"Benny Blanco"

The episode opens with the hosts discussing breakfast habits and bathroom routines before introducing Benny Blanco, who calls in from a rental home in London where he's been staying for six months. Benny reveals he doesn't fly due to anxiety and instead takes a seven-day boat cruise (like the Cunard Queen Mary) to Europe, which explains his extended stays abroad. He describes a harrowing plane experience on the same day as the Sully Hudson River landing in 2009, after which his flight anxiety spiraled into a neurosis that led him to drive cross-country to New York before taking boats to Europe.

Benny traces his musical origin story to his childhood in Reston, Virginia, where his mother was a music enthusiast who listened to Prince and Teddy Pendergrass, while his father preferred the Rolling Stones. His brother introduced him to music through a CD collection, and Benny became obsessed around age four or five. His first tapes were Nas's Illmatic and All-4-One's "I Swear." He won a radio contest at age nine or ten, leading to his first studio experience, and started making beats with a boombox and tape recorders, creating unofficial eight-track recordings through trial and error.

At age 13, Benny Levin became Benny Blanco (inspired by John Leguizamo's character in Carlitos Way) and started getting record deals offers by age 15 after being validated by Jonathan Schecter of The Source Magazine. His parents rejected the deals, which he now considers fortunate. His first paid music work was producing beats for a softcore porn series called Hip Hop Honeys at age 14 for $500—money his mother confiscated, disapproving of the content despite Benny's excitement.

Benny's breakthrough came when he cold-called producer Disco D on MySpace, eventually convincing him to let Benny intern by booking three days of studio time (Benny borrowed $75 from his mother to help reach the goal). At 17-18, he moved to New York, attending an audio engineering school at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn. When Disco D, his mentor and best friend, died by suicide, Benny was devastated but eventually teamed up with rapper Naeem Juwan (Spank Rock), creating one song that led to a Downtown Records deal—ironically on the same label as Gnarls Barkley.

Dr. Luke then recruited Benny to Los Angeles to work with Britney Spears and Max Martin, two titans of pop music Benny barely knew at the time. Benny's first song as a professional songwriter was "Circus" for Britney Spears, written with Claude Kelly. Despite massive imposter syndrome, Benny's youth and underground credibility made him valuable to young pop artists. Over the next several years, he produced and co-wrote massive hits for Kesha, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, and many others.

Regarding his wife Selena Gomez, Benny describes a years-long journey from a forgotten early meeting (arranged by her mother) through awkwardness in 2020 over a misunderstood comment, to reconnecting in 2023 when working on her song "Single Soon." After hitting it off at the studio, he invited her to a friend's birthday dinner, which Selena interpreted as a date while Benny thought it was just friendly. After she left early, Benny realized it might have been a date, she texted positively, and they went on a second date where he kissed her. Since then, they've been inseparable. He describes her as his best friend, smarter and funnier than him, and they spend normal nights watching Will and Grace together on the couch.

Benny emphasizes that success comes from hard work, taste, energy, work ethic, and people skills combined with talent. He credits his journey to consistent baby steps, being present at opportunities, and maintaining relationships. He mentions having a new album called Hermoso and an upcoming book about failure and learning to fail upwards. He ends by threatening to air out the hosts on Howard Stern if they don't text him by his appearance on that show, giving them his phone number (which the producers are instructed not to include in the final edit).