Ep. 268: Ilya Salmanzadeh | How The Swedes Cracked Hit Songwriting and Why Most People Won't

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Today's guest is the Swedish producer and songwriter behind "Problem," "Into You," "Love Me Like You Do," "No Tears Left To Cry," "Santa Tell Me," and "Unholy,". He finally sits down with Ross for an And The Writer Is interview ten years in the making.He taught himself to make music from a demo CD that came in a cereal box. A radio singing contest got him discovered, and he signed a publishing deal at 17. It then took him ten years to land his first real hit. He tells Ross how a year of playing FIFA with Shellback led to Wolf Cousins, and what Max Martin's famous "math" actually is.If you've ever wondered how the biggest pop songs of the last decade actually get finished, this one's for youAnd The Writer Is... Ilya Salmanzadeh! JOIN THE ATWI PATREONMonthly Zoom hangs, demo feedback, special guests and 200+ archived audio episodes (Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Shania Twain, Babyface and more):Patreon.com/andthewriteris THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR SPLICETry Variations in the Splice Sounds plugin. It makes new versions of any Splice sample with a different structure, key and BPM, and the original creators get paid every time.Splice.comCHAPTERS0:00 Cold open: what Max Martin's "math" really means1:32 Welcome Ilya Salmanzadeh3:12 What MXM is: "like Real Madrid signed me"4:46 Jantelagen: why Swedes won't brag9:57 Born in Iran, raised in Denmark16:22 A cereal-box CD and teaching himself music19:54 The hits: Problem, Into You, Unholy and more21:32 Early influences: Tracy Chapman, Michael Jackson, hip-hop24:50 Why the world's biggest pop writers live in Stockholm27:14 Wanting to be an R&B artist32:36 The radio singing contest that got him discovered37:26 Ten years from publishing deal to first hit39:09 Telemarketing and Apple tech support43:08 The immigrant drive to prove he belongs46:21 His first cut: the Bratz album48:20 A year of FIFA with Shellback and the birth of Wolf Cousins52:37 The MXM pop family tree54:21 Competition vs. family inside MXM58:40 Max Martin: "Why aren't you in LA?"1:00:41 What Max M