NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
Blanco is a prolific music producer who has worked with everyone from Britney Spears to Ed Sheeran<\/p>\n
He’s worked on songs like Rihanna’s “Diamonds” and Katy Perry’s “California Gurls”<\/p>\n
In March 2025, Benny Blanco and his fianc\u00e9e Selena Gomez released their album, I Said I Love You First<\/p>\n
Benny Blanco<\/a> has been behind some of the biggest hit songs of the past 20 years.<\/p>\n Though the songwriter may have become a household name amid his relationship with his fianc\u00e9e, Selena Gomez<\/a>, Blanco has worked with everyone from Britney Spears<\/a> to Ed Sheeran<\/a> over the years. In fact, he and Gomez first crossed paths in 2009 when Gomez\u2019s mom,\u00a0Mandy Teefey<\/a>, set up a meeting for them to work on a song together<\/a>.<\/p>\n In March 2025, the producer and Gomez released a collaborative album, I Said I Love You First<\/a>. In an interview with Rolling Stone<\/a> at the time, Gomez revealed that working with Blanco was natural.<\/p>\n “We had been together for a while, and obviously I would confide in him. I couldn\u2019t figure<\/a> out my sound,” she said. “It helps that he knows a little bit about music, and it kind of happened organically to where I felt like this process was unlike any other process I\u2019d ever been through.”<\/p>\n Here’s a look at 10 songs that you might not have known Benny Blanco helped produce.<\/p>\n “Diamonds” by Rihanna<\/p>\n Blanco was a co-writer and co-producer on “Diamonds,” one of Rihanna<\/a>‘s biggest hits and the lead single off of her 2012 album Unapologetic.<\/p>\n During a May 2024 interview on The Howard Stern Show<\/a>, Blanco, who co-wrote the song with Sia<\/a> and music producer duo Stargate, recalled how the song came together in under 15 minutes. He was unsure of the song’s potential at first, but changed his mind when he heard Rihanna’s vocals.<\/p>\n “Rihanna is such a special artist that the second her voice touches something, it’s like a firework. She has so much tone and personality,” he told Howard Stern<\/a>.<\/p>\n “California Gurls” by Katy Perry<\/p>\n Blanco was a producer on multiple collaborations with Katy Perry<\/a>, including “I Kissed a Girl,” “Teenage Dream” and “California Gurls.”<\/p>\n “We wanted to make anthem for California,” he told Stern. “I listen to the song and I feel the palm trees, I feel like I’m in L.A.”<\/p>\n The two reunited to work on “This Moment” and “It Takes Two,” tracks off of Perry’s 2013 album, Prism.<\/p>\n “Tik Tok” by Kesha<\/p>\n Blanco was a co-writer and co-producer on one of Kesha<\/a>‘s signature songs, “Tik Tok.” The two would go on to collaborate on “We R Who We R” and “Die Young” for Kesha’s later albums.<\/p>\n In September 2024, while looking back at her discography for Vulture<\/a>, Kesha recalled the writing process, revealing the creative team wanting her to make the “Tik Tok” lyrics “dumber.”<\/p>\n “After I wrote them, I was like,\u00a0‘This is too dumb, right? It doesn\u2019t make sense to brush your teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniel\u2019s,’ ” she said.\u00a0“But I remember Benny Blanco was like,\u00a0‘No, it\u2019s sick. Just don\u2019t overthink it.’\u00a0That\u2019s what we ended up with.”<\/p>\n “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5<\/p>\n Blanco was a writer and producer on Maroon 5<\/a>‘s 2011 hit “Moves Like Jagger.”<\/p>\n In March 2025, Blanco appeared in an interview with Daniel Wall<\/a>, revealing that Adam Levine was originally interested in the song “Stereo Hearts” (which was later recorded by Gym Class Heroes) before he heard a demo of Shellback singing “Moves Like Jagger.”<\/p>\n Blanco also collaborated with the group on other tracks such as 2012’s “Payphone” and 2014’s “Maps” and “Animals.”<\/p>\n “Circus” by Britney Spears<\/p>\n Blanco was a songwriter and co-producer on the title track for Britney Spears<\/a>‘ 2008 album, Circus, which was an early success for him.