„With 17 I wanted to become a rockstar“
Interview with songwriter Albi Albertsson
Interview by Esther Klung; Photo by Albi Albertsson; Translation by Andrea Maag
A
lbi Albertsson was born in Germany, grew up
seeing the world and is now an international
working songwriter. He is also well-known in
South Korea where he works for Korean entertainments
and writes hit-songs. Many of you will have heard his
songs without knowing it. His songs are on the top in
the charts frequently and he already got awarded several
times. In this interview he tells us how he started his
career and what you will hear from him in the future.
Recently he founded the label MUSSASHI Publishing,
which brings songwriters closer to the Asian market.
K: When you were a child, what did you want to
become when you grew up?
Albi: I wanted to become a composer of “classical”
music. A large part of my family consists of classical
musicians and I started playing the violin when I was
four years old. Back then my father, who’s a pianist, and
I used to improvise together a lot. It was also him, who
wrote down the irst piece I composed when I was six
years old, a gavote for violin.
K: How did you become a songwriter/producer?
Albi: At some point I discovered pop music. I was 14
when I lived in the states and found an old guitar walking
around on the street on my birthday. From that point on
I really got into rock and metal. At the same time I started
using other gear like sequencers and synthesizers, which
I used to produce my irst songs. At age 17 I was set on
becoming a rock star. I was spending a year in Tokyo at
that time and I got in touch with Sony Music Japan, who
wanted to help me build a career as an artist. It went
back and fourth with them for a while but in the end I
decided to return to Germany to inish school. Back in
Berlin, a studio owner I knew introduced me to the irst
people in the songwriting business.
K: Which was the irst song of yours that was
released? How did you feel about that?
Albi: It’s probably one of the songs I wrote for a German
artist called Max Mutzke. I don’t recall it exactly, but
basically every new song is like a new baby being born.
Seeing it being released is a bit like having a baby
shower.
K: How did your collaborations with Korean
entertainment companies come into being?
Albi: I was signed to BMG for three years, who
introduced me to SM Entertainment. hese days I travel
to Korea a couple times a year to work with the labels
and publishing houses there directly.
K: For which idols have you writen songs before?
Who did you like working with the most?
Albi: In Korea I’ve writen and produced songs for
TVXQ, EXO, SHINee, VIXX, ZE:A and Ater School
among others. In Japan I worked with artists such as
Arashi, Kat-tun, Kumi Koda, Misia, J-Soul Brothers, EGirls and many more. Working with EXO was especially
fun. I met them before their debut and now they’ve
become superstars. I recorded my song with them
in Korea, which was a lot of fun. hey’re all very nice
guys.
K: Of which songs are you especially proud?
Albi: EXO’s „Machine“, VIXX’s “On and On” and ZE:A’s
“Phoenix” have been successful songs in Korea and are
also among my personal favorites. hough oten times
the most successful songs aren’t necessarily the ones
you are most proud of as a writer. One of the singles I
wrote for Arashi sold over 2 million hard copies times
in total, which is phenomenal. It was actually the best
selling record in the world in the irst week of it’s release.
Despite that, musically, I personally wouldn’t call the
song particularly exciting from a technical point of view.
Of course it doesn’t mean that I like the song any less.
Another song that is certainly very special to me is “If I
Told You” released by “he Voice of Germany” winner
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