FROM WIKIPEDIA
1999 was a big year for Martin. He wrote, co-wrote and co-produced 7 out of the 12 songs on the album Millennium by the Backstreet Boys. "I Want It That Way", a hit song Martin co-wrote with Andreas Carlsson and co-produced with Kristian Lundin, became the group's biggest single to date and it is still popular today ("I Want It That Way" was voted #10 in the MTV/Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs."[3]). A VH1 special, 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s, ranked the song at number 3, making it the highest ranked boy-band single and pop song. Millennium sold over 1.1 million units in its first week in the United States, setting a record for most albums sold in its debut week (that record was later beaten by 'N Sync's No Strings Attached), and was the #1 best-selling album in the world in 1999.
The previous year, Martin wrote Britney Spears' hit "...Baby One More Time" for her album with the same name, (this hit single was originally offered to both the Backstreet Boys, who turned it down, and TLC, who passed because they were 'taking time off'[4]). On Vh1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '90s", it was ranked at number 7, making it the second highest song by a female. Both albums (Millennium and ...Baby One More Time) have sold around 14 million copies each in the U.S., certifying Diamond Status. Also, within a year of its release, ...Baby One More Time had become the best-selling LP by a teenager in history and the debut hit single remains Spears' biggest U.S. (and international) hit to date. Martin was the first non-American citizen ever to win ASCAP's prestigious award "Songwriter of the Year" in 1999.
Martin worked on Spears' first three studio albums which were made in the style of teen-oriented pop. However, when Spears recorded her 2003 album In the Zone, she decided to move away from the teen-pop genre. The duo ended up parting ways, and Martin had no input on that album nor on her 2007 album, Blackout. At the request of Spears, Martin produced and wrote for Spears' new album Circus, released December 2, 2008. The track Martin co-wrote and entirely produced is called "If U Seek Amy", which was chosen by fans to be the third single off the album. Different than Martin's previous produced tracks for Spears, "If U Seek Amy" is an electro-pop dance song, in which even the lyrics shows a different, more dance-oriented Max Martin.
When working on her own solo album, to be released in 2001 on Stockholm Records, Lisa Miskovsky wrote the text for Backstreet Boys new hit single "Shape of My Heart" with Max Martin and Rami. The song, originally written for Miskovsky’s own album, was passed along to the Backstreet Boys by Max Martin when Miskovsky determined it did not fit her style. The song became the first single off the group's new album Black & Blue. In the first week of release, "Shape of My Heart" immediately jumped into the Top Five in Sweden (#1), Norway (#1), Canada (#1), Germany (#2), Switzerland (#4), Austria (#5) and Holland (#5). Black & Blue, containing several songs produced and written by Martin, sold 1.6 million units in its first week in America. Martin again received ASCAP's award "Songwriter of the Year" both in 2000 and 2001,[5] and is the first songwriter ever to receive the award three years in a row.
Spears stated on her Twitter account, that she was on the recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden with Martin.[6] Later on September 29, 2009 it was announced that Martin had worked with Spears on her upcoming compilation album. Martin produced a song called "3" that will be released on September 29, 2009.
Producer role for Cheiron
The traditional division of work in the record industry typically has the artist writing the songs and then hiring a producer to help shape the sound. At Cheiron it was the other way around; the producers wrote the songs, played the instruments, engineered and mixed the recordings and the artist was only brought in near the end of the process to do the vocals. For example, on Britney Spears's second album Oops!… I Did It Again, Cheiron had already written seven songs and had proceeded to record the layers of music before Britney even arrived at the studios in early November 1999. It took her only one week to do the vocals. Martin and his team worked more like a band that alternated singers. Martin explained his working method:
“ I want to be part of every note, every single moment going on in the studio. I want nothing forgotten, I want nothing missed. I'm a perfectionist. The producer should decide what kind of music is being made, what it's going to sound like--all of it, the why, when and how. - LA Times, 6/05/00
And Steph you say Dylan is boring. You just dont know what you are saying. Britney Spears is just a product. A product made by producers. Nothing wrong with that. She is not the first. There were many more. In a way i have some pity with girls like Spears. No way back and tralala, she must do what her contract says. It started with oops and it got out of hand. The all american girl must deliver.
