# Ali Payami (علی پیامی)
**Ali Payami** (علی پیامی; born 1983) is a Swedish-Iranian record producer, songwriter, composer, DJ, and singer who has written and produced pop hits for [The Weeknd](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-weeknd), Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding, and [Tove Lo](https://www.edgepedia.org/tove-lo).[1](https://easeofbiz.com/%40alipayami) • [2](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/ali-payami/322541) His first number one on the Billboard Hot 100 was The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face" (2015), and he won a [Grammy Award for Album of the Year](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-award-for-album-of-the-year) in 2016 for his contributions to Taylor Swift's album *1989*.[3](https://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?artist=Ali+Payami&page=artist&tab=songaswriterchartstab)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1983, Tehran, Iran; based in Sweden[4](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0edfb670-e666-41a6-b4e3-141d32944c9e) |
| Roles | Record producer, songwriter, composer, DJ, singer; active since 2001[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) |
| Also known as | Le Garde, PJ Harmony, Payamin, Payami[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) |
| First Hot 100 number one | The Weeknd, "Can't Feel My Face" (2015)[3](https://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?artist=Ali+Payami&page=artist&tab=songaswriterchartstab) |
| Grammy | Album of the Year, 2016, for contributions to Taylor Swift's *1989* (2014)[2](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/ali-payami/322541) |
| Frequent collaborators | Max Martin (co-producer on 20 of 36 credited productions), Shellback, Savan Kotecha, Peter Svensson[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) |
| Notable songs | "Love Me Harder", "Style", "Can't Feel My Face", "In the Night", "Love Me Like You Do", "Chained to the Rhythm"[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) |
## Background
Payami was born in Tehran in 1983.[4](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0edfb670-e666-41a6-b4e3-141d32944c9e) According to Qobuz's biography, during his childhood he relocated to Malmö, and DJ sets at school parties and in clubs sparked his fascination with house music.[2](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/ali-payami/322541) The EaseOfBiz catalog record instead describes him as "born 1983 in Malmö", a discrepancy between the two sources.[1](https://easeofbiz.com/%40alipayami) [MusicBrainz](https://www.edgepedia.org/musicbrainz) lists his area as Sweden and records an IPI code (00473985994) and ISNI code (0000 0004 0661 5030) for him.[4](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0edfb670-e666-41a6-b4e3-141d32944c9e)
He performs and releases under his own name and under the aliases Le Garde and PJ Harmony; MusicBrainz lists Le Garde as a second performance identity.[4](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0edfb670-e666-41a6-b4e3-141d32944c9e) • [6](https://musicbase.net/ali-payami)
## Early electronic releases
Payami's own releases in the mid-2000s to early 2010s sit in the house and dance field. MusicBrainz lists the single "Blade" (2005, credited to Ali Payami vs. Aquagen & Warp Brothers, with five releases), the release "Stay" (2008), and the single "Aliminium" (2012) under his name.[4](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0edfb670-e666-41a6-b4e3-141d32944c9e) Apple Music's catalog shows a run of EPs and singles from 2007 to 2013, including *The Hammer*, *Audio Driver*, *Stay*, *Pictures*, *Roots*, *Disco Disco Good*, and *Aliminium*, with "Blade" (2008) his most-streamed early track.[7](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ali-payami/208929695) After meeting Julius Petersson, he began collaborating with [Max Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/max-martin) and Shellback, the Swedish production team behind much of 2010s pop.[2](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/ali-payami/322541)
## Breakthrough: *1989* and "Can't Feel My Face"
Payami's professional breakthrough came through the Max Martin and Shellback circle. He co-wrote and co-produced the [Ariana Grande](https://www.edgepedia.org/ariana-grande) track "Love Me Harder" (2014, a duet with The Weeknd) and [Taylor Swift](https://www.edgepedia.org/taylor-swift)'s "Style".[2](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/ali-payami/322541) The Recording Academy's oral history of *1989* records how "Style" originated: guitarist Niklas Ljungfelt said he "played on 'Style', a song I started with Ali Payami for ourselves", and that Payami was playing the instrumental for Max Martin at his studio when Swift overheard it and loved it; she and Martin then wrote new lyrics.[8](https://www.grammy.com/news/taylor-swift-1989-oral-history/) Ljungfelt described the track's inspiration as [Daft Punk](https://www.edgepedia.org/daft-punk) and funky electronic music.[8](https://www.grammy.com/news/taylor-swift-1989-oral-history/) American Songwriter, citing the album credits, lists "Style" as co-written by Swift with Max Martin, Shellback, and Ali Payami.[9](https://americansongwriter.com/taylor-swift-style-song-meaning/)
In 2015 The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face", produced and written by Payami among others, became his first number one on the Billboard Hot 100.[3](https://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?artist=Ali+Payami&page=artist&tab=songaswriterchartstab) • [6](https://musicbase.net/ali-payami) In 2016 he received a Grammy Award for Album of the Year for his contributions to *1989*.[2](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/ali-payami/322541)
