EXCLUSIVE: Filipino artist August Rigo shares his collaboration with SHINee's Key for 'Eighteen (End Of My World)'

Did you know that SHINee's Key's song "Eighteen (End Of My World)" was co-written and produced by a Filipino artist?

In an exclusive interview with GMANetwork.com, August Rigo shared how the collaboration with Key started.

"I met Key, maybe my first or second trip [to Korea]. I think I posted it on my Instagram. We had a short conversation. It was so long ago but I do remember talking that 'we should do some songs together.'

"I didn't actually even get to communicate with him nor his team until this year when I was actually working with the American side of the label. And one of the A&R (artist and repertoire) is very instrumental in bringing that together for me.

"She was actually like 'This will be a great song for Key. With regards to sonic and the sound of what's going on and what he's going through, it will be great for you guys to record together.'"

Released on September 27, "Eighteen (End Of My World)" is part of Key's first solo mini-album 'BAD LOVE.'

According to August, he was amazed with the emotions Key delivered for the song.

"I had produced and written the song already. And I guess when he heard the song, it really spoke to him so he was able to take those lyrics and reinterpret them for what he was going through.

"He really personalizes that and he sounds amazing on it. He killed it," he shared.

The Filipino-Canadian was really proud that he produced and co-wrote the song for the K-pop idol.

"And for me, it's like the first song that I've really produced and written. I had a couple of friends of mine who helped me with the music. But at the whole of it, I did it on my own so I'm really proud that I have a song almost a hundred percent me," he added.

In the interview, August also revealed the songwriting process for Korean artists and how detail oriented they are.

"I wrote the whole song first. So the whole song has a whole English demo. And then I send that out to SM [Entertainment] and Key. It's the same thing, it was part of the process.

"They did their thing and they will come back to me, 'Hey! Can you fix the drum? Can you give us a bigger synthesize? Can you fix the bassline?' There was a lot of detail. They are very detail oriented."

He admits that the collaboration with the SHINee member wasn't that difficult.

"This one wasn't too hard because the bulk of the song is already done. I wrote it first in English and Key took my lyrics and reinterpreted them and rewrote to suit his thing."

August is a recording artist, songwriter, producer and musician. He was born and raised in Canada by Filipino parents. He started his music career in the United States in 2003 and had made songs for Justin Bieber, One Direction, Chris Brown, and other K-pop artists.

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