The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory

by John Seabrook

complement her voice beautifully. Davis was thrilled. Luke’s hard-edged rock guitar, combined with Max’s soaring choral melody, was exactly the pop-rock sound he had been looking for. He played the song, together with the other Max/Luke collaboration, “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” that Clarkson had recorded in Sweden, for the BMG international sales conference, which was attended by reps from all the territories worldwide where BMG sold records. They went nuts for both songs. A few days after the sales conference, Clarkson came to see Davis in his office. According to Davis, she began the meeting by saying, “I want to be direct and to the point. I hate ‘Since U Been Gone,’ and I hate ‘Behind These Hazel Eyes.’ I didn’t like working with Max Martin and Dr. Luke, and I don’t like the end product. I really want both songs off my album.”