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After the huge discourse started from The New York Times’ 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters feature from this week, I thought it would be fun to apply that same structure to the K-pop scene today.
While I didn’t have a super-long deliberation process or send out an industry-wide survey (maybe next year?), what I did come up with are the 30 American-born creatives in K-pop today who have contributed the best in songwriting and compositions. Just like the NYTimes, the requirements had to be that the songwriters were American born (which is why no Max Martin or Joni Mitchell on their list and no EJAE or RM on this one) and every entry gets five representative tracks (I included a link to the first song — and will hope you’ll check out the rest on your own :)
This list gives slightly greater emphasis to critical acclaim over commercial success, with consideration also given to the songwriter’s overall body of work and how much of it contributed to the K-pop world. Plus, I’ve included social links for all of them so you can follow as well.
Reply or comment with your thoughts, but without further ado… here are K-pop’s 30 greatest living American songwriters today.
Bekuh Boom (@boombby)
Orange County, California
WINNER, “ISLAND”
Taeyang, “Eyes, Nose, Lips”
Jeon Somi, “Fast Forward”
MEOVV, “DROP TOP”
Aiden “ADN” Lewis (@adnlewis)
Washington D.C.
V of BTS, “Inner Child”
NCT DREAM, “BOOM”
Sorn, “Scorpio”
Kim Woo Seok, “Tasty”
Rob Grimaldi (@robgrimaldi27)
Bergen County, New Jersey
BLACKPINK, “Love to Hate Me”
ATEEZ & G-Eazy, “WORK Pt.4”
ENHYPEN, “Home”
KAI, “Hello Stranger”
Tayla Parx (@taylaparx)
Dallas, Texas
Red Velvet, “Dumb Dumb”
BTS, “MIC Drop”
TWICE, “This Is For”
Nayeon of TWICE, “Meeeeee”
Vernon of SEVENTEEN (@vernonline)
New York, New York
PinkPantheress, “Illegal + SEVENTEEN”
Yugyeom & Hoody, “Glue Stick”
Charli XCX & Rina Sawayama, “Beg For You (A. G. Cook & Vernon of SEVENTEEN Remix)”
SEVENTEEN & Anne-Marie, “_WORLD”
Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves & Ray Charles McCullough II of The Stereotypes (@stereotypestv)
Sacramento, California
Jessi, “Gum”
B.I, DeVita & Soulja Boy, “BTBT”
BoA, “Kiss My Lips”
TWICE, “Moonlight”
DemJoinz (@demjointz)
Compton, California
BTS, “Run BTS”
EXO, Obsession
YooA, “Selfish”
aespa, “Supernova”
Ryan Tedder (@ryantedder)
Tulsa, Oklahoma
TWICE, “Cry for Me”
i-dle, “I Want That”
Lisa, “Rockstar”
KATSEYE, “Debut”
Harvery Mason Jr. & Damon Thomas of The Underdogs (@harveymasonjr, @kingdamon_18)
Los Angeles, California
Girls' Generation – “Mr. Mr.”
