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Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome back to the K Factor Everything

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Speaker 1: k Pop. I am your host, Bomhan and just a

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Speaker 1: little reminder that you can listen to this podcast on iHeartRadio, app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Today we

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Speaker 1: have a very special guest. He has an incredible talent

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Speaker 1: who's been making waves in the K pop scene since

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Speaker 1: two thy and nineteen. He is a multi platinum number

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Speaker 1: one Billboard charting songwriter and producer whose work has helped

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Speaker 1: shape the sounds of some of the biggest names in

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Speaker 1: the industry, from Stray Kids to NCT one two seven,

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Speaker 1: Twice Lseraphim, t xt En, hyphen and many many more.

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Speaker 1: His songs have reached millions of fans all over the world.

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Speaker 1: Known for his ability to adapt to different styles and

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Speaker 1: always leave his mark, he's one of the most exciting

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Speaker 1: creative forces in K pop right now. Please welcome Roddie

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Speaker 1: Icon who like moving on, Ronnie, I'm good, How are you?

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Speaker 1: How did that intro feel for you? Oh? Strange?

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Speaker 2: You know what, I'm never really the person to get

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Speaker 2: a lot of I mean, being a writer, you're the

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Speaker 2: one working for the people that are in the center

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Speaker 2: of attention.

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Speaker 1: It's usually a more like behind the scenes thing. And

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Speaker 1: actually when we were like kind of like trying to

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Speaker 1: like do more research on like your story and all

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Speaker 1: these things, you like really embraced that background role and

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Speaker 1: like you like deleted your digital footprint and try to

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Speaker 1: So I mean, this is this is quite a step. Okay, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: like what like sparked that, Uh well, you guys hit

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Speaker 1: me up and I was like, you know what.

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Speaker 2: But I mean it's I feel like it's always it's

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Speaker 2: such a delicate balance as a writer as well to

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Speaker 2: be because I think a lot of cool writers also

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Speaker 2: have cool artist projects. But I specifically chose not to

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Speaker 2: be that guy because I don't know, it feels risky

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Speaker 2: at the same time, and and in this way, I

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Speaker 2: get to be through different songs, you get to be

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Speaker 2: different characters, and you get to embody all of these

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Speaker 2: different groups. So I don't want to put my own

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Speaker 2: identity out there too much because you also kind of

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Speaker 2: need to be somewhat of a blank slate some of

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Speaker 2: the time.

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Speaker 1: That's beautiful. That's like, that's like commitment to your art.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god. We honestly, if I if it wouldn't form,

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Speaker 1: wouldn't be for my writer's career, I probably wouldn't have

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Speaker 1: social media in the first place. Oh okay, So it's

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Speaker 1: like it's something that kind of came naturally to you

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Speaker 1: that reminds me a bit of like acting, Like like

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Speaker 1: an actor will like really try to embody their role

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Speaker 1: a method actor. Yeah, yeah, like you're like a method

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Speaker 1: writer maybe, like I was. I was reading your your

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Speaker 1: bio and your intro, Like you've really accomplished a lot,

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Speaker 1: Like a lot of this is a lot of people's dreams.

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Speaker 1: Like do you ever like kind of like like sit

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Speaker 1: back and be like, wow, yeah, that's me sometimes icon

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Speaker 1: the icon, you know sometimes.

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Speaker 2: But you know what, It's also weird because I in

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Speaker 2: the Netherlands, k pop isn't that huge. I'm from the

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Speaker 2: Netherlands and it's not that huge. It's not as huge

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Speaker 2: as as say in obviously Korea or other places in

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Speaker 2: Asia or now the States as well. So I've had

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Speaker 2: to do even when I was already getting success, I've

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Speaker 2: had to do so much explaining to the people around

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Speaker 2: me to even what it is that I do and.

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Speaker 1: What this genre even is.

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Speaker 2: So I don't feel I don't feel like a star

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Speaker 2: or anything, which is probably a good thing.

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Speaker 1: If you do you feel like a niche writer, like

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Speaker 1: in your space in the Netherlands. It, yeah, I kind

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Speaker 1: of do.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there's there are more writers now jumping onto

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Speaker 2: the bandwagon, which is you know, which could be fun.

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Speaker 1: But it's nice to know that I was here early,

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Speaker 1: right like and we found we found that you like

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Speaker 1: were here super early, like all the way back in

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Speaker 1: like twenty thirteen. Like can you talk about like when

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Speaker 1: you first discovered K pop? Yeah? Sure, I knew that.

