Benny Blanco explains why Prince is his “favourite artist of all time”

Prince might be his “favourite artist of all time”, but producer and songwriter Benny Blanco has been telling Howard Stern why he wouldn’t want to work with him if he was still alive.

“Everything ’92 and before is perfection,” said Blanco of Prince’s output. “Prince felt so childish but complex… There’s a certain innocence to everything he does… He was the entire package. He made the song, he wrote the song, he produced the song, he would mix the songs - he was everything.”

If he’s so full of admiration, then, why would Blanco not want to get in the studio with Prince if he was still around?

“I don’t want to be the guy who makes his shitty album when he’s 80,” Blanco explains, before going on to add - in fairly graphic terms - that his hero worship would be such that he wouldn’t be able to say no to him.

“I would do anything Prince said… I’d probably fuck him… I would just do anything he said at any moment.”

36-year-old Blanco has been involved in a huge number of hit records over the course of his career, both as a songwriter and producer. Artists he’s worked with include Katy Perry (I Kissed A Girl, California Gurls and Teenage Dream), Maroon 5 (Moves Like Jagger), Rihanna (Diamonds), Justin Bieber (Love Yourself) and Lizzo (Grrls).

There was also, it turns out, a meeting with someone who’s now a major star before she was famous.

“I recorded with Billie Eilish when she was 13 years old,” says Blanco, adding that he was made aware of her talents by his lawyer, who also represented her as she was about to sign with Interscope Records.

“I listened to a song, and I said, ‘Oh my God - bring them [Eilish and her brother/producer Finneas] over!’ They came over together, and they are some of the most talented people I’ve stepped in the room with.”

You can read and watch more from the interview on the Howard Stern website.