“…Baby One More Time” (Britney Spears), “I Kissed a Girl” (Katy Perry), “One More Night” (Maroon 5), “Shake It Off” (Taylor Swift), “Can’t Feel My Face” (The Weeknd), “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” (Justin Timberlake).
What do all these songs have in common? Two things.
First, they all hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
Second, they were all written by the same man: Max Martin. With 22 number-one singles in the U.S., he’s catching up with John Lennon (26) and Paul McCartney (32) as the most successful songwriter in Billboard chart history. But unlike John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Max writes songs for a diverse range of artists, from the Backstreet Boys to Rhianna to Bon Jovi.
Even more interesting is that English isn’t his first language: he’s Swedish! You’ll cringe at some of his lyrics if you’re a grammar-policeman like me.
Some lyrics don’t even quite make sense. Like it or not, they’re still number-one hits.
So what gives? Not everything has to make sense. Some make fun, and some make money.
Call me old-school or greedy, but I still like things that make sense, fun, and money if they taste good, even gooder!
What about you?
