ALL MAX MARTIN #1 Hit Songs have 5 Things in Common / Popular Music 2020 

One of my favorite MM tricks that wasn't mentioned here is his bridges tend to never introduce new lyrics but instead use lyrics already used in the song (verse/chorus) with a completely different melody and harmonic structure around it. It reminds me that your melodies/lyrics should be good enough to be warped into drastically different possibilities.

[1:55] Statistical analysis of Max's songs [3:02] Chorus starts early [3:45] Easy to understand lyrics [6:44] Simple harmonic structures, 3-4 chords, no more than 6 [6:53] Short, unique intros [7:38] Develops slowly, introduces one new element at a time

He also made blinding lights. That's 23. He's the best.

Yes. the sound of the lyrics is way more important than the actual words. I think this is actually true for almost all listeners, they just don't realize it.

The list starts at 3:01 ...

I'm not an English native speaker and I TOTALLY get the point here. I spent most of my childhood listening to Martin's music, and his lyrics always felt somewhat easy to me. Many Katy Perry's songs helped me a lot in learning English because of that.

Im from Norway. And Scandinavians understand English very well. But it is a known fact that the melody and the sound of the lyrics are much more important. With the exception of songs like James Blunt - You're beautiful and other songs where the story is the main point.

As Kurt Cobain once put it..: Melody first, then lyrics.

Shoutout mariah carey for 17 self written #1s, fourth on that list

Max Martin needs to write your intro song.

Okay Hozier

this video needs a sequel. we need more max martin analysis

5 things you have in common with Max Martin. Beard, mustache, long hair, black shirt, hand movements

He’s back, baby! “Blinding Light” by The Weeknd.

I’m brazilian and love writing in english. Even if sometimes I dont get the lyrics of the songs I love, I love to enjoy a music just for the feeling it gives. And also Brazil genres aren’t my favorite, so writing in english push away this sensation of remembering portuguese songs I dont like . Good to know Martin’s vision about it

Since you've been gone, Kelly Clarkson, by Max has been my favorite pop song for years. There he uses all the tricks in the book, it is so well arranged that it makes me get goose bumps and cry! 😊

Swedish songwriters and producers are generally extremely good at what they do. Sweden dominates the pop charts and is the 2nd largest music exporter in the world.

Dude just to say there were a lot of silly negative comments talking about how long you took to get to the point. It’s all subjective. For me you produced an excellent and insightful video. Intelligent and well scripted. Great work my friend.

People will give you formulas what not. But just work consistently hard and you will get that hit, the songs are there jus search for it, nothing you can apply here will make you good, work your ass off and you will reap the fruits and jus find what works for you, if you consistently do it you will get your own flow and jus be good at it, you can't explain it's jus work. Thank you

As a kid (Dutch), I listened to 2 Live Crew. Not a single clue what they were on about, and neither did my mother...

Most pop songs have around 120 bpm and around 3.30 in length. Songs used to be shorter when Vinyl records fit less music on them.

Now, whenever I listed to a hit song, I appreciate the songwriter as well as the singer.

You sing the chorus of 'Show me the meaning' all over the full song nonstop and get to know what simplification means for Max Martin: Clever recycling! Never seen this outside him!

Dude, ya ya, it was a lot of whatever for the first 3 minutes BUT... THIS WAS ONE OF THE MOST HELPFUL VIDEOS ON MODERN SONGWRITING IVE EVER SEEN FOR FREE. Period.

My opinion is that a lot of MAX opinions stems from his friend/mentor Denniz Pop, who first and foremost was an excelent DJ that knew what kept people from leaving the dancfloor and go to the bar :-D

The most part of all the hit songs through the decades are quite simple in basic structure, except very few exception, for example The Queens Bohemian Rhapsody which actually beak the rule and is very complicated song containing vast variety of different elements, and yet one of the biggest hit track ever...

Interesting... 30 to 40 seconds to the chorus? Most metal songs barely started the first verse.

Really cool insights, thanks for your work

Simple lyrics with meaning are NOT easy to write. So many musicians who are not songwriters have so much hate for Max Martin, but since I've started songwriting in earnest, you realize what he does is not easy at all. Great video and breakdown! If you want to write high-charting Max-Martin-style Pop music, or make your music *more* pop-y, some of the tips from this video include: Get to the Chorus/Hook ASAP within 30-40 seconds; use a limited number of chords, e.g. 4-6 for the whole song; use SIMPLE lyrics with a CLEAR and DIRECT meaning; and focus on vocal MELODY and SOUND rather than the literary quality of the words. Introduce new musical layers one at a time, and keep them clearly distinctive from each other so they're easily heard and followed. Also, make the (short) intro an incredibly-distinctive calling card that announces exactly what song you're hearing within the first 2 seconds or less. Again, all solid tips to have available in your toolbox *even if* you don't want to sound anything like Max Martin.

Gold. Thank you for all the insight and time you put into this.

