Melanie Joy Fontana (born October 3, 1986)Joyce Cohen

''

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'', December 26, 2004. is an American singer, composer and songwriter signed to

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Early life

Fontana was born in

Newington, Connecticut Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Located south of downtown Hartford, Newington is an older, mainly residential suburb located in Greater Hartford. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,536. The Connecticu ...

. She moved to

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when she was 18, after spending seven years commuting to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, where she would audition for singing roles and work as a demo singer, recording songs for writers to pitch to record companies.

Career

Fontana co-wrote the 2011

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

song "Home This Christmas" with

Nasri Atweh Nasri Tony Atweh ( ar, نصري طوني عطوة, born 10 January 1981), known mononymously as Nasri, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is the lead vocali ...

. It was featured on Bieber's Christmas album ''

Under the Mistletoe ''Under the Mistletoe'' is the first Christmas album and second studio album by Canadian singer Justin Bieber. The album was released on November 1, 2011. The album debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 210,000 copie ...

''. Also in 2011, Fontana co-wrote the original theme song to ''Shelter Me'', a

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show, hosted by

Katherine Heigl Katherine Marie Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and former fashion model. She played Dr. Izzie Stevens on the ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role that brought her recognition and ...

that celebrated the human-animal bond. The series focuses on shelter animal success stories. The theme song, "Love is Everything (Shelter Me)," was written by Austin Bis, Fontana and Daniel Walker, and performed by Fontana. In 2014, she co-wrote the song "Hit Me Up" with Lars Hustoft and Jon Asher for

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

competitor Charlie Tepstad of Norway. On April 5, 2013, the song "Nothing Really Matters" by

tyDi TyDi (; born Tyson Illingworth, 31 May 1987) is an Australian songwriter, record producer and DJ specializing in electronic dance music. Originally from Queensland, TyDi was signed by Armin van Buuren's Armada label at 17 and was ranked at N ...

, which Fontana was featured on and was co-written by STIX of Fly Panda, debuted on '' Billboard''.Cailey Lindberg
"tyDi keeps us dancing on 'Redefined (feat. Melanie Fontana)',"
Earmilk, October 2, 2014. It reached number 39 on the ''Billboard''

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart in 2013. Also in 2013, Fontana worked as a songwriting consultant on Norway's ''

Idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

'' television show, co-writing

Astrid S Astrid Smeplass (born 29 October 1996) is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. In 2013, she placed fifth in the Norwegian version of '' Pop Idol'', entitled '' Idol – Jakten på en superstjerne''. In 2020, she released her debut studio album, ' ...

's single "Shattered", which went Gold in Scandinavia. In 2015, Fontana, alongside tyDi, topped the

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

dance charts at Number 1 with their EDM track "Redefined", co-written by Priya J. Geddis. The song was Sirius XM's top song of 2015 on its BPM station. She also collaborated with tyDi and Col3man on the 2017 single "That's How You Know". In 2016,

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

released the Japanese edition of her album '' Glory'', including a song written by Fontana with Jon Asher and produced by

DJ Mustard Dijon Isaiah McFarlane (born June 5, 1990), known professionally as Mustard (also known as DJ Mustard), is an American record producer and beatmaker. He is a frequent collaborator of fellow California-bred artists YG and Ty Dolla Sign; among var ...

, titled "Mood Ring".Bradley Stern
"Britney Spears' 'Mood Ring': Songwriter Melanie Fontana on the Making of the 'Glory' Track,"
Popcrush, September 9, 2016. Fontana had three Top 10 singles stemming from the Korean

Mnet M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

TV show ''

Produce 101 ''Produce 101'' is a reality television talent competition franchise created by South Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ E&M, based around the formation of a K-pop girl group or boy group. The format is noted for having no panel of judges, emp ...

