Celebrity

Wait, Who Wrote That? 15 Shocking Songwriters Behind Pop Hits

by 3/27/2013

So, we were sitting around the VH1.com offices, discussing the various merits of Britney’s bad-good hit “Till the World Ends,” when we remembered that pop tart Ke$ha actually wrote the song (yep, the gin-soaked starlet is a total wordsmith)! Which begged the question — how many other pop stars in their own right had penned huge smashes for other artists?

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  • bruce-patti

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The answer? More than you’d think. For many up-and-coming artists, songwriting is a clever way to break into the industry (while also racking up ultra-lucrative writing credits). And for established artists, crafting tracks for other singers is a way to explore sounds or subject matter that might not jibe with their own persona. Hence, Bruce Springsteen penning The Pointer Sisters’ steamy ’70s soul ballad, “Fire.” So deliciously random!

From Keri Hilson to Pink, here are our favorite fifteen artists secretly behind some of the top smashes of our time.

[Photos: Getty Images]

Related: Pop Up Video: Britney Spears’ ’Till the World Ends”