Latest news with #Payphone
Metro
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Fans only just discovering Benny Blanco is secretly behind 16 UK number ones
If you listened to the charts at all in the past 15 years, you are probably a fan of Benny Blanco without even realising it. The 37-year-old hitmaker has been thrown into a newfound spotlight thanks to his very well known, fiancée Selena Gomez. The pair are incredibly loved-up, constantly posting together on social media, but it's caused fans to wonder who actually is this seemingly random man. Turns out, Benny has secretly been the genius behind basically every hit song in the 2010s and beyond. Moves Like Jagger, Payphone, TiK ToK, 2002, California Gurls, Love Yourself, Shape of You — the list is truly endless. He's just as surprised as we are. Benny once humbly told the Sydney Herald: 'I just sit there and I twiddle my thumbs. I'm still confused as to why I have a job.' Born in Virginia on March 8, 1988, Benny is best known as a prolific and successful producer and songwriter. He released his own album in 2018, with the track Eastside featuring Halsey and Khalid becoming a breakout hit and charting. Most people became aware of Benny when Selena hard-launched their relationship, and boy, did fans have opinions on him. However, the couple have actually been friends for years, first collaborating in 2015 to create her songs Same Old Love and Kill Em With Kindness. Benny, real name Benjamin Joseph Levin, got his start as a teenager after experiments with beats and recording himself singing caught the attention of executives at Columbia Records. He earned an apprenticeship with producer Disco D, and by 19 years old, he was working alongside Dr Luke with some of the biggest artists in the world. Over the past two decades, he has received eleven Grammy Award nominations, although he is yet to win. While there's no Grammy in his home, Benny has won the 2017 iHeartRadio Producer of the Year Award and was the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. During his period with Dr Luke he helped write and produce Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, Kesha's TiK ToK, and Taio Cruz' Dynamite. By 2008, Benny was included on Britney Spears' Circus album and is credited with co-writing the titular track, which is recognised as one of the top 10 best-selling songs of 2009. From here, his discography continued to amass hit songs, including in 2011 when he wrote without Dr Luke for the first time — and made Moves Like Jagger. He told YouTuber Daniel Wall the song came about because Adam Levine had featured on a demo and wanted the song for Maroon 5, but instead Benny promised a different track. 'I said, 'Let me give you another song, I have an idea' … I had no idea,' he revealed. 'I'm like in a hotel room going back and forth trying to make it happen.' The idea ended up being Moves Like Jagger, but the radio stations weren't convinced at the time — with Maroon 5 already having Never Going To Leave This Bed ready to launch. So the band's manager sneakily swapped the tracks on the launch show for The Voice, creating an instant hit. 'We wake up the next morning, it's number one in 83 countries,' Benny laughed. 'Never looked back, that started such a great journey with me and Maroon 5.' While Moves Like Jagger remains one of Benny's biggest hits, it is by no means the only one he has written. Until now, Benny's been a name for people in the know, big music fans and industry heavyweights. He told the Sydney Herald in 2022, 'When we made TiK ToK or when we made Dynamite, I had no idea they'd stand the test of time the way they did. I was just making songs.' On fame, he added: 'I spent most of my life behind the scenes, and I had the best job in the world: I was known enough to get into nice restaurants, but not known enough to get stopped on the street. 'Once I became an artist and that changed, I definitely had so much more respect for being an artist and a celebrity and stuff. I didn't really get it until I was put in that position.' His recent album and relationship with Selena pushed him to the forefront for the first time since his own hit Eastside in 2018. Speaking about his career on Daniel's channel, Benny shared: 'I started out, I thought I was going to be the biggest rapper in the world. I wasn't the biggest rapper in the world, but you know what, I ended up in a pretty cool job. 'Don't be so precious, you can reinvent yourself a million times,' he advised. 'Do something that sounds like you, just be original.' Over the course of his career so far, Benny is credited with writing or producing almost 30 number one hits globally. More Trending Here are all the number ones he's landed in the UK: Love Yourself – Justin Bieber (written with Ed Sheeran) (written with Ed Sheeran) Perfect – Ed Sheeran Cold Water – Major Lazer Diamonds – Rihanna Payphone – Maroon 5 Dynamite – Taio Cruz TiK ToK – Kesha California Gurls – Katy Perry Freaky Friday – Lil Dicky ft Chris Brown I Kissed A Girl – Katy Perry Me and My Broken Heart – Rixton We R Who We R – Kesha Eastside – Benny Blanco with Halsey and Khalid Señorita – Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello Shape of You – Ed Sheeran Teenage Dream – Katy Perry Other top 10 UK hits: Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 (peaked at 2) (peaked at 2) Castle on the Hill – Ed Sheeran (peaked at 2) (peaked at 2) 2002 – Anne-Marie (peaked at 3 – written with Ed Sheeran) (peaked at 3 – written with Ed Sheeran) Lonely Together – Avicii and Rita Ora (peaked at 3) (peaked at 3) Hot n Cold – Katy Perry (peaked at 4) (peaked at 4) Don't Wanna Know – Maroon 5 and Kendrick Lamar (peaked at 5) (peaked at 5) Happier – Ed Sheeran (peaked at 6) (peaked at 6) Die Young – Ke$ha (peaked at 7) (peaked at 7) Don't – Ed Sheeran (peaked at 8) (peaked at 8) Supermarket Flowers – Ed Sheeran (peaked at 8) (peaked at 8) Eenie Meenie – Sean Kingston and Justin Bieber (peaked at 9) (peaked at 9) Issues – Julia Michaels (peaked at 10) This article was first published on April 16, 2025. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Sheryl Crow reveals terrifying break-in after rallying against Elon Musk's Tesla MORE: Macy Gray says her naked Glastonbury stage crashers are still a career highlight MORE: Glastonbury headliner takes swipe at Elon Musk with savage lyrics in new song
Los Angeles Times
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Hung up for good: L.A.'s payphones fade into history
They used to be everywhere. At gas stations, in restaurants, sometimes just standing alone on a street corner. Aside from their utility, for decades payphones played a role in popular American culture, from comics (think Clark Kent changing into Superman) to music (think Maroon 5's brutal 'Payphone' or, from an earlier time, the Jim Croce tearjerker 'Operator'). About a decade ago, there were 27,000 payphones in California, with 2,100 in L.A. County. Now, according to the California Public Utilities Commission, there are just 2,525 working public payphones left in the state. L.A. County has 484 of them. L.A. City has just 149. Payphones can still be found all over — they're just not working. But they are reminders of an earlier time, when it was important to keep coins — another relic of a bygone era — in your pocket.
