Karl Johan Schuster (; born 1 February 1985), known professionally as Shellback, is a Swedish record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Shellback was listed as the No. 1 producer of 2012 on ''Billboard'' magazine's year end chart, and he also topped the list of their "Top 10 Songwriters Airplay Chart" the same year; he has won four

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

. He regularly collaborates with songwriter

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

and together they have produced, written, or co-written songs for various artists such as

P!nk Alecia Beth Moore Hart (born September 8, 1979), known professionally as Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She was originally a member of the girl group Choice. In 1995, LaFace Records saw potentia ...

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...

Adam Lambert Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer and songwriter. Since 2009, he has sold over 3 million albums and 5 million singles worldwide. Lambert is known for his dynamic vocal performances that fuse his theatrical tra ...

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

, Usher,

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, '' Let Go'' (2002), is the best-selling album of the 21 ...

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a rec ...

and

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine, drummer Matt Flynn, keyboardist PJ Mo ...

. Shellback has also collaborated with fellow producer

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is als ...

and has produced songs by himself, including "

Want U Back "Want U Back" is a song by English singer Cher Lloyd from her debut studio album, '' Sticks and Stones'' (2011). It was released as the third single from the album on 3 February 2012, and it was released as the lead single from the US version ...

" by

Cher Lloyd Cher Lloyd (born 28 July 1993) is an English singer. She finished fourth place in the seventh series of ''The X Factor'' in 2010. Following the seventh series finale, Lloyd was signed to Syco Music. Her debut single, " Swagger Jagger", was r ...

and "

Animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

" by Maroon 5. He co-wrote and co-produced the song "

Can't Stop the Feeling! "Can't Stop the Feeling!" is a song recorded by American singer Justin Timberlake. It was released on May 6, 2016, as the lead single of the soundtrack to the film '' Trolls'' (2016), in which Timberlake voiced the character "Branch" and served a ...

" along with Martin and

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

for the animated film '' Trolls'' (2016), earning a nomination for the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed t ...

in 2017.

Life and career

Karl Johan Schuster was born and raised in

Karlshamn Karlshamn () is a locality and the seat of Karlshamn Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden. It had 13,576 inhabitants in 2015, out of 31,846 in the municipality. Karlshamn received a Royal Charter and city privileges in 1664, when King Charles ...

, Sweden. He started as a drummer in local

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

bands in Karlshamn, as well as recording all instruments on the 2003 Meriah demo ''...Turn Him Your Other Cheek'' (a strictly

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

recording), before joining the hardcore-metal scene as a

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

in 2004 for Blinded Colony, with whom he recorded 2005's ''Promo Demo'' and 2006's '' Bedtime Prayers'', drawing comparisons to fellow Swedish

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

band

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered the genres known as Swedish death metal and melodic death metal. Durin ...

, before leaving in 2007. In 2005 he also performed as a guest musician on the

Faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people often ...

album ''

Sorg ''Sorg'' is the second studio album released by the sweden, Swedish doom metal band Faith (band), Faith. It was released in 2005 on Doom Symphony Records. Sorg means "grief" in Sweden, Swedish. Track listing *"Emotional Retard" - 08.12 *"The Day ...

''. At the age of 16, Schuster met Max Martin through their mutual friend Julius. By that time, according to an interview in the Swedish music magazine ''Stim-magasinet'', Schuster's taste in music was "too cool for school" and he had no interest in pop music whatsoever. Julius kept sending Schuster's indie rock-death metal demos to Martin, who became curious about what it would sound like if Schuster would make pop music. So in 2006 Martin invited Schuster to his studio in Stockholm to record a demo with him, and since 2007 Schuster has been signed to Martin's production company Maratone. Among the first songs Schuster co-wrote with Martin are

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

's 2008 single " So What" and

' 2008 single "

If U Seek Amy "If U Seek Amy" (Radio edit, radio-edited as "If U See Amy") is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her sixth studio album, ''Circus (Britney Spears album), Circus'' (2008). It was released on March 10, 2009, by Jive Records as the t ...

". In 2012 Schuster won the STIM Platinum guitar prize. In 2014, Schuster produced " Problem" alongside Martin and

Ilya Ilya, Iliya, Ilia, Ilja, or Ilija (russian: Илья́, Il'ja, , or russian: Илия́, Ilija, ; uk, Ілля́, Illia, ; be, Ілья́, Iĺja ) is the East Slavic form of the male Hebrew name Eliyahu (Eliahu), meaning "My God is Yahu/ Jah. ...

. In 2015, Shellback collaborated with Swedish

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier pu ...

band

Refused Refused (also known as the Refused) is a Swedish hardcore punk band originating from Umeå and formed in 1991. Refused is composed of vocalist Dennis Lyxzén, guitarist Kristofer Steen, drummer David Sandström, and bassist Magnus Flagge. ...

, as he is both a fan of the band's music and friends with the band's drummer David Sandstrom. Sandstrom sent him the versions of the songs "Elektra" and "366" that Refused had recorded with producer

Nick Launay Nicolas Launay is an English record producer, composer and recording engineer. He is one of the most sought after record producers in the world due to his success with recent albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Anna Calvi, IDLES, Black Reb ...

, and Shellback replied with his own arrangements of the two songs. Refused frontman Dennis Lyxzen explained in June 2015 that Shellback's versions were "far more Refused than our versions" and "were better" than the Launay-produced versions. The two songs appear on Refused's comeback album ''

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

''—"Elektra" was released as a single on 27 April 2015—which was released on the label

Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo ban ...

on 26 June 2015.

Discography

;With Meriah * ''...Turn Him Your Other Cheek (Demo)'' (2003) ;With Blinded Colony * ''Promo Demo'' (2005) * '' Bedtime Prayers'' (2006) ;As a guest musician *

- ''

'' (2005) *

- '' War Music'' (2019)

Production discography

Billboard Hot 100

The following singles peaked inside the top ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ;Number-one singles * "So What" * "3" * "Raise Your Glass" * "Moves like Jagger" * "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" * "One More Night" * "Shake It Off" * "Blank Space" * "Bad Blood" * "Can't Stop the Feeling!" ;Top 10 Hits * "Whataya Want from Me" * "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" * "Fuckin' Perfect" * "Loser Like Me" * "I Wanna Go" * "Payphone" * "Scream" * "I Knew You Were Trouble" * "Problem" * "Animals" * "Style" * "Wildest Dreams" * "Just like Fire" * "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" * "...Ready for It?" * "I Don't Care"

Awards

* Album of the Year - ''

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

'' *

Best Pop Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality vocal pop music albums. Awards in several ...

- ''1989'' * Album of the Year - '' 25'' * Best Song Written for Visual Media - "

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shellback 1985 births Living people Grammy Award winners People from Karlshamn Swedish heavy metal singers Swedish record producers Swedish songwriters 21st-century Swedish singers Musikförläggarnas pris winners