NCT U, “Faded in My Last Song”
Tiffany Young, “Heartbreak Hotel”
SHINee, “Symptoms”
Melanie Fontana (@melaniejoyfontana)
Newington, Connecticut
BTS, “Euphoria”
Hyolyn, “youknowbetter”
TWICE, “Scientist”
EVERGLOW, “Bon Bon Chocolat”
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JKash (@jkash)
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Charlie Puth & Jung Kook, “Left and Right”
Maroon 5 & Lisa, “Priceless”
Jimin, “Be Mine”
BABYMONSTER, “Like That”
Belle of KISS OF LIFE (@kissoflife_s2)
Seattle, Washington
LE SSERAFIM, “Unforgiven”
VIVIZ, “Hypnotize”
Miyeon, “Softly”
Belle of KISS OF LIFE, “Countdown”
Mike Daley (@chimike)
Chicago, Illinois
Stray Kids, “Easy”
TNX, “Love or Die”
Hearts2Hearts, “Style”
WayV, “Nectar”
Jay Park (@moresojuplease)
Seattle, Washington
Charli XCX, Kim Petras & Jay Park, “Lock It”
LNGSHOT, “FaceTime”
NS Yoon-G & Jay Park, “If You Love Me”
Hyolyn, “One Step”
Danny Chung (@thedannychung)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
BLACKPINK, “Pink Venom”
Jeon Somi, “Dumb Dumb”
izna, “izna”
KPop Demon Hunters HUNTR/X, “How It’s Done”
Eric Nam (@ericnam)
Atlanta, Georgia
Dayoung, “Body”
Monsta X, “BEASTMODE”
Eric Nam, Armaan Malik & KSHMR, “Echo”
Kolaj & Eric Nam, “Into You”
Chikk (@thechikkexperience)
Wilmington, Delaware
NMIXX, “Shape of Love”
Taeyeon, “Why”
NCT 127, “Kick It”
Hyomin, “Road Trip”
Matthew Kim (BM) (@bigmatthewww)
Los Angeles, California
KARD, “Oh NaNa”
David Yungin Kim, BM & Bobby, “Run It Up”
Katie & BM, “Around Me”
BM & J.seph, “Been That Boy”
Yoonmirae (@yoonmirae)
Fort Hood, Texas
J-Hope, Gaeko & Yoonmirae, “Neuron”
BIBI, Rich Brian, Warren Hue & 88rising, “froyo”
MFBTY, RM, Dino-J & EE, “Buckubucku”
Far East Movement, Autolaser & Yoonmirae, “Fighter”
Anderson .Paak (@anderson._paak)
Oxnard, California
Anderson .Paak & aespa, “Keychain”
Taeyong & Anderson. Paak, “Rock Solid”
DEAN & Anderson .Paak, “Put My Hands on You”
RM & Anderson .Paak, “Still Life”
Sam Kim (@leegititssam)
Seattle, Washington
Park Hyo Shin, “AE”
ONEW, “On the Way”
IU, “Ending Scene”
Nayeon & Sam Kim, “Heaven”
Teddy Riley (@teddyriley1)
New York, New York
Girls’ Generation, “The Boys”
Rania, “Dr. Feel Good”
f(x), “Milk”
Super Junior, “Mamacita”
Diplo (@diplo)
Tupelo, Mississippi
G-Dragon & T.O.P, “Knock Out”
BLACKPINK, “JUMP”
G-Dragon, Diplo & Baauer, “Coup d'Etat”
Jennie, “Like Jennie”
Elli Moore & Gisselle Acevedo of LYRE (@ellimoore, @goodgirlgisselle)
South Carolina; California
Sunmi, “Oh Sorry Ya”
tripleS, “Beam”
Purple Kiss, “Sweet Juice”
BLACKSWAN, “Karma”
Jessi (@jessicah_o)
New York, New York
PSY & Jessi, “Ganji”
Jessi, “Cold Blooded”
Secret Number, “Fire Saturday”
B.I & Jessie, “Die for Love”
Adrian McKinnon (adriansworld)
Decatur, Alabama
Red Velvet, “Cosmic”
ENHYPEN, “Go Big or Go Home”
Baekhyun, “Bambi”
SHINee, “Married to the Music”
Amy Allen (@amyallen)
Windham, Maine
Jennie & Dua Lipa, “Handlebars”
Fifty Fifty & Sabrina Carpenter, “Cupid”
TWICE, “Let Love Go”
Rosé, “On the Ground”
Davey Nate (@daveynate)
Nashville, Tennessee
SHINee, “1 of 1”
tripleS, “Heart Raider”
Irene, “Love Can Make a Way”
Lee Hi, “Love Is Over”
Jeremy Tay Jasper (@worldwidejasper)
Chicago, Illinois
EXO, “Ko Ko Bop”
MCND, “Reason”
Taemin, “Drip Drop”
Kang Daniel & Dvwn, “Movie”
Simon Jakops (@simonjakops)
Seattle, Washington
Ailee, “Don’t Touch Me”
XG & VALORANT, “Undefeated”
Jun Hyo Seong, “Into You”
XG, Ciara & Jackson Wang, “Left Right Remixx”
Reply or comment with your thoughts on K-pop’s greatest songwriters today.
