op questionnaire: what do Justin Bieber, Halsey, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, The Weeknd, Camila Cabello, Selena Gomez and Kanye West have in common? Answer: They have all enlisted the help of songwriter and producer Benny Blanco, the man behind some of the most inevitable pop songs of the last decade.
Benjamin Levin was born, Blanco was, in his words, “a crooked Jewish child from Virginia” who began with a dream of being made a rapper. After graduating from high school in 2006, he moved to Williamsburg, where he was blown away in his bacchanalian party scene. Its part Bangers & Cash The EP, released by rapper Spank Rock, caught the attention of the now controversial Dr. Luke (currently engaged in a long-running legal dispute with singer Kesha), who backed Blanco for four years. With additional guidance from pop alchemist Max Martin, the 20-year-old Blanco helped “I Kissed a Girl” with Katy Perry and Kesha’s “Tik-Tok”. Cut to the present day and the 33-year-old has now contributed to Wikipedia’s entire page of reckless carders, including “Moves Like Jagger” (Maroon 5), “Diamonds” (Rihanna), and Latin Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello pop monolith, “Senorita”. This year, he has favored his own album, Friends keep a secret 2, combining enough pop and rap royalty to line up the Grammys red carpet.
Blanco tends to downplay, even ridicule, his own talents as an artist. “I’m not even good at making music; I’m just good at getting nice chairs and good snacks, ”he laughs. “I’m scratched when I can’t get people around my house.” We’re talking over Zoom, of course; he’s eating on a squashy sofa at his LA home, the day after the Grammys. He has only just received an award (Best Gospel Album) for his work on the Kanye West album, Jesus is King. “I will not follow the [industry] that’s so big, ”he admits. “I was just like, ‘Oh wow! That’s cool. ‘”
“height =” 2107 “width =” 2810 “srcset =” https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/03/24/14/newFile-12.jpg?width=320&auto=webp&quality=75 320w, https : //static.independent.co.uk/2021/03/24/14/newFile-12.jpg? width = 640 & auto = webp & quality = 75 640w “layout =” responsive “i-amphtml-layout =” responsive “>
Pop star pals: Blanco with Ed Sheeran at the iHeartRadio Music Awards
(Getty)
He was introduced to the West by his friend, synth-pop artist Francis and the Lights – who was recording with the Wyoming rapper – and finished working on the album Ye and West’s Children see ghosts project by Kid Cudi. These energetic collaborations happen a lot. Blanco, with his cloud of hair, colorful clothes and goofy outfits, looks more like your younger brother’s best friend than the po-face suits typically found lying behind a pop jam. radio has the upper hand. And while you may recognize tricks from someone like Mark Ronson or Jack Antonoff, Blanco doesn’t stamp his work with a signature of any kind. He sees himself more as a therapist, or just a buddy to hang out with, than a producer; his skill opens an artist creatively.
That has been difficult at the time of locking. Blanco says he has been extremely cautious at the time of the pandemic, which must be bizarre with the number of other LA – based celebrities throwing parties at their own homes. . “Oh my god, dude, he’s crazy,” Blanco says. “I’ve been very careful – I don’t go to restaurants or anything. “The day after our interview, he will be doing his first personal recording session since March last year, with Billie Eilish’s older brother, producer and songwriting partner, Finneas O’Connell. They first worked together when Eilish was about 13 years old; Blanco and O’Connell finished the bones of what became known as “Lonely”, the piano-based single Justin Bieber.
Read more:
Blanco became friends with Bieber in 2009, so he has gained experience through the height of the controversy over making a headline. The 28-year-old pop star was embarrassed about releasing “Lonely”, Blanco says, out of fear that people would dismiss him for throwing a pity party. “It was like, ‘Does anyone want to hear this from me? ‘”Blanco remembers. “But those people have a hard life, man. It’s hard to grow up in the public eye. If you do something silly, your mother likes, ‘I’m ashamed of you’, or your friends will tell you that you are an asshole. If Justin does anything, it’s on the BBC and CNN. ” For Blanco, fame only appeared in his thirties, so he was able to find out what “should not” be done in the culture of the celebrities. “I try to live as normal a life as I can,” he says. And of course, it looks very comfortable on the sofa.
While he counts several megawatt pop stars as friends, his circle has become smaller during the pandemic. “I cut so many people,” he says. “It was like trimming the brisket, getting the fat off it. I would think, ‘Do I really want to make an effort to see you for a long distance trip and jeopardize Covid? Then it ‘s like,’ Did you do so much of my life anyway? ‘”. Another relationship has reappeared, with people he has never previously communicated with. He has lost friends, too: Atlanta rapper 6 Dogs died at the age of 21 in January this year, as did Scottish producer and musician SOPHIE, at the age of 34. And then died 21-year-old Juice Wrld, in December 2019, to which Blanco fell when the rapper was still releasing songs on Soundcloud.
“It’s just fake,” Blanco says, looking down for the first time in our conversation. “And those are not just musical relationships; everyone I make music with. I spent many nights with Sophie, hanging out until four in the morning, going out to dinner. Same with Juice Wrld; we would play basketball, we would have fun. ” He feels lucky that the music wants to be remembered by; Juice Wrld, real name Jarad Higgins, later appears on the album “Real S ***”, while 6 Dogs is on “Lost”.
“It’s like they’re talking to you, and you can keep this relationship alive,” he says. “It’s a strange place.” He has a pain in his voice as he remembers his last conversation with the late rapper Mac Miller, who died of too much grief in 2018. “I hit him up and I was like, ‘Oh my God man, your new album is so great! ‘ And then he put Facetimed on me a handful of times, and I was in the middle of something like that like, ‘I’ll hit you back.’ But Blanco never got to talk to Miller again. “You never know what’s going to happen,” he says. “We lose so many people so early, who are so talented and have so much more to give. It is the greatest shame. ”
It also reminds Blanco of feeling grateful for the life he has now. “I wake up and do what I love,” he says. “It’s like everything else – some parts suck, others are great. But [this album] a cherry as well as living in a Fellini film. ” At the same time, he thinks he won’t pay too much attention to himself: “Because if you do, you’re just a little f *** ing asshole.” His social media posts against so many celebrity accounts are carefully curated: there are lots of pictures of food, and of Blanco standing with his friend’s babies. On his birthday two weeks ago, he shared a photo of himself wearing a bright pink dress with socks and sandals. He’ll do almost anything while having fun, and that’s how he ended up as a guest star in the sharp (and amazingly moving) comedy series Dave, the semi-fictional story of a middle-class Jewish comedian from Philadelphia trying to make it into hip-hop under the name Lil Dicky.
“I just am [finished filming series two] yesterday, ”he says. He had never thought about acting before: “But then I was, filming a set.” The other day, a friend called and asked him to show him a cookery demonstration: “So now I’m doing a cookery demonstration,” he said, laughing. “I try not to set any boundaries for myself. He believes he was put on the ground to have a good time, and to encourage people to do the same. “I don’t want the stress of my life,” he says. “I just want it to be fun and easy.”
‘Friends Keep Secrets 2’ is out now