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Speaker 2: I always knew that I wanted to do music, okay,

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Speaker 2: because I you know, as a kid, I was obsessed

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Speaker 2: with anything music and had a little keyboard and was

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Speaker 2: even writing songs back then. However crap they were. And

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Speaker 2: at some point I started I dropped out of college

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Speaker 2: and I started working full time. And after a couple

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Speaker 2: of years, I was like, I need to take the

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Speaker 2: opportunity now if I want to, you know, make something

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Speaker 2: out of my career. I felt like the time was taken,

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Speaker 2: even though it really wasn't. But that's when I decided

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Speaker 2: to enroll for a music college program. And the second

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Speaker 2: time that I auditioned, I got accepted. And that was

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Speaker 2: like four years of this you know, full time school

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Speaker 2: where I could just develop and do whatever I wanted.

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Speaker 2: And I didn't know about K pop at that moment,

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Speaker 2: but I because I I first wanted to just be

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Speaker 2: a producer and I wanted to make video game soundtracks, okay,

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Speaker 2: and then I started doing more pop music because I

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Speaker 2: was always obsessed with pop music anyway growing up. And

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Speaker 2: then I found out I didn't I basically I didn't

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Speaker 2: know what I wanted to do. And then I saw

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Speaker 2: K pop and I was like, this is so broad.

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Speaker 2: There's so much, so many different genres meeting in this

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Speaker 2: particular space that I just felt like that's something that

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Speaker 2: I wanted to do more with.

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Speaker 1: Wow. So you kind of like you've kind of you

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Speaker 1: started off as like someone who's interested in a lot

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Speaker 1: of things, and then you stumbled onto K pop. You're like, Wow,

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Speaker 1: this is a lot of things. This is a lot

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Speaker 1: of things. Yeah, okay. So when you write for like

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Speaker 1: K pop songs and stuff, do you do your top

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Speaker 1: lines and your references in English? Yeah? Yeah, I do. Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's what language they speak in the Netherlands, Dutch.

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Speaker 2: But I read this statistic or whatever that we are

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Speaker 2: the most English proficient. That is not native English. Okay,

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Speaker 2: so it's naturally a second language, right, like like more

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Speaker 2: so than like if you were to like be born

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Speaker 2: and like like like like if you were to be

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Speaker 2: like Hungarian, like probably I mean okay, probably, yeah, I'm hungry.

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Speaker 2: So you said that, like the K pop scene in

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Speaker 2: Netherlands is like kind of small, but like some of

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Speaker 2: the like my first like my first band club was

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Speaker 2: from the Netherlands.

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Speaker 1: Oh was it. Yeah? Yeah, So like like they're always

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Speaker 1: telling me, like, come to the Netherlands, and I've always

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Speaker 1: wanted to come. Passionate niche Yeah no, yeah, no exactly.

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Speaker 1: So there's like there's like a weird like full circle moment.

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Speaker 1: That's cool. Mm hmm. Well okay, so we actually found

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Speaker 1: out that you used to do your own music and

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Speaker 1: used to post original covers. Oh man, you got the FBI.

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Speaker 1: Oh my yeah. We were like, oh my god, is

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Speaker 1: Ronnie icon? Because I actually I'm kind of like a

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Speaker 1: little bit like fanned out right now because some of

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Speaker 1: your some of your like writing credits. I'm like genuinely

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Speaker 1: like those are songs like my playlist, like those are

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Speaker 1: like my favorite songs at all time, like Strake his

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Speaker 1: chic Chen boom. What is it? Actually? What is a

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Speaker 1: song that like you remember working on and like really

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Speaker 1: really falling in love with. Do you know what?

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Speaker 2: You do so much music, and often it tends to

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Speaker 2: be the ones that the ones that I love the most,

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Speaker 2: are the ones that you get the most attached to,

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Speaker 2: are the ones that you have to keep pitching because

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Speaker 2: no one's taken them.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, how can no one take this song? This

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Speaker 1: is brilliant.

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Speaker 2: So if there's probably anything that's not been released, even

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Speaker 2: though obviously I love what's been released, but there's Yeah,

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Speaker 2: you listen to your own songs over and over again

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Speaker 2: with your own vocals on them.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So it's like the song Truest to Ronnie Icon

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Speaker 1: hasn't been released yet. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I don't because I don't I wouldn't even know how

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Speaker 2: to define truest to Ronnie Icon. I mean, I know

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Speaker 2: I tend to be I tend to be strong in

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Speaker 2: certain genres or certain places vocally, to do certain styles.

