence the artists
0:09.2	have on the final song compared to the often uncredited songwriters and musicians.
0:15.0	I know, right?
0:17.0	Okay, interesting question.
0:18.0	This is a timeless question that we would do well to delve into, Charlie.
0:23.7	So why don't we pull back the curtain and see if we can find the little green man?
0:28.6	Is the wizard of Oz a little green man?
0:30.8	Um, it's a little man.
0:34.1	Maybe he wasn't green.
0:35.3	Welcome to Switched On Pop.
0:45.8	I'm a musicologist, Nate Sloan.
0:48.6	And I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.
0:50.0	Charlie, let's break down this question that we got from a listener.
0:53.0	You mean the ghost in the machine?
0:54.8	Right.
0:55.8	How can we give any agency to these pop musicians when we don't know who's pulling the strings,
1:03.0	so to speak?
1:04.0	And so I'm hearing this listener experiences some sort of tension as an appreciator of music
1:09.2	between the marketed product and the actual creative process.
1:13.6	And that creative process is so shrouded in mystery that we have to devote an episode
1:20.6	to it and try and find out how the sausage gets made.
	...

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