Julian Bunetta

Julian Collin Bunetta (born 1982 or 1983) is an American songwriter, record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is known for his work with various artists including One Direction, Niall Horan, Thomas Rhett, Sabrina Carpenter, and Teddy Swims, frequently in collaboration with fellow songwriter John Ryan.

For his contributions to Carpenter's 2024 album Short n' Sweet, Bunetta was nominated for three awards at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year (for "Espresso").

Early life Julian Collin Bunetta was raised in Calabasas, California. His father Peter Bunetta is a drummer and record producer, and his uncle Al Bunetta worked as John Prine's manager and co-founded Oh Boy Records; he has credited both as his early mentors. Bunetta started attending Berklee College of Music in 2001. The same year, his father Peter founded Family Affair Productions with him and Damon.

He met frequent collaborator and business partner John Ryan at a party while Ryan was attending Berklee. He was signed to Simon Cowell's Syco Music label and later hired as the music producer for the first and second seasons of the American version of The X Factor.

In 2011, Tyler Brown, then an A&R representative at Syco, contacted Bunetta, Ryan, and English songwriter Jamie Scott to write songs for One Direction's second album Take Me Home (2012). the track became his first to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 13. He again worked with the Ryan and Scott on the group's third album Midnight Memories (2013); Bunetta has called "Story of My Life" his favorite of the One Direction songs he worked on, describing it as "one of those magic nuggets that fell out of the sky when we happened to have our phones on" and a "calling card" track that helped to progressed his career. The following day, Bunetta said that Made in the A.M. was written and recorded "not knowing if they were going to take a break or not, because that wasn't decided just yesterday". Their hiatus began in March 2016.

Work with other artists (2016–present) Bunetta continued to collaborate with One Direction members on their subsequent solo careers, He worked on Horan's debut album Flicker (2017) as a writer and producer, writing the album's lead single "Slow Hands" with Horan, Ryan, Alexander Izquierdo, and Tobias Jesso Jr.; Horan credited Bunetta and Ryan for having "written the chorus" before he made additional contributions. With Louis Tomlinson, Bunetta served as a producer on "Just Hold On" (a collaborative track between Tomlinson and Steve Aoki), and was a co-writer and producer for Tomlinson's singles "Miss You" and "We Made It". He also co-wrote Harry Styles' 2017 single "Two Ghosts". including their single "Guys My Age". Bunetta and Dave Barnes co-wrote "Craving You", Rhett's duet with Maren Morris, while Rhett was ill. Bunetta was one of four producers on Rhett's album Life Changes (2017) "Angels (Don't Always Have Wings)" on Where We Started (2022), and every track on About a Woman (2024). In October 2018, Bunetta, Ryan, and Family Affair Productions partnered with Big Deal Music to create Big Family Music Publishing, with his brother Damon and Big Deal partner Casey Robinson serving as co-CEOs.

In 2021, he collaborated with Sabrina Carpenter as a writer and producer on "Nonsense", which was released as the fifth single from her 2022 album Emails I Can't Send. That same year, Bunetta produced Kelsea Ballerini's album Subject to Change alongside Shane McAnally. Having worked with multiple songwriters and producers on her previous album Kelsea (2020), Ballerini said that the writing and recording process was "more streamlined" due to the pair producing the entire album. Bunetta worked on Swims' debut album I've Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 1) (2023) and its follow up I've Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2) (2025).

He co-wrote five songs on Waterparks' 2023 album Intellectual Property, including singles "Funeral Grey" and "Brainwashed". Bunetta again collaborated with Carpenter on her sixth album Short n' Sweet (2024), co-writing and producing the lead single "Espresso" and producing the third single "Taste". The next month, he topped the Billboard Hot 100 Producers chart.

Personal life Bunetta is married to talent manager Virginia Davis.

Album of the Year Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

Production and songwriting discography Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released and artist name Title Year Peak chart positions AlbumUS AUS CAN UK "Touch" 2010 — — 60 — Strip Me "Start Without You" 2010 — — — 1 Overcome (Deluxe) "Co-Pilot" 2011 — — 26 — Tell the World "Breathing" 2011 — 9 — 25 Future History "Do You Feel What I Feel? 2011 — — — 16 Jukebox "One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)" 2013 13 3 9 1 "Best Song Ever" 2013 2 4 2 2 Midnight Memories "Story of My Life" 2013 6 3 3 2 "Midnight Memories" 2014 12 45 35 39 "You & I" 2014 68 23 78 19 "Steal My Girl" 2014 13 9 14 3 Four "Night Changes" 2014 31 33 20 7 "Five More Hours" 2015 — 7 57 4 Good Evening "Drag Me Down" 2015 3 1 4 1 Made in the A.M. "History" 2015 65 25 46 6 "Perfect" 2015 10 4 13 2 "Forever Young" 2015 — — — 9 "Guys My Age" 2016 68 78 — — From the Outside "Just Hold On" 2016 52 20 40 2 Neon Future III "When Christmas Comes Around" 2016 — — — 3 "Break My Heart" 2017 — — — — From the Outside "Craving You" 2017 39 — 61 — Life Changes "Slow Hands" 2017 11 2 8 7 Flicker "Two Ghosts" 2017 — — 91 58 Harry Styles "Miss You" 2017 — 66 — 39 "These Days" 2018 — 2 31 1 Toast to Our Differences "On the Loose" 2018 — — — 94 Flicker "Think About You" 2018 — 19 — — "Low Key" 2019 — — — — "Look What God Gave Her" 2019 32 — 33 — Center Point Road "Nice to Meet Ya" 2019 63 60 55 22 Heartbreak Weather "We Made It" 2019 — — — — Walls "Beer Can't Fix" 2020 36 — 45 — Center Point Road "No Judgement" 2020 97 88 100 32 Heartbreak Weather "Black and White" 2020 — — — 91 "Love on Display" 2020 — 61 — — T.R.U.T.H. "Growing Up Is _____" 2021 — 68 — — 4th Wall "Praise the Lord" 2022 100 — — — Cross Country "Heartfirst" 2022 — — — — Subject to Change "Nonsense" 2022 56 22 37 32 Emails I Can't Send "If You Go Down (I'm Goin' Down Too)" 2022 — — — — About a Woman "Taste" 2024 2 1 4 1 Short n' Sweet "Bad Dreams" 2024 42 30 30 6 I've Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2) "That's So True" 2024 6 1 1 1 The Secret of Us (Deluxe) "Somethin' 'Bout a Woman" 2024 65 99 — — About a Woman "Are You Even Real" 2025 59 — 65 — I've Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2) "Guilty" 2025 — — — — "Leak It" 2026 — — — 45 Therapy at the Club

Note indicates tracks where Bunetta is credited only as a producer. indicates tracks where Bunetta is credited only as a writer.