Regarding song intros, he very specifically likes to do intros featuring the most prominent melodic motif outside of the vocal melody, and usually this motif will have a vaguely dominant quality to it, featuring 5, b7, or 2. Something else I've noticed over the years is he neeeeeeeeeever adds accompaniment that outlines a basic triad. If a background element in a minor key song goes 5-1, you might expect b3 after that, but he will probably go to 2 instead. The man loves implying add(9) chords and the like with things like this.

If there's more videos like this. This just might be my new favorite channel! Great job!

I speak and read English quite fluently, but I admit that picking out the lyrics from a song is still hard for me to this day.

Another well-understood element of good songwriting that Max Martin employs consistently is contrast. There's always good contrast between the different sections of his songs, e.g. how in "Into You" the verses have long, sparse notes and the choruses have rapid-fire notes. "Into You" also shows beautifully the value of tension and release, in those line hooks that make us look forward to the next line ("Oh baby look what you started/The temperature's rising [in here]/Is this gonna happen". A lesser songwriter could have easily made it a stale song by going just "Oh baby look what you started/The tension is rising/Is this gonna happen", but that "in here" adds micro-tension to the line almost like the melodic version of a ride cymbal.

Thank you for this! A pretty great job sifting through the data and finding common threads, and the templates and raw data are thoughtful, helpful additions. Thanks for devoting the thought to this and creating the video! That was generous of you. Cheers.

R.IP. Denniz Pop✌️

His music irritates you in such a specific way, that you know he's a master of his craft

Long story short - there is no secret, he’s just a genius making genius simple songs

This is great analysis, thanks!

Very cool. Thanks for this breakdown!

For #5: The 'God Is A Woman' AND the 'Side To Side' choruses both start 1 second into the song...

I love the Jingle! Very 80s flashback!

Wow, nice work! Thank you man!

This channel looks promising. Very cool stuff, keep it up!

For me, the sound of the words and the emotions are the most important because I often do not focus on the text but on the sound itself and this is what gives me the greatest listening pleasure

He is talent. Every song who he's producing - awesome))

Such an amazing video, thanks for sharing!

Glad your channel has grown man! Very great informative video!

MAX MARTIN PURE GENIUS

Great stuff and a rare MM interview, helps to play an instrument your novice at for example my guitar songs are far to complex so I tend to overwrite and wind up in progressive metal land but on piano it’s simple and melodic, love this guy and his work and the language differences are immense and unintentionally experimental when it come the writing pop melodies I’ve learned much from similar study of his tunes and scored a few small successes based on things I’m hearing in this vid, nice job

great work, thank you !

I have been referring to this video so much when I work on songs this last month or so. TY for your awesome data analysis skills and taking the time to make this for us :) Ever since I learned about Max being behind so many hits several years ago, I've been so inspired by his work when I songwrite and produce

It also helps if you have mega famous artists releasing your songs! For sure, get to the hook, and make it catchy! The modern version of bubblegum pop! Make it fun! And sign up to the right publisher ! That, I think is even harder than writing the song. Haha. Great vid. 👍😄

2:13 - If these chord analyses are to be believed, that means most minor key hit pop songs are in harmonic minor, with the raised 7th, and thus the major V chord. This seems odd to me, as I was always under the impression that natural minor was most favored in pop writing. Although, according to your stats, the minor v chord is still used one third of the time, so that's still a lot.

im glad i stumbled onto this page. Super informative and fun to watch man!

This video is incredible. Thanks so much!

Bruh....wtf are you people complaining about how long the damn video is?? The point of the video is about how Max Martin's stuff is super short --- that doesn't mean this video has to be super short. He explains some pretty important stuff before he gets into the list. It's not hard to click on the timeline and skip around if youre really that bothered by the length. Good video, dude. Very informative, Robert. Im beyond surprised at the structure of the song and the length of time given to the pre-chorus and chorus. Only 8 bars for the verses??? Wow. Great info!!

I get that this is a copy right issue, but it would help a lot if this could have been demonstrated with musical examples of what you're talking about. Just saying. But great analysis and video. Thanks.

Congratulations! This is so much valuable, really high quality! 👍🏻😁

Thanks for the video bro!

I don't understand some terminology as I have not learned audio engineering but I do know how to read music and have played violin growing up - I notice the nuances. Basically, Max is creating variations. I could just tell from being a fan of BSB, Britney, N Sync, and Celine Dion growing up. You can hear the similarities particularly when there is an acoustic guitar involved. Songs also start off or contain _Dun dun dun dun-dun dun_ Listen to Celine Dion's "That's The Way It Is" then Britney Spears' "I Will Be There" and notice the structure of the song and guitars. It's the same with BSB's "Don't Wanna Lose You Now" when the build-up begins. I love these songs and most of the older pop songs from Max and Rami and although the songs are variations and seemingly simplified, he is still a genius because that _is_ his formula. He should just own it.

Nice video bro, Max Martin is a cool dude.

This is good work buddy. Data served raw but organized into a catchy show. You invested time and dedication, the typical kind of video i savor like a well prepared cook. This information will help people, so thank you man

Super interesting video man subscribed!!