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Speaker 2: But at the same time, I wanna, like I wanna

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Speaker 2: I want to I want to do I want to

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Speaker 2: perform best in places that I know I'm good at.

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Speaker 2: But at the same time, it's I don't want to

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Speaker 2: be typecast in any specific genre, so yeah, keep going

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Speaker 2: for that chameleons role.

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Speaker 1: That chameleon role. I was listening to a lot of

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Speaker 1: your like, like I went through all the like I

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Speaker 1: went to your Genius page and then I just listened

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Speaker 1: to every single song, and I'm like, there is a

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Speaker 1: bit of like a Ronnie icon sound, but also you

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Speaker 1: should tell me what it is. Yeah, it's like it's

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Speaker 1: like like a lot of your souls also have like

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Speaker 1: Japanese adaptations, and it's like very like like very broad.

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Speaker 1: And I was gonna say, like, there there is I

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Speaker 1: like I can I feel like I can listen to

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Speaker 1: a song and be like, yeah, I feel like Ronnie

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Speaker 1: Kon could like has taken part in this. And like

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Speaker 1: now that I've like been more familiar with your work

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Speaker 1: in the future, I feel like I could clock out

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Speaker 1: a little bit. But also your range is also still

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Speaker 1: very wide. Like you'll do like a song for for

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Speaker 1: ny On, you did Love Countdown, right, Yeah, and you'll

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Speaker 1: do You'll do Love Countdown and then you'll go to

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Speaker 1: stray Kits and do Chick Chick Boom, And we're like, wait,

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Speaker 1: like Ronnie, like is really a chameleon like when you

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Speaker 1: when you when you take on that role, it was

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Speaker 1: like a lot of like your other songs, like they

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Speaker 1: kind of like, I don't know it has it has

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Speaker 1: a vibe like you.

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Speaker 2: You don't think so, I mean, obviously, I sometimes have

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Speaker 2: people telling me, or like co writers that are more

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Speaker 2: intimately familiar with how I work or how I write.

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Speaker 2: They might tell me when a song comes out, oh

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Speaker 2: I really heard you in this or or friends that

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Speaker 2: tell me, oh, this is your backing vocals in this

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Speaker 2: song or whatever.

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Speaker 1: But it's gould be me soon. I'm gonna be I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna start hitting you up. Sure, But you know I

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Speaker 1: thought of this.

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Speaker 2: Have you ever seen the paname Blue Lock? Where's about

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Speaker 2: the soccer team soccer.

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Speaker 1: And the egos and all these things.

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Speaker 2: Right, so they're looking for the perfect striker or something

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Speaker 2: in Japan, but they have all of these teams. All

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Speaker 2: of these guys have different talents. So one guy is

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Speaker 2: like amazing at jumping, one guy is the best dribbler,

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Speaker 2: one guy is the best, and then.

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Speaker 1: The main character, he's like.

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Speaker 2: He does everything sort of well but not not better,

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Speaker 2: not one thing better than the one that's the best

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Speaker 2: at that one thing. But he can smell a goal, right,

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Speaker 2: that's like the thing. Yeah, so I'm maybe I am

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Speaker 2: that I can smell a hit record. It's weird to

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Speaker 2: say about myself, but I think that's that's what my

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Speaker 2: overarching strength is, knowing what makes this a good song,

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Speaker 2: a great song.

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Speaker 1: That's beautiful. Dude. I the one of the most the

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Speaker 1: closest person to me on my team right now. His

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Speaker 1: name is Damon and he did all my life and

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Speaker 1: that was the number one record across the entire world.

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Speaker 1: And when I first met him, he was like, Yo, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm be honest, I don't even listen to music like that.

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Speaker 1: I can't produce, I can't do anything. But the one

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Speaker 1: thing I can do is I can smell a hit record, right.

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Speaker 1: I know what a hit record sounds like. And it's

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Speaker 1: like that was the first time I heard anyone say

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Speaker 1: those words outside of Damon. Oh you see, I thought

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Speaker 1: that was original here but no, but like that's a

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Speaker 1: huge honor like that. That's a wonderful group of people

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Speaker 1: to be in, you know, and I believe you, like

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Speaker 1: all the all of your credits have been smashed records

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Speaker 1: and like songs that I like has gone into my world.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm just like some random kid from New York.

