‘K-POP IS EVERYTHING’

At Universal Music Publishing Group’s international songwriting camp, the company gives a globe-spanning group of its talent one mission: write the next batch of surefire hits for the exploding genre’s young stars

BY HANNAH DAILEY

The UMPG K-pop songwriting camp photographed Aug. 7-8 at Arcade Studios in New York. I’M NOT GETTING TOO STRESSED about bridge lyrics,” says Benjmn, 29. “Because there’s like a 100% chance it’s going to get translated.” The Los Angeles-based topliner is closing in on his ninth straight hour of songwriting today. And like the 10 other lyricists and producers Universal Music Publishing Group has assembled at Arcade Studios in New York, he won’t stop until he’s achieved perfection. Benjmn, who has written for acts like ENHYPEN and Le Sserafim before, and his cohorts here are all proven K-pop hit-makers, so they’re well aware that much of today’s work will be rewritten in Korean. Still, he and his collaborators on this particular track — 31-year-old SAAY from South Korea and 34-year-old Sandra Wikstrom…

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Billboard (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 24, 2024

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