Ep. 240: EJAE | A Career Built Slowly and Heard All at Once

Today’s guest is a Grammy-winning songwriter, global pop architect, and one of the most quietly influential voices shaping modern music across borders. Before the world heard her voice, she spent years training inside the K-pop system — learning discipline, structure, and endurance long before recognition ever arrived. When the system didn’t know what to do with her, she pivoted. Slowly. Intentionally. And built a career that would eventually be heard everywhere. Now, as a songwriter whose work spans K-pop, pop, animation, and beyond — and as an artist stepping into her own voice — she represents a different kind of success: one built patiently, shaped by pressure, and defined by longevity rather than speed. And The Writer Is… Ejae! In this episode of And The Writer Is…, Ejae opens up about: The reality of the K-pop training system and what it actually teaches you about discipline and survival Rejection and why her voice didn’t fit the moment — and how that shaped her writing Learning to work alone after years inside a rigid system How songwriting became a safer, more powerful entry point than performing The pivot that reframed her career and led to global success And much more… Hit the subscribe button and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music. Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris A special thank you to our sponsors… Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishing Association. Your support means the world to us. And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period. Chapters: 0:00 Intro 1:30 Early life & finding music 6:10 Inside K-Pop training 9:00 Ejae's writing process... 28:00 Rejection from auditioning to be a K-Pop Idol... and $5 Karaoke training to pass. 41:00 Ejae sings her first song 41:37 Sponsor Spotlight: NMPA 42:18 Sponsor Spotlight: Splice 14:45 Discipline, pressure, and identity 23:20 Being let go by the system 26:19 The truth about the K-Pop system 30:40 Rebuilding in isolation 39:15 Discovering songwriting as power 50:00 K-Pop's ultimate evaluation: Auditioning to debut 50:37 Ejae's rejection and rock bottom... and the pivot that would change everything 56:10 Global songs & delayed recognition 1:00:00 How she wrote her first songs 1:04:00 Writing her first song for film 1:07:00 Writing 'Psycho' for Red Velvet at her first session 1:13:00 K-Pop vs Pop music... And the reference to 'Psycho' 1:14:00 K-Pop Demon Hunters 1:20:00 The story behind 'Golden' 1:26:00 The original 'Golden' voice memo... 1:30:00 The process of co-writing the songs for K-Pop Demon Hunters Hosted by Ross Golan Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad Creative Directed by Jad Saad Post-Production VFX by Pratik Karki Watercolor Art by Michael White