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Speaker 1: You're you're in You're in the Netherlands. Like how does

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Speaker 1: your work reach me? You know? And it's because of

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Speaker 1: this talent that you have. That's very sweet. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much. That's really that's so incredible. That was so beautiful, dude.

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Speaker 1: I have a question when you write, Uh, you say

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Speaker 1: you take on this chameleon row, But what do you

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Speaker 1: think about when you start writing, Like, do you like

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Speaker 1: before you pitched, or you like, Okay, I'm gonna start

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Speaker 1: writing for TXT now and like what would TXT like?

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Speaker 1: Or like do you start thinking about like certain musical

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Speaker 1: elements and then be like, oh, this kind of fits

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Speaker 1: in with this person.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's, of course, there's different situations. Sometimes you write

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Speaker 2: for a specific group with them in mind, and you

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Speaker 2: gear the song towards them. And sometimes you just write

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Speaker 2: something because you think it's gonna do well and it

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Speaker 2: will be uh, it will be a good fit for

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Speaker 2: a couple of different artists and we'll figure it out

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Speaker 2: later at the end of the writing process. But what

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Speaker 2: is always constant is why would a label take this song,

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Speaker 2: Why would an artist want to sing this why what

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Speaker 2: makes this better or stand out from the thousands of

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Speaker 2: other songs that are going in that that's always at

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Speaker 2: the forefront of my mind.

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Speaker 1: And what what do you what are those elements that

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Speaker 1: you think stand out kind of like the same throughout

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Speaker 1: your work or is it different each time like all

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Speaker 1: the old Yeah.

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Speaker 2: No, it's I don't think it's different, Oh I do.

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Speaker 2: I don't think it's the same every time, because it

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Speaker 2: can be.

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Speaker 1: It can be.

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Speaker 2: It's a hook basically, right, a hook. The hook can

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Speaker 2: be many different things. It can be an instrumental thing,

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Speaker 2: it can be a spoken thing, it can be a

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Speaker 2: song thing, it can be a melody somewhere in the track.

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Speaker 2: So a hook is literally what's gonna hook you into

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Speaker 2: the song, And ideally for a great song, you've got

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Speaker 2: a couple of those throughout the song that will make

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Speaker 2: it stick out even after you've finished playing it.

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Speaker 1: Something that sticks okay. So something that I personally consider

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Speaker 1: a lot when I listen to K pop is kind

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Speaker 1: of like the visual elements, Like there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: storytelling in the way that like the sections are broken down,

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Speaker 1: and with like choreography and dance being such a huge

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Speaker 1: part of K pop, do you ever consider, like, oh,

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Speaker 1: how a choreography might turn out when you're writing a song,

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Speaker 1: like for example, like Chick Chick Boom, it turned into

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Speaker 1: like a huge TikTok dance like across the entire world,

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Speaker 1: Like do you actively consider that possibility as you're writing

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Speaker 1: or is just kind of like, oh those nice?

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Speaker 2: I definitely take the choreography seriously. I'm not a dancer myself,

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Speaker 2: but I know that it needs to be dance a

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Speaker 2: bull so unless I'm aiming for something else that's on

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Speaker 2: the album and that's not the purpose of the song,

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Speaker 2: but I know that nine times out of ten they'll

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Speaker 2: want to be able to dance to it. So if

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Speaker 2: there's too much downtime, like I literally did this today

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Speaker 2: with sitting with the producer, I'm like, can we add

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Speaker 2: some percussive elements to this even though it was a bridge,

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Speaker 2: because I wanted, you know, if there's too much downtime,

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Speaker 2: what are you gonna do on stage? You know you

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Speaker 2: can't keep I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate that the percussives during the bridge. I really

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Speaker 1: really appreciate that.

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Speaker 2: You need something to keep the momentum going right, So

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Speaker 2: that is something that you actively because yes, that's like

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Speaker 2: so interesting. I think it's kind of like, well, I

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Speaker 2: don't see it this way anymore, but I think a

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Speaker 2: good way to explain kpop to people that are not

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Speaker 2: familiar is like it's like ADHD music. You need constants, stimuli, stimuli, right,

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Speaker 2: Maybe that's why I'm in K pop?

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Speaker 1: Right? Maybe? All so, you've written for huge board groups

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Speaker 1: and you've written for huge girl groups. Do you have

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Speaker 1: like a like what what do you think is like

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Speaker 1: a big difference between writing for like the two different

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Speaker 1: kind of groups.