'': "Crush", "Yum Yum" and "Fingertips". On April 1, 2016,

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of th ...

released "Fools Gold" which was co-written by Fontana, Carter, Asher, Taylor Hegelson and Michel "Lindgren" Schulz. Fontana co-wrote all five tracks on Carter's 2017 comeback EP '' LøVë''. On October 7, 2016, Daya released '' Sit Still, Look Pretty'', which included two songs penned by Fontana, "Words" and "All Right". She co-wrote

The Chainsmokers The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alexander "Alex" Pall and Andrew "Drew" Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The EDM- pop duo achieved a breakthrough with the ...

single " Setting Fires", released in November 2016, and the

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuting in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. The septet—consisting of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and co-pr ...

single " Euphoria", released in April 2018, which reached number 2 on the ''Billboard'' World Digital Songs chart. She and her husband Michel "Lindgren" Schulz helped write the 2019 BTS single "

Boy with Luv "Boy with Luv" ( Korean: 작은 것들을 위한 시; RR: ''Jag-eun geosdeul-eul wihan si'', "A Poem for Small Things") is a song recorded by South Korean boy band BTS, featuring American singer Halsey, as the lead single for their sixth exte ...

" featuring Halsey, which was the fastest

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video to reach 100 million views (doing it in under two days). Fontana is managed by Justin Garza.

Controversies

BTS songwriting controversy

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post made by Fontana in April 2019 regarding her co-writing credit in BTS's "Boy With Luv" drew criticism for its wording and its implication of her being the main writer of the song. Fontana later edited her original comments to better reflect her involvement. Fontana's emphasis on her songwriting credits in several other BTS songs, including " Euphoria", " Sweet Night", and " On", led to questioning regarding the involvement of her contributions to each song's lyrics throughout online media outlets.

's publishing division posted a photo of Fontana on their

account highlighting her work on "Sweet Night", where she reportedly responded in the comments stating "Tsym for all the support, ME (love) YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!". Fontana expressed through Instagram Live the distress and hurtfulness received by the backlash as well as her stance on the situation. Fontana's spouse, Michel "Lindgren" Schulz, publicly defended Fontana on

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. He linked the backlash to

online harassment Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using Electronic communication network, electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially ...

and stated that "different cultures have different ways of talking about achievements". Schulz added by claiming that he and Fontana wrote "every single word in 'Sweet Night'" and was requested to "by the Big Hit label and V himself". His response also received similar criticism.

Alleged racism controversy

Following backlash and criticism from fans of BTS regarding the above songwriting controversy, Fontana addressed multiple comments on her personal Instagram, stating that the authors of certain comments were

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, and asking fans in a now deleted comment: "what if I showed your racist remarks to the guys? Lol". Fans then began exposing old tweets from the songwriter, including one that read "I'd not last a second in starving Africa" and one which included a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

threat to a stranger for scuffing her bumper. In light of the outrage from fans regarding her accusing them of being racist towards her and their subsequent claims that she believed in

reverse racism Reverse racism, sometimes referred to as reverse discrimination, is the concept that affirmative action and similar color-conscious programs for redressing racial inequality are a form of anti-white racism. The concept is often associated wi ...

, Fontana changed her profile picture to an icon designed in light of the BLM movement.

F(x) Sulli controversy

A post made by the songwriter on her Instagram story following the passing of F(x) former member Sulli on October 13/14th, 2019 garnered some backlash from fans of the singer. In her Instagram statement, she expressed her condolences to the singer and linked the abuse the late singer received for her feminist actions to the backlash Fontana herself received from fans of BTS over her wording on social media posts. Fontana stated that the following thought crossed her mind: "...if I was slightly more depressed, or slightly less comfortable in my very lucky life, I might seriously consider ending things". Fans were outraged by the songwriter seemingly "making light of and trivializing" Sulli's death, accusing Fontana of using the singer's suicide to talk about herself, emphasizing the point that Fontana only referred twice to Sulli herself in the over 200-word-long statement.

Discography

As songwriter

As featured artist

Television and voice over

* Vocals for all songs on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

's ''

Shimmer and Shine ''Shimmer and Shine'' is an American animated television series created by Farnaz Esnaashari-Charmatz and produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on August 24, 2015, and ran for four seasons. The sh ...

'' animated TV series (2015-2020)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, Melanie Living people 1986 births American women singer-songwriters People from Newington, Connecticut Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Connecticut