By Waiching
Nadir Khayat, known by his stage name as RedOne, is a multi-Grammy award-winning Morrocan-Swedish music producer, lyricist and record executive of RedOne, his self-titled label. He has worked with many high-profile singers such as Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias and cites ABBA, Europe and Roxette as his main musical influences. His U.S breakthrough came in the form of 'Whine Up' that was recorded by Kat Deluna; from then on, he produced nine of the songs for her debut LP. It wasn't until the year 2008 when RedOne launched Lady Gaga's career with Just Dance, Bad Romance, Pokerface and LoveGame. In 2012, he said, in an interview, his initial goal was to find the next Madonna or Britney (Spears), and with that came Lady Gaga.
Before the arrival of Timberland and RedOne, mass pop audiences, particularly those used to the Cheiron and Max Martin euro-pop formula, never quite bought into the type of dance music that seemed more in line with Ibiza clubs. With energetic club beats and melodies, RedOne, as well as Lady Gaga, was heralded by Merck Mercuradis for single-handedly putting electronic dance music on the radio & changed the sound of pop music for more than a decade.
His hard work and dedication paid off and from the late 2000s until early-late 2010s, RedOne churned out song after song; although arguably, compared to say Max Martin and Norwegian song makers, Stargate, he doesn't quite have a prolific record of big hits and chart successes as his other Scandinavian counterparts.
''The projects I had success with were through the major label machine, but it's difficult to do it on your own; it isn't as easy as it sounds.''
He had a good run up until 2012 - where without Lady Gaga, he turned to J-lo, but his subsequent follow-ups haven't truly blown up.
I did enjoy Backstreet Boys' Straight Through My Heart, however, as well as some of Austin Mahone's efforts; Mahone, himself, was marketed as RedOne's answer to another young-then teen pop heartthrob, Justin Bieber, and the song, Kings and Queens by Ava Max has shades of late 2000s Lady Gaga. & there are several songs & dishonourable mentions of RedOne's that if I were to hear them on the radio, I'd walk away (J-Lo's On The Floor, Enrique Iglesias's I Like It, Mohombi's insufferable In My Head which samples The Cranberries' Zombie & Marc Anthony & Pitbull's Rain Over Me - I just don't like their compositions).
Other than that, I'd say he is all right. His sound has evolved, or be changed a great deal over time. At times, this works for some of those songs, yet not so for other songs. And Nadir lacks the pedigree of Max Martin (& Max Martin in the Cheiron era), of whom for me along with Brit producers, Stock Aitken and Waterman, were each notably consistent in their roll out of chart pop hits and successes.
This is a rundown of 30 of my favourite songs that he has produced and recorded:
1. Alejandro - Lady Gaga, 2010
2. Kings & Queens - Ava Max, 2020; written and produced by Redone, this has Lady Gaga vibes and could have been a song for circa 2009 Lady Gaga
3. Papi - Jennifer Lopez, 2011
4. Mistreat Me (You'll Be Sorry) - Emilia de Poret, 2001
5. Run The Show - Kat DeLuna feat. Busta Rhymes, 2007
6. In The End - Kat DeLuna, 2007
7. Feel What I Feel - Kat DeLuna, 2007
8. Party O'Clock - Kat DeLuna, 2010
9. Dirty Dancing - NKOTB, 2008
10. If I Knew Then - Backstreet Boys, 2009; my favourite from their 'This Is Us' LP
11. Do Me Right - Mohombi, 2011
12. Fight For You - Jason Derulo, 2010; samples Toto's Africa
13. Save You Tonight - One Direction, 2011
14. Bumpy Ride - Mohombi, 2010
15. Turn Me On - Kevin Lyttle, 2003 (Dancehall version); made the top 5 charts across several countries including Italy, the U.S. and the U.K.
16. Slam - A*Teens, 2002
17.
18. Can't fight this love - Austin Mahone, 2014
19. The One I've Waited For - Austin Mahone, 2014
20. Paper Gangsta - Lady Gaga, 2008
21. Bad Romance - Lady Gaga, 2009
22. LoveGame - Lady Gaga, 2008
23. Hair - Lady Gaga, 2011
24. Hypnotico - Jennifer Lopez, 2011
25. Straight Through My Heart - Backstreet Boys, 2009
26. What is Love - Darin, 2005
27. See U At The Club - Darin, 2005
28. Handle Me - Robyn (RedOne Radio Mix), 2008
29. La Cintura - Alvaro Soler, 2018
30. Laissons Les Rever - John Mamann, 2014
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