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Speaker 2: Well, I've been writing professionally for a couple of years now,

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Speaker 2: like six six years ago, the difference was bigger than

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Speaker 2: it is now. I think what what tended to be

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Speaker 2: the case was that boy groups would do stuff that's

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Speaker 2: more experimental, maybe for we're thinking, and girl groups would

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Speaker 2: catch up, especially with to any one in Black Pink

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Speaker 2: at the time, they were the ones doing most of

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Speaker 2: the hip hop, and then the rest of the girl

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Speaker 2: groups would more girl groups would maybe follow after that.

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Speaker 2: I think these days it might be more interesting to

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Speaker 2: flip sometimes when you hear a track and you don't

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Speaker 2: know whether it should be for a girl group or

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Speaker 2: a boy group. But it's given girl group, maybe it's

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Speaker 2: more interesting to write it for a boy group or

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Speaker 2: the other way around, and you get something, you get

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Speaker 2: some interesting color that way. So I don't think it

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Speaker 2: matters as much anymore.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so you've had the experiences where you like, you

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Speaker 1: wrote for a girl group and then like a boy

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Speaker 1: group will like pick it up and it just becomes

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Speaker 1: a super interesting blend.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think A and rs will want to hear

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Speaker 2: a song in the you know, if a boy, if

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Speaker 2: a boy, if it's a boy group, they'll want a

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Speaker 2: guy to have sung the demo. So we do need

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Speaker 2: to consider what do we want to do with this song.

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Speaker 2: But one of my first songs that ever got cut

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Speaker 2: was for Twice, and I actually recorded that as a

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Speaker 2: male group as myself with my own vocal and now

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Speaker 2: and then later I considered, you know what, revisited this

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Speaker 2: song and I was like, we should record this with

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Speaker 2: the girl in mind, and then we rewrote a little bit,

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Speaker 2: and then we had a girl recing the demo obviously

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Speaker 2: transposed it up and uh and that, yeah, kind of

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Speaker 2: opened my eyes to the idea of don't think too

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Speaker 2: much in boxes, because anything could be possible, is that the.

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Speaker 1: Only experience you have of like the end product being

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Speaker 1: completely different from like what you pitched.

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Speaker 2: Uh No, because sometimes labels will come back with uh

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Speaker 2: with notes that that maybe they'll want a different section somewhere,

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Speaker 2: or they'll want something to have been rewritten. But most

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Speaker 2: of the time I think the demos are pretty close

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Speaker 2: to the final results.

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Speaker 1: Okay. You have you ever had like a like a

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Speaker 1: group like wildly put their own spin on like a

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Speaker 1: on like a song and then you're like surprised by it.

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Speaker 2: Lyrics wise, maybe okay, but obviously because I write the

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Speaker 2: songs in in uh in English, and then someone else

352
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Speaker 2: will help out with Korean lyrics and try to capture

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Speaker 2: the same sonic essence of what I wrote, but obviously

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Speaker 2: a lot of it will be in Korean, so a

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Speaker 2: lot of it goes over my head.

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Speaker 1: Anyways, I thought that you were writing completely in like

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Speaker 1: Korean and Japanese because both yeah, Because I was like, Yo,

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Speaker 1: like every song that Ronnie wrights, there's like a Japanese version,

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Speaker 1: So I thought you were pitching these songs in Japanese.

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Speaker 1: I was like, like, my first question company was like, Yo,

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Speaker 1: are you poor Japanese? No? No, man is there like

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Speaker 1: a is there a reason why, like your songs like

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Speaker 1: often have like these Japanese adaptations, do you think you

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Speaker 1: have like A Well.

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Speaker 2: They tend to do that with singles with title tracks.

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Speaker 2: Whenever the group would release an album in the same

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Speaker 2: time frame in Japan, they might have as a B side, Uh,

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Speaker 2: the Japanese re recording of the title track.

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Speaker 1: So I just had a couple of title songs. So

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Speaker 1: you're just you're just you're just pushing out hits. That's what.

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Speaker 1: Maybe that's it. I didn't want to say that, but

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Speaker 1: you're just good at what you do. That that that

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Speaker 1: Japanese like like kind of interpretation like surprise. A lot

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Speaker 1: of my team members like, oh, like they always do

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Speaker 1: like a CD in Japanese. You know, like like what's

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Speaker 1: something that like fans would be surprised to learn about

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Speaker 1: like behind the scenes, like like like behind the scenes

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Speaker 1: or like making like K pop music. What is something

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Speaker 1: that you think like surprise the fans.

