Producer Behind GOT7's "FISH" Explains the Meaning Behind the Title

[88-pea.livejournal.com]

Cream, Sugar & Music: Daniel Kim Explains Meaning Behind His New Song with GOT7

Welcome to the first edition of Cream, Sugar, & Music. We sit down with music industry professionals to take you behind the scenes and discuss their latest projects over a cup of coffee. Today, we're at Standard Coffee Bar in Gangnam Station with the producer and songwriter of GOT7's "FISH" and "HOME RUN" from their new album, "FLIGHT LOG : DEPARTURE".

Daniel Kim is a producer, songwriter, mixing engineer, and guitarist from Seoul, Korea. He's worked with groups such as miss A, TWICE, Secret, B.A.P and GOT7. He is currently signed to Universal Music Publishing.

KPN: How did you first get into the music industry?
DK: I actually made my debut in Japan as a J-pop producer. I went there to study audio engineering and learn how to write songs because I think Japanese people have a great sense of melody and they're a lot more open to different styles of music. Back then I wanted to play heavy metal so I thought it was the right move to make. I ended up joining a band as the guitarist and we almost got signed to a label, but when things didn't work out, that's when I turned to music production.


KPN: What kind of music did you listen to growing up?
DK: Personally, I thought 90's K-pop was terrible (laughs). I grew up listening to heavy metal, but one day I just got sick of it. I didn't like the vibe anymore. I didn't want to be up on stage doing crazy things.

KPN: How did you transition from heavy metal to K-pop?
DK: I was always very fond of Michael Jackson. So when I grew out of heavy metal, I tried making music like Michael Jackson and slowly I transitioned into K-pop.

KPN: What was your first K-pop cut?
DK: It's an R&B style song called "Together" by Secret. It came out in 2012. The second song I placed was B.A.P's "Unbreakable" from their debut album.

KPN: You have a song on the upcoming GOT7 album titled "FISH". Tell me about the inspiration behind that song and how you came up with the title.
DK: For "FISH", we started from scratch. JB and I were in a session and I created this hip hop track. We were throwing around ideas of what we wanted to talk about and JB and I came up with this concept about a girl who's manipulative and keeps multiple guys around. You know those types of girls that text other guys while she's with you, but she won't tell you who. I've actually experienced something like that in the past so we were able to develop the idea pretty quickly. But figuring out how to tell the story tastefully was a challenge so the whole thing came together in about 2 days. In the end, the lyrics turned out fictional, but based on real life experiences.

KPN: So how did "FISH" become the title of that song?
DK: In Korea, if you're a girl and you have a lot of guys around you, we say that you have a lot of fish in your fish tank. If I'm seeing 3 girls at the same time, I would say that I have 3 fish in my fish tank. In Korea, we call it Eo Jang Gwan Ri, which directly translates to "fish tank management".

KPN: You also wrote "Turn Up The Music (볼륨을 올려줘)" and "stay-geudaero-isseodo-dwae" for GOT7's 3rd album, "Identify". Did you borrow any styles or techniques from these songs for "FISH" and "HOME RUN"?
DK: No, because "FISH" and "HOME RUN" were produced by myself while "Turn Up The Music (볼륨을 올려줘)" and "stay-geudaero-isseodo-dwae" were produced by Swedish producers and I contributed the lyrics. I was a lot more hands on with this new album.

KPN: What's your favorite GOT7 song?
DK: I really like "A". I like the arrangement and I think it's the song that really defined GOT7's color.

KPN: What other projects have you been involved in recently?
DK: I produced and co-wrote "Like A Fool" for TWICE's debut album and "Love Song" for miss A's last album.

KPN: Tell me a little bit about how those songs came together.
DK: The track for "Like A Fool" was made about 3 years ago and was originally intended for a rapper. It had a little bit of a melody but it was primarily a rap song. I thought it sounded too old so I sent the track to my co-writer, Mayu, in Japan and asked her to try something different from what I originally had. Japanese writers have a great sense of melody so she completely re-wrote the song and it turned out beautifully.

KPN: What was the inspiration behind the lyrics for "Like A Fool"?
DK: I dont know. I think I'm just really good at writing lyrics about jjak sarang (one-sided love) (laughs).

KPN: What about miss A's "Love Song"?
DK: That was also co-written by Mayu. She was in Korea for a session and I had this track with weird piano chords. At first, I didn't have a lot of confidence in that song because I thought it might be too out there for K-pop. The drop section was actually a joke (laughs). I was trying to incorporate some trap elements during that drop, but because I used piano in the verse, which is a classical instrument, I thought it might be cool to keep that consistency so I went with a violin and it ended up sounding pretty weird and unique. I even had a vocal melody line during that drop, but right before we went into recording, I took it out because the vocals were clashing with the track too much and I wanted the violin to stand out more. It worked out in the end and it's one of my favorite songs that I've made so far.

KPN: What's the most surprising thing about the music industry that you didn't expect coming into this?
DK: I think younger producers and songwriters think that once you get your first cut, your career changes. But that's far from the truth. Placing my first song was just as hard as placing my second song.

KPN: Which artist surpassed your expectations the most in the studio?
DK: Suzy was surprisingly very good at singing. As an idol, you don't expect them to be exceptional vocalists, but she came in and nailed everything in half an hour.


Hope you guys in enjoyed the read! If you have suggestions of the types of content you'd like to see in the future, please feel free to suggest in the comments!

Source: KPOPNERD


KPOPNERD began as a way to bring KPop fans high-quality original content and accurate information about KPop artists. Upcoming original content includes interviews with songwriters, producers and artists, album reviews, and podcasts.

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Comments

[pippopippo.livejournal.com]

WELCOME TO THE FISH TANK

this song has reeeaaaallly grown on me and it's one of my faves off the album now

[ohlookshiny.livejournal.com]

fish is a grower, i love the chorus. it's weird but i like it.

love song is amazing. can't wait for home run!!

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

I don't care much about 'Fish', but Miss A's 'Love Song' is amazing.
I hope 'Home Run' has a better response than 'Fly'.
GOT7's 'A' is one of my fave eras from them, so I kind of agree with him.

In case anyone is interested a link to Twice song with lyrics:

[soyymilk.livejournal.com]

fish is the only song i'm not crazy about even tho i admit i can bop to that chorus.

i can't believe how much i love "cant." it's been on repeat all day. praying they release a mv for it.

[amandaplan.livejournal.com]

omg love song is a masterpiece.

[lovealwaysliana.livejournal.com]

The second time I listened to Fish I really liked it

[h0ly-ravioli.livejournal.com]

I feel like Fish is a Big Sean's reject. I was expecting him to come out and say OH GAWD.

[juhli.livejournal.com]

loved the interview! i would also be interested to know what the biggest difference in composing for the korean market vs. american market is, how they sell their songs and if ghostwriting is common.

[scionofawhisper.livejournal.com]

How did he get his first kpop cut? How do companies find composers/songs?

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

The drop section was actually a joke (laughs).

It remains a joke tbh, that's the worst part of the song

[meterstandkaart.livejournal.com]

Really insightful interview! Loving all the info behind the scenes.

Is this Dayday from SMTM4 btw?