It starts at 3:06 btw thanks I really enjoyed it : )

I enjoy youtube and dislike negative comments. I appreciate your work. My note to you is that your video is verbose and while posting a video which is focused on the importance of being concise, this video is anything but that. You have excellent information which is produced well but it drags. I hope your next videos are shorter.... As you mention, we have short attention spans... the content repeats itself. This is an odd way to say great job but I want to also state what could strengthen your great work. Best wishes and I look forward to more from you!

Thanks for the great video!

This the first video I've watched from your channel - invaluable info as I am in the process of recording my first single "Baby Love".. thanks Brother and keep up the good work!

Your awesome

As a Dane (Denmark, the country just south of Sweden) I've wondered for years what it is that gives the Swedes that melodic pop talent thing. Because they really do have it going. Abba, Dennis Pop (Ace of Bass, Dr. Alban, etc), Roxette, Avicii, Eric Prydz (and the other two Swedish House Mafia guys), and many more. Danes are often more... ironic in the lyrics department, and often also more melancholic, sound-wise. Dunno why. Anyone who has a guess? What makes Swedes such pop music naturals?

Amazing video!!!

First time seeing one of your vids. Love it. You’re going to have a clamoring of subs if you keep up with this type of content. Well done and thank you.

Interesting video, but don't agree that there is a shorter attention span now and that a chorus at 35-55 seconds is fast... The Beatles hit the chorus title hook IMMEDIATELY on All My Loving, She Loves You, Can't Buy Me Love, Help and many others!.

You're out of focus, but the the video is a direct hit.

Awsome stuff man, thank You so much!

Hey nice video. Very good job. Thank you for making it.

if you analyze paul and john's #1 hits, will they have similar features to max's?

Awesome research assignment. I've been writing songs for 35 years and if I may add, popularity has a lot to do with a songs success. I believe it to be the key element. If Max Martin released these songs himself under his own name, no one would hear them. There are thousands of great songwriters in their basements at the moment. If they had a chance to have Katy Perry do one song, and a K pop band with another and whoever the flavour of the week is, you have 3 potential #1 songs right there. Of course they have to have a good beat and melody, but to me, a popular artist is the key to great songwriting exposure.

Great man. Really , no kidding, great idea doing that analysis. Thanks ! Suscribed

Cake by the Ocean was actually a bad translation of the drink "Sex on the Beach".

I think he made a pact with Lucifer

Very helpful video brother thank you

Found this very helpful!

1 5 6 4 => aka l-V-vi-VI. Love it

If is so simple, when i ll see u at n 1 of billboard hot 100

Great video- awesome nuggets

Fantastic analysis video.

One thing: productionwise most of these songs were totally IN YOUR FACE.

The lyrics aren't unintelligible... they're meant to be accessible to the majority of the population. Also throwing song lyrics into a "readability calculator" is rather unfair. First of all, they often interpret new lines as new sentences. However looking at 4:00 a lot of those lines aren't stand alone sentences but rather the sentences span across multiple lines, so just copy pasting the lyrics from genius or what not leads to the tool measure the sentences as much shorter than they actually are. That's a big problem because one of the main ways those tools measure readability is by looking at how long the sentences are. The other main way is syllable per words which is more fair. So if you convert "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" into sentence form, the grade level gets bumped up to a grade 6, which is just one grade below what I got for the passage of this video that talks about it. I think that makes sense, pop songs are meant to be understood on first listen by the average teenager (just like the same is true for RU-vid videos). That doesn't mean they're thoughtless, they can communicate interesting perspectives, use unique metaphors or a good sense of humour while working within those constraints.

Great video! Thanks for putting this together!

Save Your Tears, 24th no. 1

you should've cut the first 3:02

What these videos fail to mention is the artists singing style and tone... great voices are as rare as diamonds ..put an awesome artist on almost anything and your, what you assumed to be an average song, will sound amazing. Don’t be disheartened when your song sucks. Get Ariana Grande on it and watch it transform into a hit (assuming you’re melody and lyric is up to par). Max Martin has awesome voices on his beats.

Need to watch this a couple of times to expand/and thinks on this more. This is a great video though! Thanks man!! New sub.

Amazing, loved this vid

Before ya'll jerk yourselves to death over how modern music sucks, have you really given a listen to some of Martin's more standout hits? Baby one more time is really well composed. Shake It Off, Can't Feel My Face as well. Formulaic sure, but that's been around since the dawn of music.

Kinda do all that..but no-one knows who I am...you need contacts! Contacts People

I absolutely LOVE that you mentioned KMFDM, Angst, Xtort and Nihil were my high school soundtrack

Nice video brother!!! Perfect channel for all of us musicians, songwriters, engineers etc...

Most Swedes know English so I don´t think that´s a thing. Max's songs is all about melody, and that is deeply rooted in Swedish music. We grew up with a lot of American culture (there is a strong trans Atlantic bond, because 1/3 of the population emigrated to the US a 100 years ago) and I think it's the blend between these cultures that makes these songs stand out. Also, swedes are all about minimalism and this probably also have something to do with it. After all, it´s not just Max, there is a whole bunch of Swedish producers out there, and they pretty much dominate the Billboard, at any given time (and for the last 20 years).