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Speaker 2: Oh, that's a good question. Thinking about the creative process,

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Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe what's surprising is that you write

382
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Speaker 2: a lot, and most of what you write doesn't get

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Speaker 2: released because there's just this huge abundance of music circulating

384
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Speaker 2: from you know, from email to email, from laptop to laptop,

385
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Speaker 2: And yeah, these A and rs have a tough job

386
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Speaker 2: of sifting through all of these music, all of these songs,

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Speaker 2: most of which is up to a certain standard. So

388
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Speaker 2: now it's a matter of picking between a lot of

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Speaker 2: good songs. What's the the best fit for the artists

390
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Speaker 2: in that specific year, specific month, what's the trend, what

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Speaker 2: do we want to what's the image that we want

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Speaker 2: to go for, And obviously sometimes that we write based

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Speaker 2: on a general direction that that is being considered for

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Speaker 2: a certain artists. So yeah, I think what might be

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Speaker 2: surprising is how much music is out there. And that's

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Speaker 2: actually I'm still surprised by that I have. I don't

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Speaker 2: even know how much music is out there. Maybe it's

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Speaker 2: good that I don't.

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Speaker 1: Like. Speaking to the other writers. They tell me a

400
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Speaker 1: lot about like the writing camps that happens for these

401
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Speaker 1: like KP hop groups, right, And it's like they'll be

402
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Speaker 1: like breaking like like whole team of writers producers, and

403
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Speaker 1: they'll work on like these songs for like a week.

404
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Speaker 1: They'll pitch it and like there's like a possibility that

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Speaker 1: none of it ever gets picked up. You know, yeah, yeah,

406
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Speaker 1: how how often are you like doing these camps and

407
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Speaker 1: how often? Like what's like the success rate of these

408
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Speaker 1: things where like, okay, we gotta we got a job

409
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Speaker 1: out of it? It?

410
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Speaker 2: Well it really are you per person?

411
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Speaker 1: You mean? Or yeah? Song?

412
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Speaker 2: Because I've had to do a lot of investing upfront

413
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Speaker 2: obviously and in terms of hours as well. So I

414
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Speaker 2: was I was serving tables for the longest time before

415
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Speaker 2: the checks came in to the point where I could,

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Speaker 2: you know.

417
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Speaker 1: Quit my job. Wow. So I was serving tables.

418
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Speaker 2: First it was six days a week, and then one

419
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Speaker 2: day do the music for the entire day, and then

420
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Speaker 2: maybe it became two days of full time music, and

421
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Speaker 2: the balance started shifting till I could eventually quit that

422
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Speaker 2: job even though I loved it, but obviously I knew

423
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Speaker 2: that this was the long term plan. So it takes

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Speaker 2: a lot out of time. But I think more often

425
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Speaker 2: than not, probably people don't actually succeed in making that transition. Yeah,

426
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:17,600
Speaker 2: because there's there's just not a lot of spots available

427
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 2: mm hmm. It's it's really competitive.

428
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Speaker 1: Well, So with that being said, do you have any

429
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Speaker 1: advice that you would like to give to like future

430
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Speaker 1: artists or like future songwriters don't do it.

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Speaker 3: Oh nice, Ronnie icon is eliminating the competition. That's not

432
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Speaker 3: what I meant, But now I was like, I know.

433
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Speaker 2: I meant it from a goof place, like save yourself

434
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Speaker 2: the heartache.

435
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Speaker 1: Ya. That's exactly yo. That's literally what I tell people

436
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Speaker 1: who are like, oh my god, like buma, what would

437
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,200
Speaker 1: you like tell people who want to be a trainee?

438
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:58,199
Speaker 1: I'm like, don't like you have to be ready, like

439
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,879
Speaker 1: really really brace your art because it's like, like not

440
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,720
Speaker 1: a lot of people are able to make that transition.

441
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 2: Like you said, the thing is, are you willing to

442
00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 2: make turn what you're passionate about into your profession?

443
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: Because that I.

444
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 2: Don't know if I starting out realized that I would

445
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 2: break my hobby in doing so, you know what I mean,

446
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 2: Because obviously I'm still excited by it. Otherwise I wouldn't

447
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 2: be doing it. But it's also now it's your job.

