Music & Arts
Swedish Producers, Songwriters Enhancing Their ‘Reputation’
Taylor Swift’s latest album, “Reputation,” dropped on Nov. 10. Just four days and more than a million copies later, it became the United States’ No. 1 selling album for 2017, and it’s now on the way to the Top 10 of the December Dec. 2nd Billboard 200 chart.
Behind Swift’s catchy lyrics about love, heartbreak, standing up for yourself and vengeful blows that motivate her millions of dedicated “Swifties” are her team of writers and producers.
While Swift took the lead in writing “Reputation,” she collaborated with some of the best in music, including Swedes Max Martin, Shellback, Ali Payami, Oscar Görres and Oscar Holter. These Swedish producers and songwriters worked with Swift on eight of the 15 tracks, including “Gorgeous,” and “…Ready for It.”
Martin and Shellback are known for writing and producing dozens of No. 1 hits for Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande and others. Görres and Payami are a part of Martin’s songwriting and production team, Wolf Cousins.
Born and based in Stockholm, Görres has written and produced music for artists like Adam Lambert and Tori Kelly. Payami, an Iranian-Swedish musician born in Malmö is most known for contributing to The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face,” his first No. 1 hit. With Wolf Cousins, Payami has written and produced music for Swedish artists Sabina Ddumba and Tove Lo along with international pop stars like Ariana Grande.
Based in the United States, Holter has been co-writing and co-producing hits for artists like Christina Aguilera, Hailee Steinfeld, Pink and Katy Perry since 2011. In 2016, he and co-writers Martin and Shellback received a Grammy nomination for Pink’s “Just Like Fire” and was a member of the former electronic music group Necro Facility. Holter is credited for contributing to “Dancing with Our Hands Tied” on Swift’s new album.
