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You might not recognise his name, but if you've listened to the charts over the last 15 years, you’ve almost definitely sung along to one of Benny Blanco’s hits, or several. From Tik Tok to Shape of You, Moves Like Jagger to Love Yourself, the 37-year-old has quietly shaped the sound of a generation.
And now, thanks in part to his high-profile relationship with pop icon Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco is finally stepping into the spotlight.
Who Is Benny Blanco? - Born Benjamin Joseph Levin on March 8, 1988, in Virginia, Benny began making music as a teenager. His early bedroom demos eventually landed him an internship with producer Disco D, and by 19, he was already working with the likes of Dr. Luke. Before long, he was co-writing smash hits for Katy Perry, Kesha, and Britney Spears.
But even as the hits piled up, Blanco remained humble. “I just sit there and I twiddle my thumbs,” he once joked to the Sydney Herald. “I’m still confused as to why I have a job.”
He’s received 11 Grammy nominations, won iHeartRadio’s Producer of the Year in 2017, and was honoured by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, yet still managed to stay under the radar. That changed when Selena Gomez publicly confirmed their relationship in 2023, reintroducing him to a whole new generation of fans.
The Hits You Didn’t Know He Wrote - Benny’s catalogue reads like a greatest hits playlist. His credits include:
Tik Tok – Kesha
Teenage Dream, California Gurls, I Kissed a Girl – Katy Perry
Dynamite – Taio Cruz
Payphone, Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5
Love Yourself, Cold Water – Justin Bieber
Shape of You, Perfect – Ed Sheeran
Diamonds – Rihanna
Señorita – Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
Eastside – Benny Blanco ft. Halsey & Khalid
We R Who We R – Kesha
Me and My Broken Heart – Rixton
Freaky Friday – Lil Dicky ft. Chris Brown
In total, he’s responsible for 16 UK Number One singles and nearly 30 global chart-toppers.
From Studio Wiz to Star in His Own Right - Benny took his first steps as a solo artist with the 2018 single Eastside, and while he’d long preferred being behind the scenes, his relationship with Gomez and his rising profile as an artist have brought him new attention.
He admitted the transition hasn’t been easy. “I spent most of my life behind the scenes. I had the best job in the world: known enough to get into nice restaurants, not known enough to get stopped on the street.”
But fame hasn’t changed his grounded approach to music. Speaking to YouTuber Daniel Wall, he recalled how Moves Like Jagger came to be: “I had no idea. I’m in a hotel room going back and forth trying to make it happen.” The track ended up replacing a planned Maroon 5 single during The Voice premiere, and went on to hit number one in 83 countries overnight.
Reinventing the Rules - Looking back, Benny says he’s learned to embrace unpredictability. “I thought I was going to be the biggest rapper in the world,” he joked. “I wasn’t, but I ended up in a pretty cool job.”
His advice? “Don’t be so precious. You can reinvent yourself a million times. Do something that sounds like you. Just be original.”
With a long list of chart-toppers, a critically acclaimed solo career, and a new chapter in the public eye, Benny Blanco may just be the most famous person you've never heard of, until now.
