Karl Johan Schuster (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjûːan ˈɧʏ̌sːtɛr]; born 1 February 1985), known professionally as Shellback, is a Swedish record producer and songwriter. He 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.
Shellback | |
|---|---|
 Shellback in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Karl Johan Schuster 1 February 1985 |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2003–present |
| Formerly of | Blinded Colony |
Shellback initially started his career as a heavy metal guitarist before transitioning into pop music production and songwriting.
Shellback regularly collaborates with songwriter Max Martin and together they have produced, written, or co-written songs for various artists such as P!nk, Taylor Swift, Adam Lambert, Britney Spears, Usher, Avril Lavigne, Ariana Grande, Adele and Maroon 5. Shellback has also collaborated with fellow producer Benny Blanco and has produced songs by himself, including "Want U Back" by Cher Lloyd and "Animals" by Maroon 5. He co-wrote and co-produced the song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" along with Martin and Justin Timberlake for the animated film Trolls (2016), earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2017.
Life and career
editKarl Johan Schuster was born and raised in Karlshamn, Sweden.[citation needed] He started as a drummer in local indie rock bands in Karlshamn, as well as recording all instruments on the 2003 Meriah demo ...Turn Him Your Other Cheek (a strictly black metal recording), before joining the metalcore scene as a vocalist 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 band In Flames, before leaving in 2007.[citation needed] In 2005, he also performed as a guest musician on the Faith album Sorg.
At the age of 16, Schuster met Max Martin through a mutual friend, Julius Petersson. 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. Petersson kept sending Schuster's indie rock-death metal demos to Martin, who became curious about what it would sound like if Schuster were to 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's 2008 single "So What" and Britney Spears' 2008 single "If U Seek Amy".[1] In 2012 Schuster won the STIM Platinum guitar prize.[2] In 2014, Schuster produced "Problem" alongside Martin and Ilya.[3] In 2015, Shellback collaborated with Swedish hardcore punk band Refused, as he is both a fan of the band's music and friends with the band's drummer, David Sandström. Sandström sent him the versions of the songs "Elektra" and "366" that Refused had recorded with producer Nick Launay, 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—"Elektra" was released as a single on 27 April 2015—which was released on the label Epitaph Records on 26 June 2015.[4]
Discography
edit- With Meriah
- ...Turn Him Your Other Cheek (Demo) (2003)
- With Blinded Colony
- Promo Demo (2005)
- Bedtime Prayers (2006)
- As a guest musician
Production discography
edit
Awards and nominations
editThis list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2025) |
References
edit- ↑ Eigert, Av Ann-Marie (6 November 2008). "Pink hyllade svenske Johan". Expressen (in Swedish). AB Kvällstidningen Expressen. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
- ↑ "There is value in music". Stim.se. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ↑ "How Ariana Grande and Max Martin Made 'Problem' the Song of the Summer". Rolling Stone. 22 May 2014. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
- ↑ Lamington23 (24 June 2014). "Refused on lying, selling out and Taylor Swift". FasterLouder. FasterLouder Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 28 June 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ "The 89th Academy Awards | 2017". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ "Karl Schuster". GoldenGlobes.com. Golden Globe Foundation. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
- ↑ "Shellback". GRAMMY.com. Recording Academy. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
External links
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