As GOT7 were preparing for their most expected comeback of the year, the well-known septet, as usual, kept stunning their fans with back to back teasers but something blew the minds of Indian IGOT7. The huge buzz started flowing in every desi k-pop fan’s especially Indian IGOT7’s WhatsApp and SNS as the group released their tracklist for the upcoming album. While skimming through the list of songs and their producers, fans surprisingly found the name of Appu Krishnan, an Indian music producer and song writer encrypted as one of the composers of the track, “Trust My Love.”

GOT7 Twitter

The Indian Ahgases who has always been fond of bonding with their idols couldn’t be happier. It was more like another huge lucky star featuring in the fans’ night sky of hope in bringing GOT7 to India. Keeping the enthusiastic response from the fans and the diligent work of the producer, we decided to contact him for a Skype call interview and luckily he agreed to have an in-depth and more friendly interview where he got to reminisce his ester days as an aspiring student to the present renowned music producer in Los Angeles.

Getting all these recognitions as a popular artist was never a one-day miracle but a slow and consistent process. Starting off his passion as a 13-year-old boy from Kerala, Appu Krishnan took off his musical career as a pianist in a school band. “Our school band won on a Kerala state festival. It was my first performance as an artist and I loved the media attention I got at a very young age,” he reflects. Being a student-driven towards Physics, he had a chance to finish his under graduation and flew to America to pursue as a mechanical engineer. “Opting engineering was purposefully done because my parents wanted me to but I always knew that my life was going to be based on music,” he confessed. After finishing his degree, Appu Krishnan got a chance to be part of a 6 months course in Los Angeles to technically evolve himself as a music producer. “From 6 months to 15 years of a musical journey, I was fortunate to work with many of my favourite artists and add them to my team. One among such surreal opportunities is getting to work with the Swedish music personality, Max Morden. He has been my very big inspiration and is still a mentor to me.”

Getting To Produce For K-Pop

Providing to work with various American artists and T.V shows, Appu Krishnan was finally introduced to the k-pop wave by getting a chance to produce Produce 101 Season 2’s theme song, “Pick Me.” “It was just a usual gathering where I and a few of my producer friends got together and started a beat. The demo piece was initially named as, “Moon Light” but the track has finally got a better title,” he giggles. “The track stayed on hold for almost five months and was finally chosen by the Korean producer, who was affiliated with the show.” With no doubt, “Pick Me” ended up being more than a usual track, as the song landed up in various charts including the Gaon Digital Chart and still continues to be one of the most influential anthems in K-industry. When asked if he actually knew about how big the song blew up in the country, the artist passively responds, “Initially, I was not connected with the industry much as of now and I didn’t actually know the huge success of it until I got a text from my publisher and the Korean producer.”

After such a blow up, Appu Krishnan’s work with the k-pop industry bloomed by paving him ways to work with various cool artists as Yoo Heo Seung from N.Flying and JUS2. In 2019, the writer got to take part in mix the track, “Long Black” from the duo’s debut album Focus. “My publisher met me and introduced me to JUS2’s song and asked me if I would be interested to mix the track. Listening to JB and Yugyeom’s delightful vocals, I agreed immediately. The singers were so good and made my work so easy,” he states.

Fate once again brought the producer and GOT7 together, as “Trust My Love” was finalized to be part of the septet’s latest album, DYE in early March. “The b-side was born during a song writer’s camp held in Los Angeles. I and my friend, Keith Hatrick both started with an idea and started building up the tune. It was pretty instant that the track was ready on the very first day of the camp. We truly enjoyed while making the piece and so were the producers to whom we had to play the track for approval. Among a bunch of songs, people were pretty much drawn to this particular song,” he proudly agrees. He continues, “The track indeed had a magic in it, making everybody dance to the music. Finally, we heard that GOT7was interested with the piece. So, we started editing the English lyrics with a Korean writer and the song turned out beautiful.”

Working with k-industry has definetly become one of the favourite things in Appu’s life, as he takes time to credit the ever busy k-industry by praising them for their energy and hard work. “K-pop as a music genre has been able to outperform because of the artist’s discipline and training. Their work ethics are on point which actually makes them do greater things. And to note, this is just the beginning.”

The Start of Stardom

All the hard work and patience have paid the artist well, as he was finally spotted by our passionate desi k-pop fans and he couldn’t be happier. “I am so thrilled and thankful to receive all the love and support from the fans even before the track got released. Despite working with various international artists, I can clearly see the pure love and passion of k-pop fans through their comments and DMs.” The artist also revealed his interests in working with Red Velvet, Twice and much more in the future. “You can also expect many more upcoming projects. My next one will be with a girl group,” he teases his fans by giving a snippet of his upcoming project.

As we were about to wrap the fun interview session, Appu Krishnan extended his gratitude and added a few tips for the readers to keep themselves engaged during these quarantine days. “Thank you so much for all the love. During these quarantine days, make sure to keep doing what you were doing. Wake up at the time and continue the routine. Don’t let the pandemic affect you. Make sure to give time for yourself and be as creative as possible. Keep sharing the love and wait for a lot more to come.”

On behalf of DKPOP Team, we would like to thank Appu Krishnan for his valuable time spent for the interview. Wishing him all goodness and success from our side! All the very best!

Make sure to follow Appu Krishnan and his works on Instagram.

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