Guide to Writing K-Pop Songs

K-Pop is a high energy, glossy style that’s built on teenage dreams, catchy hooks, pulsing rhythms, and a collision of Korean and English lyrics. Recently, the demand for this genre has exploded—more than doubling since 2020. There are definitely opportunities here for songwriters and music producers. So, let’s take a listen to a few monster hits from the current and classic K-Pop charts and look for shortcuts that will help you write and pitch in this style.

What is a K-Pop song?

The K-Pop genre features highly rhythmical melodies, memorable chorus hooks, stacked harmony vocals, and danceable grooves. While it clearly shares similarities with the U.S. boy bands of the 1990s, like Backstreet Boys and ’NSYNC, there is a kind of super-charged energy to today’s K-Pop hits. The tempo is faster, the song sections are shorter, and there’s a lot more phrase repetition.

To hear a great example of a current K-Pop hit, listen to I AM by the K-Pop girl group IVE on Youtube. (Turn on Closed Captioning to see the English language lyrics. It’s the tiny box with “CC” in the lower right of the YouTube video screen.

Song Guide: “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi

Why This song?

For a while now, I’ve been wanting to do a Song Guide on a Lewis Capaldi song. I first heard “Grace” on Grey’s Anatomy and I was struck by its rhythmical melody and simple, powerful hook. Next thing I knew, Capaldi had a radio hit and Grammy nomination for “Someone You Loved,” a piano/vocal song with a lyric that evokes the Titanic of relationship disasters. Capaldi’s current single, “Before You Go,” is well on its way to a billion listens on Spotify. So I start wondering who is this guy?

Well, it turns out, Lewis Capaldi the artist currently consists of himself and a production/songwriting team called TMS (Tommy Barnes, Benjamin Kohn, and Peter Kelleher). You can find out more about their collaboration in this interview.

Their cowrite with Capaldi,”Before You Go,” seems an unlikely hit in these days of unrelenting dance beats. Its dark, confessional Singer-Songwriter lyric and huge, emotional chorus, set it apart from most commercial radio hits. So I want to take a deeper look to find out what makes it work.

Hit Songwriting: Royals by Lorde

Pop songwriter and recording artist Lorde

Sometimes a single, unlikely word can spark a hit. Lorde describes seeing the word “Royals” written on the uniform of a Kansas City Royals baseball player. It triggered a response—not to the baseball team, but to the word itself.

“Royals” is a word that’s loaded with associations – wealth, luxury, power, and privilege. It evokes stories of legendary kings and queens, as well as today’s celebrities. And it stirs up interest in just about everyone, which makes it a perfect word on which to build a song. Let’s take a look at Lorde’s mega-hit and find out how to create a hit song from a single word.

Listen to the song. Read the lyrics.

“Royals” recorded by Lorde
Songwriters: Ella Yelich-O’Connor (Lorde), Joel Little
You can read the lyric here.

GENRE/STYLE: Singer-Songwriter

(What is a genre?)
This song has sold triple Platinum and made it to #1 on Pop charts around the world.  It doesn’t sound like most Pop hits, though. Definitely not Katy Perry or Kelly Clarkson. Instead it blends a singer-songwriter style lyric and melody with a groove and tempo that owe a lot to Hip Hop, giving the song a cool Urban edge.

When blending genres like this, be sure you’re familiar with both of the styles you’re working in. Your song and/or production need to draw on authentic elements from each source rather than being an accidental mish-mash that may or may not really capture a genre. Listen to your favorite artists in each style as you write. Draw on those elements that appeal to you, or study an artist who is already blending those styles.

Like I’m Gonna Lose You – Meghan Trainor & John Legend

Megan Trainor

Question: How do you follow up a platinum, career-launching single like Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass”? Answer: With two more relentlessly catchy songs that build on a similar retro-blend sound.

Which is exactly what Meghan Trainor did. But after the third single – as much fluffy fun as it was – listeners were bound to wonder if things weren’t starting to sound a little same-y. Time for something new. Trainor hit the sweet spot with a ballad/duet with John Legend that slides perfectly into Trainor’s throwback sound while revealing more emotional depth.

Hit Songwriting: Smile by Uncle Kracker

I really love the feel, the energy, and the emotion of this song. I guess a lot of other people do, too, because it’s a platinum-selling single that’s been at the top of both the Top 40 charts and the Country charts. It’s also a master class in how to express an abstract emotion in a concrete way that makes listeners, well… smile!

Listen to the song. Read the lyrics.