How the West was won: K-pop's great assimilation gambit

"She watched her peers get called up for groups like SHINee and f(x), but her own debut never came. When Kim, now known professionally as Ejae, was finally dropped by the agency in 2015, the explanation she got was simple: This was a business. As she recently told the Philippine media network ABS-CBN, "SM has a very specific vision and sonic sound and I just didn't really fit that.""

"But after graduating from the Clive Davis Institute at NYU Tisch, she found her way to a behind-the-scenes role. It was an SM songwriting camp that first brought her back to the industry, and she continued to work in its periphery, scoring writing credits for the groups Red Velvet, Twice and aespa, and working in animation, where she met the film and TV composer Daniel Rojas."

Kim Eun-jae signed with SM Entertainment in 2003 at age 11 and trained for over a decade, practicing before school and late into the night while taking vocal, dance, language, and acting classes. She did not debut and was dropped by the agency in 2015 when she did not fit the company's sonic vision. After graduating from the Clive Davis Institute at NYU Tisch, she moved into behind-the-scenes roles, joining an SM songwriting camp and earning writing credits for Red Velvet, Twice, and aespa while working in animation. She became the singing voice for the lead character Rumi and co-wrote and produced the hit "Golden," which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2025 and earned a Song of the Year Grammy nomination.

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