The Legendary 2nd-Gen K-Pop Song That Was Bebe Rexha’s “First Real Hit”
Part of what makes K-Pop unique is the genre-bending sounds and often multilingual lyrics, appealing to a wider international audience.
Thanks to K-Pop’s increased global reach, many prominent Western artists have written legendary songs for K-Pop’s top stars.
While Western artists have collaborated with K-Pop artists on songs before, some artists have taken more of a behind-the-scenes role with writing and production credits or have had their songs sold to K-Pop companies.
American singer JoJo wrote f(x) Luna‘s solo song, “Free Somebody,” Bruno Mars wrote SHINee Taemin‘s “Press Your Number,” Kesha wrote Girls’ Generation‘s “Run Devil Run,” Zara Larsson wrote f(x)’s “Cash Me Out,” and there are many more examples.
Recently, American singer-songwriter, Bebe Rexha, was a guest on The Zach Sang Show, where she discussed her incredible music career and how she got her start.
Now 33 years old, the talented artist shared that she had her first “real hit” when she was 17, and it was a K-Pop song.
While she didn’t name the song during the interview, she did share a sample of the original demo on her TikTok.
In the TikTok, she explained that she sent her demo to Korea, and it was picked up by SM Entertainment, who worked to turn the song into SHINee’s 2010 hit song, “Lucifer.”
@beberexha Wrote this demo when I was 17 and it got turned into a big kpop song, Lucifer by SHINee!
In a longer version of the video that was posted on Bebe Rexha’s Twitter, she shared that, incredibly, she wrote the hit song in her bedroom.
Fans keep asking how Lucifer came about. Here you go. I ❤️ kpop pic.twitter.com/0xnBXBJwQW
— Bebe Rexha (@BebeRexha) May 30, 2019
If you haven’t heard SHINee’s version of the song, check it out below!