448
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 2: It's your work, and you have to be willing to

449
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 2: do it even when you're not when you don't feel

450
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 2: like doing it.

451
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:47,680
Speaker 1: Right right, That's actually how I felt about dancing. I

452
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:49,920
Speaker 1: was like, it's so in love with dance, Like I

453
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: would like, literally wake up like and like freestyle to

454
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,879
Speaker 1: like my alarm clock, like I would like live and breathe, dance,

455
00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 1: and then like like now, at like a certain point,

456
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, like this is kind of like tiring.

457
00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: My knee hurts, and I still have to like go

458
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 1: and clock in and like do my hours and do

459
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,679
Speaker 1: my rehearsals and all these things. So it's like like

460
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: now that becomes a part of my work life balance.

461
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,639
Speaker 1: And then like my hobby falls into work and I

462
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,640
Speaker 1: have to separate that from life in order to keep

463
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,159
Speaker 1: myself sane. Like do you like feel yourself struggling with

464
00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:20,919
Speaker 1: like the same thing.

465
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 2: Well to some extent, you know, like for example, when

466
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,800
Speaker 2: I'm with friends hanging out or whatever, or maybe even

467
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,399
Speaker 2: a better example is when I'm in Korea on a

468
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,920
Speaker 2: writing trip and everyone is like, oh, let's go out.

469
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,399
Speaker 1: For drinks and shots whatever.

470
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'll be the first to probably go back

471
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:47,080
Speaker 2: to the hotel and say, okay, guys, see you in

472
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 2: the morning or not. But I'll be there in the morning,

473
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 2: fresh with a fresh voice.

474
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:54,600
Speaker 1: Oh wow.

475
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you got to make some sacrifices in that

476
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 2: way when you went to Korea, you worked with any

477
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,840
Speaker 2: like direct like K pop artists. Uh some yeah, sometimes

478
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 2: what was that process? Like, uh, well, obviously you now

479
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,439
Speaker 2: you have a goal in mind. Uh so it helps

480
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:19,680
Speaker 2: to focus what you're doing. Yeah, but it's at the

481
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:30,400
Speaker 2: same time it's the same process, but now you're well,

482
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 2: first of all, leave thus being star struck at the

483
00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 2: room at the at the door right right, because that's

484
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 2: that's that's not helping the situation at all. But I

485
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:47,080
Speaker 2: think I tend to be good at being chill.

486
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 1: Okay, Oh so you still like you'll still like feel

487
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: like a little like it's like, oh wow, this is

488
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 1: like someone that I've seen online.

489
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course that that's still uh it doesn't affect

490
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,160
Speaker 2: the situation at all, and it wouldn't weird about it.

491
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 1: But that's like that's like shit, that's such a human

492
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 1: thing to say and like and like admit, that's that's

493
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,240
Speaker 1: like that's awesome, dude, because it's like this is like

494
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:14,040
Speaker 1: keepop is something that you enjoy and like really love

495
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: then uh yeah, well I've also broken that hobby. But yeah,

496
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 1: oh okay, wow, that's that's so beautiful. Like I mean,

497
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 1: like when I ask you for like advice for like

498
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 1: a young songwriter and like all these things. It's like, yo,

499
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 1: don't do it. But honestly, bro, you're such an inspiration

500
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 1: like for you to like like like there's so many

501
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: kids who are watching right now who's in the exact

502
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 1: same situation that you were in when you were like

503
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 1: in like all the way back in twenty thirteen, just

504
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 1: like listening to music and be like, oh this is keepop,

505
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:48,600
Speaker 1: Oh this is something cool. And I like to have

506
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:50,640
Speaker 1: like a like a dream of like writing songs and

507
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:53,000
Speaker 1: all these things. And it's like you had such like

508
00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 1: a humble beginning, you know, and now you're like freaking legendary. Dude,

509
00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:01,080
Speaker 1: You've hit the pinnacle of like songwri keep. Like literally

510
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: the groups that you have written for have toward the

511
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,440
Speaker 1: entire world with your music, Like that is so beautiful

512
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: and you've come to such like a long way and

513
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,440
Speaker 1: it's like there's kids who are looking up to you,

514
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 1: you know, Like that's that's such an amazing thing. You

515
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 1: should be man. You know, I'll record you a message

516
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: to play every morning. Yes, I'll freeztyt to that. We

517
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 1: got to do a song together, man, let's go. I'll

518
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 1: record you a song and it's just me. It's just

519
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 1: me doing this. I'll sample this podcast Ronnie is there

520
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 1: before we wrap up. What's what's next in your journey?

