Celebrity

A famous American musician is accused by ARMYs of taking credit for BTS’s success

This female musician participated in composing for many famous Kpop groups, but she was hated by the BTS fan community

Melanie Joy Fontana is a pretty famous name in the Kpop fan community.  Born in 1986, the American female singer-songwriter signed a contract with Universal Music Group and is the composer of many US-UK and Kpop products.

A famous American musician is accused by ARMYs of taking credit for BTS’s success

Fontana’s career began when co-writing the song Home This Christmas on the album Under The Mistletoe that Justin Bieber released in 2011. She has worked with both Britney Spears and The Chainsmokers.  However, Fontana is only widely known when she is composing for popular Korean groups.  But besides her achievements, the American female musician is also famous for a series of dramas related to BTS.

A famous American musician is accused by ARMYs of taking credit for BTS’s success

SNSD is the first Kpop group that Fontana has the opportunity to cooperate with.  She is listed in the credit section of the song Stay Girls on the Japanese album Girls & Peace (2012).  Although then the American female musician worked with f (x), IOI, AOA, … but it was not until she participated in composing for Euphoria – Jungkook’s solo song in the album Love Yourself: Answer, that her reputation increased significantly. 

Fontana once revealed that this song was originally for Justin Bieber, but because the Canadian male singer’s team refused, the song belonged to Jungkook.  After that, Euphoria was a huge success, helping Jungkook become the first Kpop male soloist to sell 500,000 copies. Euphoria was qualified for the Gold Certificate of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Because Euphoria was warmly received, Fontana continued to have the opportunity to work with BTS.  When the 7 boys released the album Map Of The Soul: Persona (2019), she wrote the lyrics and was in charge of the chorus of the title song Boy With Luv, and participated in composing the b-side track Mikrokosmos.

With her contribution, thought that Fontana would be loved by ARMY – BTS’s fandom.  However, she was hated by them.

It all started when Fontana wrote about Boy With Luv’s achievement on Instagram: “Over the last 10 years working in music, I’ve been shit on & been told I’m “just too extra”. I’ve secured MAJOR singles that never came out. I survived a decade of career beat downs & hard lessons. Even though all of that, I knew one-day I’d see one of my songs do the damn thing. Well here I am. Here we are in Times Square under a massive screen advertising my work! I made my career happen without the help of anyone except my own pen & my husband, who co-writes with me. Cheers to our baby #BoyWithLuv, the collaborators who believe in us & to much more music with our new friends & co-writers BTS!!! Also, thank you Halsey for trusting in Kpop.”

Some fans are unhappy with the post. These fans accuse Melanie of taking a significant amount of credit for the song’s success, and implying that she’s the main writer of the song. 

Fans are also taking issue with Melanie calling BTS her co-writers, despite her name appearing after BTS members, RM and Jungkook. They argue that since RM and Jungkook’s name came first, they must’ve contributed more to the song than she did.

A famous American musician is accused by ARMYs of taking credit for BTS’s success

Despite being heavily criticized by ARMYs, Fontana continued to participate in producing other BTS songs such as ON (feat Sia), Stay Gold and contributed to the creation of Sweet Night – OST of Itaewon Class performed by V.  However, because of the statements related to Sweet Night, this female musician once again caused fierce controversy.

The song Sweet Night was released in March 2020, produced by V and Hiss noise, co-written by V, Hiss noise, ADORA, Melanie Joy Fontana and Michel “Lindgren” Schulz (husband of Fontana).  At the time of controversy, this song just locked in the #1 spot on iTunes in the most countries in history (108 countries).

Towards the achievement of Sweet Night, Universal Music Publishing congratulated Fontana for participating in the production of this song: “All eyes on Melanie Joy Fontana whose recent work on ‘Sweet Night’ by V from BTS has just locked in the #1 spot on iTunes in the most countries in history”. In response, Fontana wrote: “Thank you very much for all the support. Love you guys so much.”

A famous American musician is accused by ARMYs of taking credit for BTS’s success

ARMY reacted violently to Fontana’s post and comment.  They think that many people have contributed to the success of the song, not just Fontana. 

Some crazy fans had bullied and harassed Fontana online, causing the female musician, her manager and her husband, Michel “Lindgren” Schulz to speak up.  Schulz replied that he and Fontana wrote every word for the song Sweet Night.  When fans asked about this, manager Justin J. Garza confirmed the duo told the truth, and they had sent the full lyrics in English and Big Hit translated the song into Korean.

A famous American musician is accused by ARMYs of taking credit for BTS’s success
Fontana and her husband

However, his statement was rejected by ARMY, because V’s song is entirely in English, completely without Korean lyrics.  The incident caused Fontana and her husband to be heavily criticized by ARMY.  They even wished the two would not participate in any other BTS products.

A famous American musician is accused by ARMYs of taking credit for BTS’s success

After that, this female musician has not participated in any projects of BTS. However, this female musician still works with many other famous Kpop groups and contributes to their success.

In 2020, she contributed to the composition of the song I Can’t Stop Me and Cry For Me (TWICE), participated in writing Bet U Wanna – a collab between BLACKPINK and Cardi B. Although she no longer collaborated with BTS, Fontana still  work with ENHYPEN – the boygroup that came out of the Big Hit’s survival show I-LAND and was named in the credits of the song Given-Taken.

https://youtu.be/FO0iwx3PUHo

Source: Twitter

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