Well, you can never have too many! This one’s very interesting, too. I was just looking on a Cheiron forum and found this fascinating interview with a guy called Johan Brorson, who was working at the Maratone studios for a few years.
He is very open about his experiences, even telling us the key rules for making Max-style pop. I loved to hear that they often go for things that sound stupid and annoying, because at least they get your attention. There is no poetry in his pop music, and no-one pretends there is. This is pop music – not literature, not art, just pop! The only thing that matters is that the songs sound good, and lyrics with too complex meanings would detract from the musical greatness. While you read, listen to this collection of brilliant early Max songs. The lyrics are totally inane, but don’t the sounds make you feel ecstatically happy?
I think the facts that Max does almost no interviews, uses a pseudonym, and there are only a very small number of photos of him (he was quite cute in the 90s, though) to be found, make him seem even more special through his mysteriousness. I wouldn’t want him to be a celebrity, appearing on TV talent shows (although a Max Martin week on Idol in Sweden would be ace) or having a Twitter. He is above that – he must be insanely rich by now, so whatever he does, he chooses to do it. Sometimes it’s fun to deify talented people a bit, and it works best when you have only their work to judge them by. There is one very interesting interview here, though!
Another thing which I think is great is that although Max is a legend to us pop nerds, and well known in the music industry, his name is not known enough by the public (except in Sweden) for new songs to be promoted on the basis of being written/produced by him. That means that the pressure for his music to be good continues in the sense that he must provide good songs, or they will not be used, but at the same time he has room to experiment and make crazy stuff like If U Seek Amy and So What, because if they flop, it won’t be Max Martin who gets the blame. Just as the songwriters don’t get the credit for a good pop song, they don’t get the blame when it all goes wrong either. Luckily, Max hasn’t ever made a bad song, or had a song flop unless it was for an artist who had become unpopular. He has in fact launched or saved the careers of many stars who would be nothing today without him. If there is anyone who should be remembered as the king of 90s and 00s pop, it should be Max, but he wouldn’t want it that way. (pun genuinely unintended!)
Thanks for the links and fun commentary!