How Candace Sosa’s song Killing Time became K-pop boy band BTS’ hit single, Euphoria
Candace Sosa’s 3am email to renowned music producer DJ Swivel asking for help with a song has exposed the Michigan songwriter to the wonderful world of K-pop and led her to move to LA
When Candace Sosa’s phone rang last year, the Michigan-based, 23-year-old recognised the caller’s area code was in Los Angeles, and thought this call could be big.
She didn’t have a clue how big. The person on the other end was Jordan Young, better known as renowned music producer DJ Swivel. And his call would change her life.
He wanted to work with Sosa on one of her personal songs and turn it into a song that an established artist might pick up. That song would be Euphoria, and the group that would pick up the song: K-pop boy band BTS.
“That call from DJ Swivel pretty much changed my life,” recalls Sosa. “DJ Swivel asked for the stems of the song and wanted to work with me further.
Sosa was surprised that DJ Swivel contacted her and that he wanted to work with her. Just days earlier, Sosa wanted to improve one her songs, Killing Time, and asked DJ Swivel about his rates.
“I remember emailing him at 3am one night and sending a sample of Killing Time, not thinking he would respond. But when he called me a couple days later while I was working at Starbucks, I was shocked that a big music producer would be interested in my songs.”
Things progressed quickly. Sosa and DJ Swivel worked together on their first major project. Killing Time became Euphoria as songwriters such as RM, Adora, Melanie Joy Fontana, BigHit Entertainment CEO Bang Shi-hyuk, Sosa and DJ Swivel worked on the new song.
“There was a lot of back-and-forth between the Korean writers and ourselves on the direction of the song, yet we were given a lot of flexibility at the same time,” Sosa says of the collaborative songwriting arrangement.
Sosa says she didn’t listen to K-pop, nor was she aware of BTS’ vast influence, when the song was released in August 2018.