K-Pop Producer Shinsadong Tiger Reveals The Hardships Idols And Producers Deal With While Creating Music

The entire process of writing, recording, and releasing music is an exhausting process for both the idols and those involved in the process. The journey requires a lot of mental and physical work that can take its toll on all parties involved.

TRI.BE‘s Songsun and songwriter and producer Shinsadong Tiger appeared in a recent video on the AYO YouTube channel, discussing different aspects of K-Pop.

During the video, Shinsadong Tiger explains how many different people are involved in the process of writing a song. However, when it came to the main content, he explained that the responsibility was his if anything goes wrong.

I’m in charge of content, so I do a lot of planning like, ‘The trend is… it’s what kids like today…’ It might not look like I’m doing anything, but I’m sitting there taking responsibility in case it goes wrong.

— Shinsadong Tiger

Someone later pointed out that when an idol looks good, the stylists are treated as heroes, but the composer is seen as a villain if a song doesn’t do well.

Shinsadong Tiger added that despite the hard work everyone has put in, he gets a lot of hate after an album is released a lot of the time.

When an album is released, I get the most hatred. If the song hits the jackpot, then they tend to like it again. You get criticized a lot at first because people think a composer writes the song alone, but that’s not true at all. It’s a complex result, and people just have a go at one person.

— Shinsadong Tiger

Yet, it isn’t just the writers who go through hard times while recording tracks. For idols, it is also challenging, and Shinsadong Tiger recalled a time when girl group MOMOLAND cried during a recording for their hit track “Bboom Bboom.”

It wasn’t their style they had been doing. It was a totally different style. So, before recording, I said, ‘I’m really sorry but let’s give it a shot.’ The atmosphere at the studio was pretty bad.

— Shinsadong Tiger

Luckily, the track did well, but it still shows that both the artists and producers go through plenty of ups and downs. It once again shows that K-Pop shouldn’t be seen through rose-tinted glasses, and a lot of work goes into the finished product. You can watch the whole video below.