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…
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