<\/p>\n “The first, like, big pop thing<\/a> that I ever worked on was\u00a0Britney Spears,” Blanco told Jake Shane on a July 2025 episode of Therapuss<\/a>. “Sometimes I am in a restaurant and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this song’s so good.’ And I Shazam it, and then it’s my own song.”<\/p>\n He jokingly added, “I’m old and I can’t remember anything. I’ve done, like, hundreds of songs that have come out.”<\/p>\n “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber<\/p>\n Justin Bieber<\/a>‘s “Love Yourself” was produced by Blanco, and co-written by him and Ed Sheeran<\/a>.<\/p>\n During his interview on The Howard Stern Show, Blanco recalled how the original title of the song was a lot less radio-friendly, but he admitted he doesn’t like to curse “unless it’s really important to curse in the song.”<\/p>\n “And to me, it felt more important and because you knew I want to leave a little bit up to the audience,” he continued.<\/p>\n Blanco and Sheeran would end up sending “Love Yourself” to Bieber for his 2015 album, Purpose.<\/p>\n “Nobody Gets Me” by SZA<\/p>\n SZA<\/a> and Blanco have collaborated on “Special” and “Nobody Gets Me” off of her 2022 album, SOS. He also appeared in the music video for her 2022 song, “Snooze.”<\/p>\n SZA is a fan of Blanco’s beats, but she also loves his cooking, as he revealed to PEOPLE. In April 2024, Blanco released \u00a0Open Wide: A Cookbook for Friends<\/a>, where he shared some of his favorite recipes.<\/p>\n “It sucks because once I cook them<\/a> … I remember I made\u00a0SZA\u00a0lasagna and banana pudding when she first came to my house,” Blanco said. “And then every day she would just be like, ‘Hey, I’m not coming unless there’s the lasagna or banana pudding.’ I’d be like, ‘f—.’ “<\/p>\n “Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran<\/p>\n Blanco and Sheeran co-wrote and produced “Castle on the Hill” and multiple other tracks off of Sheeran’s 2017 album, \u00f7 (pronounced\u00a0“divide”).<\/p>\n For a TIME100<\/a> cover story published in April 2025, Blanco wrote about what makes Sheeran so “relatable,” even though he’s one of the world’s biggest pop stars.<\/p>\n \u201cHe sings sentences<\/a> that we say all the time, but nobody ever puts them together like that in a song,\u201d Blanco wrote about Sheeran. “The thing that makes him so good \u2014 and I’m in a similar spot \u2014 we’re just kind of like the average Joe that shouldn’t have really made it, but somehow we did. He has that humility and that insecurity, and I think that’s what makes him so relatable.”<\/p>\n “Se\u00f1orita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello<\/p>\n Shawn Mendes<\/a> and Camila Cabello<\/a>‘s “Se\u00f1orita” was a big hit for the duo, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 100 chart and receiving a Grammy<\/a> nomination.<\/p>\n Blanco was a co-producer on the track, and in an October 2019 interview with Billboard<\/a>, he spoke about the process of crafting the song.<\/p>\n “That one, we worked on for\u00a0soooo\u00a0long. Before that song came out and everything from the first demo, it was over a year, a year and a half \u2014 maybe more,” he recalled. “And then it came out, and it\u2019s crazy to me. No, I did not know it would be as big as it was going to be.”<\/p>\n “Kill Em with Kindness” by Selena Gomez<\/p>\n In March 2025, Blanco and Gomez released their album, I Said I Love You First, but the future fianc\u00e9s had previously worked together. A decade earlier, in 2015, the two collaborated on tracks “Kill Em with Kindness” and “Same Old Love” off of Gomez’s album, Revival.<\/p>\n In a September 2024 Vanity Fair<\/a> interview, the Only Murders in the Building star said she’s “never been loved this way.”<\/p>\n “He\u2019s just been a light<\/a>. A complete light in my life,” she continued. “He\u2019s my best friend. I love telling him everything.”<\/p>\n