Hit Parade: The Give Me a Sign Edition
From a very young age, Britney Spears seemed destined for stardom. The kid from Louisiana had landed a role on the revived Mickey Mouse Club and styled herself as a belter of power ballads. But to score her first No. 1 hit, Spears would team up with an introverted Swedish songwriter named Max Martin. He was trying to write American R&B and instead, through Britney and her high-school dance formations, created a new template for \xfcber\u2013American teen-pop. This month, we go inside the Stockholm music factory\u2014and its decades-long history, from ABBA to Ace of Base\u2014that gave rise to a new generation of millennial pop, from the Backstreet Boys and *N Sync to Robyn and Taylor Swift. \nEmail: hitparade@slate.com \nThis episode is brought to you by the following advertisers: \nSlack, the collaboration hub for work. Learn more at Slack.com.\nI Travel For, a new podcast that explores what inspires us to travel. Listen and subscribe today at https://apple.co/2DPEWJE.\nAmerican Express. Don\u2019t do business without it.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices