It seems that a Finnish Youtuber wrote a new song for Girls' Generation

[violentiak.livejournal.com]

Sara Maria Forsberg, a 20 years old Finnish girl, announced on her Instagram today that she has written a new song for Girls' Generation. And not just any tune, she says it's their upcoming single. She has also said before that she has written even more songs for Asian artists, but this was the first one that was revealed.

"But who is this?" you might ask. Last March, Sara Maria Forsberg, maybe better known as Smokahontas, uploaded some videos on Youtube that went viral pretty fast. (I bet some of you have seen them too: What languages sound like to foreigners #1 and #2, One girl, 14 genres)
Her videos have gained a lot of attention on the Internet and other media and they literally changed her life.

Nowadays, she's building her career as an entertainer in LA. She has filmed a movie with Jackie Chan and has a record deal with Capitol Records. She is most likely making her own debut as an artist this year. You know, these little things...

Source: SMO, Iltalehti

Mods, the text is my own writing, but I added a Finnish article as a source. I hope everything is okay. This is my first post, but I thought this is interesting enough to deserve posting.

Comments

[norringtons.livejournal.com]

She comes off terribly annoying in her videos.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

lol those videos are so random
of course youtube can change your life ... just ask rebecca

[nzpnkrckrgrl.livejournal.com]

I see @ryansjhun and @idrmusic. She's working with the Marcan Ent team. They always give their songs to SM all the time.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

They also produced u-kiss' neverland Album

[lainmyownworld.livejournal.com]

i think she knows, look at that glorious kiseop icon

[nzpnkrckrgrl.livejournal.com]

Yep. You prob know Im a ukiss fangirl. XD

[tokyocinema.livejournal.com]

I liked her videos! They were pretty adorable. I'm glad she's been exposed to opportunities like this.

Also, congrats on your first post, OP! *throws confetti*

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

Her singing diff genre video is hilarious esp when she do the opera. XD~

[rabu-parade.livejournal.com]

I think she's a bit annoying, but I'm Finnish so it's nice to see Finland being represented like this.

I didn't know she knows Darkchild. omgg

[kicking-tenshi.livejournal.com]

She seems pretty talented. Good luck to her!

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

I really don't get it why SM doesn't use more Korean songwriters? But as a Finn I'm of course happy that Sara managed to sell a song to such a major Korean group.

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

They recognize the supremacy of Scandinavian/Nordic songwriters when it comes to pop, I guess, lol. It does seem like over the years they've kinda absorbed the Euro/Scandinavian pop-sound into the SM aesthetic, so they need those songwriters to provide a steady stream of material. It does always surprise me, though, when I look at the production credits for an SM group/artist's album and see how little of it is was produced in-house or by domestic composers/producers.

And it is interesting to see them so invested in the sound that they're getting material from 20-year-olds who haven't really established themselves yet....maybe 'cuz she's cheaper? Idk.

[violentiak.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure writing songs is included in her deal with Capitol Records. Don't know how that affects the price.
Anyways, I'm just interested to hear the song, it must be pretty decent if it was chosen as a single.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

I think SM isn't so much working with her as with the guys the mentions - the Marcan Entertainment team (which SM has worked with on a number of occasions before). I guess she's in the studio with them?

Scandinavian made pop music is everything to me. Producers from those particular countries have been defyning the genre for me since I was 8 (which was in 1999).

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

same! i'm two years younger and i consider scandinavian-produced pop one of my favorite geners (if you can call it that tho) and i grew up listening to it a lot.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

In the late 90s and early 2000s Scandanivians produced basically everything? I worship Max Martin, that dude wrote the songs I remember from childhood and he's still going strong. (Britney pls make another record with that man and Danja too)

[leighbee333.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see!

Scandinavian made pop music is everything to me.

Yassss. Robyn is probably my favorite modern pop artist period.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

She's great! I personally have strong feelings for Ace of Base. And then Max Martin IS THIS MAN ACTUALLY GOD I THINK SO.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_clochette_/]

I'm so late to this post but I just wanted to say that my undergrad swedish language thesis was on max martin and his (and his associates') success (called the "swedish music miracle" in scandinavia), I am such a fangirl of his, and I can't believe that people who wrote for britney's first album are still writing hits for like 1D and stuff today? all those guys are brilliant

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

Oh my goood that must have been such an interesting thing to do, could you say a bit about what was in your thesis?

Max Martin has basically composed all my favourite pop songs, from the first memories of music I have from the late 90s untill now. Everyone involved with Cheiron Studios (Dennis Pop rest his soul) makes great stuff and is still going at it. Bloodshy & Avant haven't been as active but wow... great classics from them too (Toxic!!!!!).

I get really excited about these people.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_clochette_/]

wow, I don't know if I've ever talked to anyone who knows about cheiron and everything. I feel totally the same, those guys wrote all my favourite pop music, when I first learned about it I felt like it was the da vinci code or something like a huge conspiracy. "the sign" was my first favourite song when I was like four and then I was a huge late 90s pop fan and it's still my guilty pleasure, and I'm pretty nerdy about it now. I still lowkey think that britney's whole career only happened because robyn was too artistically focused to be easily marketed and that same label found their own US "robyn" for cheap once they found out how well songs like "show me love" could be received stateside (the pictures of britney recording in like the tiny closet studio at cheiron when she was SO young always trip me out.)

so as a senior foreign language thesis it wasn't that advanced but in brief I was basically just researching reasons why in that time and place that was able to happen, to an extent where music was one of sweden's major exports at the time.

so it boils down a lot to like (and you nah already know all this stuff) coincidence (that max was ever at cheiron and met denniz in the first place, and that guys like andreas carlsson and kristian lundin and rami yacoub kinda wandered in at the right time too), but also swedish social models played a big part. there was the culture of mentorship under which max was able to learn from denniz and then apprentice other people who apprenticed other people and after denniz died and cheiron closed (RIP) those guys all opened their own studios and now work pretty solidly. there's like the size of the country too meaning everyone knows everyone and if someone is successful they're often able to bring colleagues in on that. but also there's stuff like government support for the arts, which is big in sweden, and which enables things like extensive after school music programs and free instrument loans to school-aged children which creates a culture that is really musical and has a high level of ability (max was in one of those programs iirc which is partly why he was a bit of a savant and learned so quickly at cheiron). there are similar programs in places like norway too which is why if you look at like 2006-2008 when chris brown/rihanna/neyo/jordin sparks and all that more r&b stuff was huge, a tonne of those songs were written by a couple norwegians known as stargate who've also done hugely well for themselves.

my favourite thing about max is his style change-up around 2005/6 when he started having the rockier max martin sound with kelly clarkson and pink and people like that, that he was able to do that and update his style and stay relevant and in that way keep working consistently even after 10 years in the business had already made him hugely successful. I also love that with the 90s nostalgia we're getting now and artists like ariana grande he's getting to do sort of classic stuff again. I love all the swedes and the norwegians too but max's stuff just has like an extra something to it that elevates it IMO.

wow that was super long sorry but yeah! I love all these guys and max is a crazy genius for sure.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

Any links to those Britney photo's?!

'The Sign' is absolutely amazing. Ace of Base in general is just... one of the best 90s bands?

I read a newspaper article on the particular topic of Swedish producers/bands doing so well on the pop scene last year, and that one also pointed out the school environment being VERY encouraging. Very interesting to read your other observations! Maybe there's a bit of magic in Swedish waters too, who knows...

I too am very appreciative of the fact that Max has been able to shift his sound around. It's proof of his talent as a writer/producer (and of course, versatility makes it easier to stay in the fast changing pop industry). I personally think the mad definitely has a certain sound and style, but he changes that up a bit per artists, and working with different people also makes that happen. Although, as much as I appreciate Katy Perry's tunes - she's starting to bore me by working with the same folks over and over at this point. (Also SHAME Dr. Luke turned out to be such a douche.)

YES @ 90S NOSTALGIA. Ariana Grande's last album is one of my favourites from last year exactly because of that. Kiesza's Hide Away had that similair vibe (Perry's Walking on Air is there too). Wouldn't mind more artists following the trend.

[rabu-parade.livejournal.com]

Scandinavian made pop music is everything to me.

Yess. Out of the newer artists I love Tove Lo! Her album is so good.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

I've heard a number of her song writings but have yet to download that album. Thanks for reminding me :P

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

It's probably about SM having a very strong vision of what they want their artists to sound like, and that they therefore don't give their artists too much freedom to experiment with their own stuff? (Jonghyun got to be involved with most of his mini album - but that still sounds in line with SHINee/SM so I guess they didn't have issues with it.)

I guess one of the big problems with pop music is that it often chooses garantueed money over risky innovation - just look at how much BraveBrothers gets around with his recycled crap.

[camouflagecat.livejournal.com]

I'm a Finn but I haven't watched a single video from her until now (this was the first time I actually watched that 'foreign languages' video and it didn't seem that special to me since that idea has been done many times before lol the one with 14 genres tho was pretty cool), but she seems to appear in articles in Finland every once in a while. It's still a mystery to me tho how she managed to get a record deal and a movie roll from all this (I didn't even know she could sing/act???) but yay good for her, bring Finland some recognition lol.

Seeing her on this site is the randomest thing ever ngl:DDD

[hyeena.livejournal.com]

Seeing her on this site is the randomest thing ever ngl:DDD

as a finn i agree

i don't have a strong opinion about her. good luck to her i guess

[violentiak.livejournal.com]

Well it's also the most random thing ever, that she's making music for K-pop artists now, isn't it. I was so surprised. But really, the weirdest Finland related moment on Omona was a post about Elisabeth Rehn interviewing the nephew of Kim Jong-un.

But girl can really sing, I'm actually interested to hear her music. Apparently her first single is coming out really soon. i hope she does well.

[camouflagecat.livejournal.com]

Omg I'd forgotten about the Rehn article. And yeah why is she writing a kpop song?? That fact just came out of nowhere lol.

Yeah I was surprised how good she was at singing once I heard her do it, it's gonna be interesting to see how she does in the music business.

[staaan.livejournal.com]

lmao this fucking country

[luvikakulubnika.livejournal.com]

This makes me think, that the instagram post from sunny with the diamond might be because they are going to have a comeback maybe? I thought is was weird that she posted something about it now, so this might be the reason. To revive the sodhi-bond concept like ~we might have lost a member, but know we are back with a stronger bond than ever~, since this was one of their selling points.