Melanie Fontana Catches Heat; ARMY Rushes to BTS’ Defense

American songwriter Melanie Fontana is catching some serious heat from the BTS ARMY, today. Fontana is a popular name on the Western music scene, having written for and collaborated with big names like Dua Lipa, Halsey, Justin Bieber, Sia, Twice and finally, BTS. 

Fontana and BTS: The Relationship

On a closer look at her body of work, it is notable that many of her credits extend to writing for popular K-Pop acts, and frequently too. From Twice and BTS to Hyolyn and TXT, Melanie Fontana has become a popular name on the Korean songwriting scene. Her work on BTS’ hit single, ‘Boy With Luv’ is just one in a long list of collaborations with the boy group. She and her husband have worked on Jungkook’s ‘Euphoria’, V’s ‘Sweet Night’, ‘ON’, and most recently, the group’s Japanese single, ‘Stay Gold’. 

But, what brought her into the line of fire, trending worldwide on Twitter with close to 900,000 tweets and counting? Turns out, the BTS ARMY is less than pleased with her approach to claiming credit for her work on their collaborative projects. Spiraling from a recent post made public on social media (now deleted), acknowledging Fontana’s work on select BTS songs, the songwriter has received a barrage of criticism. Ranging from stealing credit to using BTS for clout, the ARMY has called her out for misappropriating credit and taking away from the importance of BTS’ participation in their music. 

Criticism Against Fontana

BTS’ V, who just became the solo artist with the most No. 1s in iTunes history (beating his own group out with the record), did so with a song called ‘Sweet Night’. Fontana is credited on the track as a songwriter. So, what’s the problem? Interestingly enough, it might be the way she chose to defend herself. Take a look: 

The BTS ARMY is undeniably one of the biggest fandoms in the world. Their relationship with the group has long been analysed as a phenomenon in music. So a statement like “You’re being protective over a person that doesn’t know you; a person that may love you but a person that really doesn’t know you and doesn’t need your protection. There’s no point because we’re all working in this together. This is our career, this is our love, this is our passion,” is definitely going to rub them the wrong way. 

This isn’t the first time Melanie Fontana’s approach towards these collaborations has come under a microscope. The BTS ARMY has called out her tone when talking about her projects with BTS multiple times. Comparisons to other collaborators of BTS – Halsey, Troye Sivan and MAX, and how she “needs to learn how to be humble”, are many. 

The Aftermath

Melanie Fontana expressed that she will not be tolerating the “hate” she’s receiving on what she believes is a non-issue. In a step to clear up any misunderstandings, she’s also planning an Instagram live with fellow songwriter and husband, Michel Lindgren Schulz, to better explain the industry process of songwriting and what it means to have credits on a song. 

With the current climate of things, it’s uncertain how that explanation will help things. But, you can be sure we’ll have an update for you. 

In any case, V of BTS continues his reign of the iTunes charts. Maybe it is, after all both what you say and how you say it.

By: Ahalya Narayanan