Calgary songwriter-producer behind BTS’S Butter
CALGARY — Jenna Andrews, the Calgary-born, Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School graduate turned hit songwriter and producer, has added another success to her impressive career as one of the songwriters behind BTS’S Butter, one of the year’s biggest singles.
By now, odds are you have heard the dance-pop song by the ubiquitous K-pop boy band. In fact, you’ve probably heard it several times. With its catchy hook (“Smooth like butter”), Michael Jacksonesque melody and rap break, Butter debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late May and spent three weeks at the top. It can be heard in a Mcdonald’s commercial featuring the band and even inspired a line of merchandise BTS has released alongside the fast-food giant. The band is on the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
The song is a collaboration between Andrews, BTS band leader RM, Alex Bilowitz, Sebastian Garcia, Robert Grimaldi, Stephen Kirk and Columbia Records chairman and CEO Ron Perry.
Andrews was also a vocal producer on the Grammynominated
Dynamite, the first No. 1 hit for BTS.
According to an interview with Billboard, Butter was hashed out over many Zoom calls between the writers in
March. Andrews and her New York-based team then worked with the band, which was in South Korea at the time.
“We did a lot of it on Whatsapp,” she told Variety earlier
this month. “We’d basically stay up until 5 a.m. every day, work from 5 to 8 a.m. with each (member) giving 20 minutes in the studio. They’re pros. We would send voice notes of suggestions back and forth.”
The song was released on May 21 and the response was immediate. It has since broken records on Spotify and Youtube with hundreds of millions of streams and views.
“It was a little like Christmas. Or the ball dropping on New Year’s Eve,” Andrews told Variety when asked what it was like watching the numbers that first day.
Andrews, 33, is co-founder of the publishing company Twentyseven Music and has co-written a number of hit songs, including BENEE’S Tiktok-friendly Supalonely and Heartbreak Anthem, the current hit by Galantis, David Guetta and Little Mix. She has also worked with Noah Cyrus and has been a mentor to singer-actress Lennon Stella.
Growing up in Calgary, she studied music and dance and journalism at Mount Royal University before heading to Vancouver to start her music career. She signed to Island/ Def Jam in 2010 and released her debut EP, Kiss and Run, in 2012. But she eventually pivoted to a more behindthe-scenes role, co-writing songs with Drake and Jennifer Lopez.