521
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,719
Speaker 1: Are there any exciting projects that you're working on right

522
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: now or any anything personal or or or anything you

523
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 1: want to share.

524
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 2: No, it's it's it's funny because you give me all this,

525
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 2: all these accolades whatever, and I get this from my

526
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 2: from my management slash publishing as well. They're like, you

527
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 2: should celebrate more because I'm always so what's the word

528
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 2: blase about achievements? Because I'm I I want to keep

529
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 2: reinventing the wheel, right, So I'm I'm I'm always trying

530
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 2: to push and search for what is the next thing,

531
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 2: or work with people that have no prior affiliation with

532
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 2: K pop just to source some like inject my own

533
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 2: music with something new. So that's I guess that's always

534
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:50,240
Speaker 2: on in my on my immediate because I'm I don't

535
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 2: want my music to get stale and I I just

536
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:59,240
Speaker 2: want to constantly give. I want to surprise people.

537
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:05,840
Speaker 1: Wow. So so you're you're despite all that you've accomplished,

538
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 1: you're still looking to like inject sounds outside of K

539
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,080
Speaker 1: pop to amplify the art that you already have like

540
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:15,280
Speaker 1: you're still growing, is what you're telling you. I mean,

541
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 1: I have to, because.

542
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:23,040
Speaker 2: You know it's I I've been I've had a very

543
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,040
Speaker 2: good streak. But then there's also a lot of other writers.

544
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:28,600
Speaker 2: And it's so hard to not compare to what other

545
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:33,240
Speaker 2: people are doing, right because even though I am one guy,

546
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:37,720
Speaker 2: but I'm comparing myself to the entire world of writers.

547
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 1: And all of a.

548
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 2: Sudden you start to realize or realize or feel how insignificant,

549
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,080
Speaker 2: uh it is in the grander scheme, even though these

550
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 2: songs I know have not been insignificant, but I want to,

551
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 2: you know, maintain the same level of success. So I'm

552
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,440
Speaker 2: just yeah, it humbles me and it fuels me to

553
00:32:59,280 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 2: keep pushing.

554
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: M hmm. And the trends in K pop changed like that. Yeah,

555
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,480
Speaker 1: like like the next day, the next year, it could

556
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 1: be someone there, there could be someone else exactly. I

557
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:11,760
Speaker 1: don't want to be that has been so I better.

558
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 1: That won't happen. That won't happen. Good. Next year there's

559
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 1: gonna be a song and be like, I'm gonna call

560
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 1: you out and be like, Ronnie, is that your voice

561
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: in the bag? I hope? So, man, we'll make it happen.

562
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 1: We have like an album coming out and it's like

563
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 1: eight songs long, and we have like a sound really.

564
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course I checked out your song Dance under

565
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 2: the Moonlight mm hmmm yeah yeah, interesting vocal tone as well.

566
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:43,560
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah, I like it and I saw you

567
00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:49,440
Speaker 1: worked on the looking great in the video. Yeah, it's cool.

568
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: We'll email. We'll email you a bunch of stuff. Then.

569
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,200
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for Yeah, man, freaking awesome. Thank you,

570
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for today. I had a lot

571
00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 1: of fun. I love it was so nice talking to

572
00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 1: you today. I love your work ethic. I love the

573
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 1: way you approach like artistic, like you're kind of like

574
00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,319
Speaker 1: you kind of have like that like Kobe mentality, but

575
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:15,319
Speaker 1: then you bring it to like art and music like

576
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 1: you know, you know Kobe Bryant the Lakers. Yeah, yeah,

577
00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,920
Speaker 1: you're like yo, everybody's outdrinking, but I went back to

578
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,960
Speaker 1: the hotel earlier to preserve my voice, like and it's

579
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,319
Speaker 1: like having that drive of like always wanting to grow

580
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,160
Speaker 1: and like get better. I'm really rooting for you and

581
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:35,160
Speaker 1: and and thank you for sharing your expertise and sharing

582
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 1: your wisdom with us today and just inspiring a generation

583
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: with your music, with your story and and just everything. Yeah,

584
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:46,880
Speaker 1: thank you, Ronnie, thank you so much man, thanks you.

585
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,480
Speaker 1: Thanks to you for having me. This was fun and

586
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,399
Speaker 1: I'll see you next week. I love you, guys,