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Inside the Business of Western Songwriters in K-Pop & J-Pop: ‘The Money Is Too Good to Ignore’
K-pop and J-pop labels are using U.S. songwriters, and we go inside the growing trend - including the increasing role of local lyrics translators.
Chance says he recently finished a “word-for-word English translation” that is coming out with a “major Korean act” soon, but says this approach to re-writing is far less common, given the difficulties of fitting the same story and meaning into the same meter and rhyme as before. Torsen Ingvaldsen, an independent A&R who is part of the growing class of middlemen that connect Western writers to Korean idols, says translated K-pop songs often also edit out explicit words or inappropriate themes. This, he says, is due to the young age of the average K-pop superfan, as well as cultural differences — though Jung Kook ’s recent, sexually-charged single “Seven” may foreshadow changing attitudes towards explicit themes in Korea.
Or read this on Billboard