## Catalog of credits
A LyricsWeb analysis of its catalog, updated in 2026, counts 39 songs by other artists with Ali Payami credits between 2014 and 2024: he is credited as producer on 36 of them and as writer on 36, with 33 songs crediting him in both roles.[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) The most frequent lead artists on those songs are The Weeknd (7 songs), Tove Lo (7), [Katy Perry](https://www.edgepedia.org/katy-perry) (6), Taylor Swift (3), [Ellie Goulding](https://www.edgepedia.org/ellie-goulding) (3), and [Jason Derulo](https://www.edgepedia.org/jason-derulo) (3).[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) Max Martin is his most frequent co-producer, on 20 of the 36 produced songs, and most frequent co-writer, on 21; Savan Kotecha (16), Peter Svensson (10), and Belly (7) follow among co-writers.[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami)
Charting songs carrying his credits include "Love Me Like You Do" by Ellie Goulding (2015, from the *Fifty Shades of Grey* soundtrack), "Chained to the Rhythm" by Katy Perry (2017), "...Ready for It?" by Taylor Swift (2017), "In the Night" and "Shameless" by The Weeknd (2015), and "For You" by [Liam Payne](https://www.edgepedia.org/liam-payne) and [Rita Ora](https://www.edgepedia.org/rita-ora) (2018).[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) • [3](https://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?artist=Ali+Payami&page=artist&tab=songaswriterchartstab) His name also appears broadly across compilation and covers catalogs: AllMusic credits him as composer, drummer, bassist, keyboardist, percussionist, producer, and programmer on a long list of albums from 2014 through the mid-2020s.[10](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ali-payami-mn0001030178/credits)
## Later work
AllMusic's credits list continued production and writing work into the 2020s, including [Demi Lovato](https://www.edgepedia.org/demi-lovato)'s *Revamped* (2023), Poppy's *Zig* (2023, producer and composer), The Weeknd's *Live at SoFi Stadium* (2023, composer), Taylor Swift's *1989 [Taylor's Version]* (2023, composer), Jason Derulo's *Nu King* (2024, composer and producer), and Demi Lovato's *Love in 4D* (2021).[10](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ali-payami-mn0001030178/credits) Qobuz summarizes his recent projects as the Poppy release *Zig* (2023) and the Jason Derulo project *Nu King* (2024).[2](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/ali-payami/322541) His own latest release on Apple Music is the single "Disco Disco Good" (listed October 7, 2025).[7](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ali-payami/208929695) IMDb credits him as a composer on film and television projects including *Fifty Shades of Grey* (2015), *San Andreas* (2015), and *Fifty Shades Freed* (2018).[11](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5209512/)
## By the numbers
The credit statistics from LyricsWeb describe a writer-producer who works almost exclusively inside the Swedish pop production system: 92 percent of his credited songs carry both a producer and a writer credit, and the same co-writers recur across artists, with Max Martin on roughly half of his production work (20 of 36 songs) and [Savan Kotecha](https://www.edgepedia.org/savan-kotecha) on 16.[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) Credit activity by year in that catalog peaked at 11 songs in 2016, with 8 in 2015 and 8 in 2017.[5](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami) The trajectory runs from solo dance singles in the 2000s ("Blade", 2005/2008) to co-writing slot on some of the decade's defining pop singles, and onward to album work for Poppy and Jason Derulo in 2023 and 2024.[4](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0edfb670-e666-41a6-b4e3-141d32944c9e) • [10](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ali-payami-mn0001030178/credits)
## References
1. [Ali Payami — Record Producer, EaseOfBiz](https://easeofbiz.com/%40alipayami)
2. [Ali Payami Discography, Qobuz](https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/interpreter/ali-payami/322541)
3. [Ali Payami – Top Songs as Writer, Music VF](https://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?artist=Ali+Payami&page=artist&tab=songaswriterchartstab)
4. [Ali Payami, MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/0edfb670-e666-41a6-b4e3-141d32944c9e)
5. [Ali Payami – Songs, Albums & Lyrics, LyricsWeb](https://lyricsweb.com/artist/ali-payami)
6. [Ali Payami, Musicbase](https://musicbase.net/ali-payami)
7. [Ali Payami, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ali-payami/208929695)
8. [The Oral History Of Taylor Swift's '1989', Recording Academy (Grammy.com)](https://www.grammy.com/news/taylor-swift-1989-oral-history/)
9. [The Meaning Behind Taylor Swift's Pop Smash "Style", American Songwriter](https://americansongwriter.com/taylor-swift-style-song-meaning/)
10. [Ali Payami Credits, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ali-payami-mn0001030178/credits)
11. [Ali Payami, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5209512/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Songwriters and record producers › Record producers › Contemporary producers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license