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. His brother, Damon, is also a musician, businessman, and his talent manager.
He had learned to play the drums by the time he was "three or four", and started producing music using Emagic's Logic after his father purchased the software for him at age thirteen. Bunetta started attending Berklee College of Music in 2001. The same year, his father Peter founded Family Affair Productions with him and Damon.
Career Early years (2001–2010) When he was in his late teens, his father introduced him to music executive Judy Stakee. who signed him to a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. He moved back to Los Angeles with his parents and did not return to Berklee, travelling to and from Nashville into his early twenties to work with various country music songwriters. Bunetta received his first songwriting credit on the 2005 Little Big Town song "Live with Lonesome", which he wrote with Wayne Kirkpatrick during a songwriting boot camp in Nashville.
He met frequent collaborator and business partner John Ryan at a party while Ryan was attending Berklee. They began working together in 2010 when Ryan moved to Los Angeles to intern for Family Affair; Ryan was signed to Family Affair as a songwriter that same year. In 2017, Bunetta estimated that the pair "work together about 50 percent of the time". 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.
Breakthrough with One Direction (2011–2015)
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 trio wrote "C'mon C'mon" and "She's Not Afraid", and Bunetta also served as a producer on "I Would" and "They Don't Know About Us". Bunetta and Ryan produced the group's 2013 charity single "One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)"; 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); the first three songs he co-wrote and produced were the singles "Best Song Ever", "Story of My Life", and the title track. He worked with Ryan as a writer and producer on six other tracks, including the fourth and final single "You & I". 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.
While working on their next album, Four (2014), Bunetta noted that "there were some tensions going on" between the members that resulted in lyricism with multiple meanings. He described the album's sound as "much more dynamic and subtle" than their previous works, specifically singling out "Night Changes" and "Fireproof" as songs that highlighted their vocal development.
In August 2015, One Direction member Niall Horan announced that the group would be "taking a well earned break" in early 2016. 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, particularly Horan. 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. Bunetta continued to work with him on various tracks from his next two albums, including "Nice to Meet Ya" on 2020's Heartbreak Weather and "You Could Start a Cult" on 2023's The Show. 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".
After meeting Hey Violet at one of their concerts, Bunetta was "blown away by what [lead vocalist Rena Lovelis] was doing" and wanted to work with the group to "carve out a musical slice for them". He co-wrote and produced every song on their 2016 album From the Outside, including their single "Guys My Age". The song peaked at number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100, which Billboard writer Rob LeDonne described as "a coup by any means for a rock band today".
In the mid-2010s, he met Thomas Rhett through his then-fiancée and Rhett's talent manager Virginia Davis, which initially made Bunetta "nervous" to write with Rhett. In 2017, they decided to collaborate and Bunetta traveled to work with Rhett for two weeks. 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) and has continued writing and producing songs with Rhett, including "Look What God Gave Her" and "Beer Can't Fix" on Center Point Road (2019), "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.
He began writing with Teddy Swims in January 2020, ultimately co-writing and producing Swims' 2023 breakthrough single "Lose Control", which Bunetta jokingly referred to as "[a] three-year overnight success". Bunetta and Swims reached out to Ammo and Mikky Ekko to collaborate, and they spent four days together working on the song in Palm Springs, California. 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". He received his first Grammy Award nominations for his work on the album; at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, Bunetta was nominated for Record of the Year for "Espresso", Album of the Year, and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. In October 2024, Bunetta was signed to Sony Music Publishing. The next month, he topped the Billboard Hot 100 Producers chart.
Personal life Bunetta is married to talent manager Virginia Davis. Since 2018, they have lived together in Nashville.
Awards and nominations + Award Year Nominated work Category Result Grammy Awards 2025 "Espresso" Record of the Year Short n' Sweet 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 AlbumUSPeaks in the United States (by artist): One Direction: Hey Violet: Steve Aoki: Thomas Rhett: Niall Horan: < Breland: Sabrina Carpenter: Kelsea Ballerini: Teddy Swims: Gracie Abrams: AUSPeaks in Australia: All except noted: "One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)": "Guys My Age": "Just Hold On": "Miss You": "Nice to Meet Ya": "No Judgement": "Love on Display": "Growing Up Is _____": "A Nonsense Christmas": CANPeaks in Canada (by artist): Natasha Bedingfield: Kristina Maria: One Direction: Deorro: Steve Aoki: Thomas Rhett: Niall Horan: Harry Styles: Rudimental: Sabrina Carpenter: Kelsea Ballerini: Teddy Swims: Gracie Abrams: UKPeaks in the United Kingdom (by artist): Alexandra Burke: Jason Derulo: JLS: One Direction: Deorro: Louisa Johnson: Steve Aoki: Matt Terry: Niall Horan: Harry Styles: Louis Tomlinson: Rudimental: Sabrina Carpenter: Teddy Swims: Gracie Abrams: "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 — — 85 — Subject to Change "A Nonsense Christmas" 2022 — 23 — 16 Fruitcake "Angels (Don't Always Have Wings)" 2023 69 — 83 — Where We Started "Espresso" 2024 3 1 3 1 Short n' Sweet "Lose Control" 2024 1 4 2 2 I've Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 1) "The Door" 2024 24 19 16 5 "After All the Bars Are Closed" 2024 — — — — 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.
Notes