Max Martin worked with Taylor Swift and Shellback as a producer on The Life of a Showgirl.
The album credits Swift, Martin, and Shellback as its producers. Martin and Shellback are longtime collaborators in mainstream pop, and both have previously worked with Swift on songs such as “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.”
The production team attracted attention because Jack Antonoff, a frequent Swift collaborator on earlier albums, was not credited as a producer on this project. That difference led to comparisons with Swift’s previous working methods, but it does not alter the official credits.
Martin also contributed keyboards, programming, piano, strings arrangement, and recording to the album. Shellback contributed instruments and programming as well as production, making the pair central to the record’s sound.