Inside the Real-Life Inspiration Behind “KPop Demon Hunters'” Oscar-Winning Song ‘Golden’
Inside the Real-Life Inspiration Behind “KPop Demon Hunters'” Oscar-Winning Song ‘Golden’
Caroline BlairMon, March 16, 2026 at 8:34 PM UTC
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Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey in Kpop Demon Hunters.Credit: Netflix -
"Golden," which was performed by fictional K-pop group HUNTR/X in 'KPop Demon Hunters,' became a record-breaking global hit after its 2025 release
Co-writer and star vocalist EJAE drew on her personal journey as a former K-Pop trainee to help create the song's powerful message
"Golden" won multiple awards — including an Oscar — and became the first K-Pop song to win a Grammy
Before "Golden" became the breakout song of 2025 and took the world by storm, the writers and producers spent countless hours carefully making it into a powerful anthem.
The song was introduced in the hit Netflix movie KPop Demon Hunters and performed by the fictional K-pop girl group HUNTR/X, which is composed of Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami and EJAE. EJAE — who performed the singing voice for its main character Rumi — co-wrote "Golden" and was integral to the song's creation.
"It literally changed the world, and it also changed mine," Ami told PEOPLE in February 2026.
EJAE, Nuna and Ami all reunited to sing "Golden" at the 98th Academy Awards and later reappeared onstage to take home the award for Best Original Song. While the song comes off as an instant classic pop hit, it was a major labor of love.
"We wanted to create a song that gives backstory for each of the girls," music supervisor Ian Eisendrath explained to Tudum in February 2026. "Like some great pop songs do, you can learn something about the singer while keeping the text pretty universal."
From the song's meaning to the other tunes that inspired "Golden," here's everything to know about how "Golden" was made.
EJAE found inspiration for the song "instantly"
Rei Ami, Ejae and Audrey Nuna perform during the 98th Annual Academy Awards on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California.Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty
While creating KPop Demon Hunters, the filmmakers and song producers determined that "Golden" needed to both resonate with larger audiences while also telling the story of each of the three main characters and the challenges they're trying to overcome.
"'Golden,' as the song that’s meant to create the Golden Honmoon, is both the plot goal of the movie and a vessel for the girls’ personal and emotional goals," Chris Appelhans, co-director and writer explained to Tudum.
Co-director and writer Maggie Kang added, "HUNTR/X’s mission is to protect the world from the demon threat that is always trying to get to humans. Their goal is to keep the world connected and these good vibes of [the] human soul alive, because that’s what fuels this barrier between the worlds that protects us. And so their mission is to always create amazing music that really ignites the human spirit and keeps them connected."
Once the creators figured out the direction of the song, they brought in several music powerhouses — including IDO, 24, Teddy, Mark Sonnenblick and EJAE. 24, IDO and Teddy came up with the first draft of the track and sent it to EJAE while she was in a cab on the way to the dentist.
"I received the track, and the track was just so beautiful that intro is so, so beautiful, and this rarely happens, but just instantly, I got inspiration from it melodically," EJAE recalled in an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in October 2025. "I had to record it, so I got a voice memo I was just [humming] and then the second time I did another one I did [humming]. I still have the voice memo."
From there, EJAE called Sonnenblick, and they collaborated on the rest of the song together. "We finished the song, and and we were just like, 'Wait this is a smash!' It felt really good," she recalled.
EJAE’s original dream was to be a K-pop star before turning to writing
EJAE attends The Critics Choice Association's 4th Annual Celebration of AAPI Cinema & Television on November 14, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty
Before EJAE got onboard with KPop Demon Hunters, she had spent much of her life training to be a K-Pop singer.
"I got into SM entertainment, [which] is one of the biggest labels in Korea," she told Good Morning America in September 2025. "They train artists; essentially, they cast a couple of kids who have talent, and they train them to become a K-Pop idol, a singer, and so you go through really rigorous training."
EJAE put in "blood, sweat and tears" as a trainee with the entertainment titans from 2003, when she was around 11 years old, until 2015 after college. However, she was later allegedly dropped by the brand and was "incredibly devastated."
Despite the rejection, EJAE didn't give up and moved to the U.S. where she got involved with KPop Demon Hunters around 2020. Two years after she started working to create "Golden," she was asked to sing the vocals for Rumi.
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"I moved here to the States and wanted to do more pop, and my dream was to have a Hot 100 hit song," she told Tudum. "Now to have it be a K-pop song that I was a part of with Korean lyrics in it means so much. It put things in perspective and has made me very proud as a Korean American."
“Golden” drew inspiration from Biggie’s "Juicy"
KPop Demon Hunters.Credit: Netflix
Appelhans revealed that prior to the song's creations, they looked to other record-breaking hip hop, R&B and rap songs.
"'Golden,' our references were a Biggie track called 'Juicy,' " Appelhans told The New York Times in an interview published January 2026. "There was Drake, Eminem, Lil Wayne. Those were songs about starting as nobodies and finding yourself through music."
EJAE has spoken about the song’s meaning
Rei Ami, Ejae, and Audrey Nuna of "KPop Demon Hunters" perform on The Tonight Show.Credit: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty
After "Golden" skyrocketed in popularity, EJAE spoke about the song's meaning and how she relates it to part of her past.
"Sometimes persevering can be toxic," she said in an interview on Good Morning America. "If you do too much where you kind of push down all your insecurities or all your flaws, it gets worse, sometimes. 'Golden' is a beautiful message of like, keep going, keep going."
She added, "However, accept your flaws, accept who you are fully in order to keep going and persevering —persevering not just with your perfect size, persevering [and] accepting all of you."
"Golden" has broken several records
Rei Ami, Ejae and Audrey Nuna perform during the 98th Annual Academy Awards on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California.Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty
Both "Golden" and KPop Demon Hunters went on to break several records and top charts across the world.
It spent a whopping 18 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and became the first all-women group with three or more members — since Destiny's Child's 2001 hit "Bootylicious" — to reach No. 1 in both the U.S. and Canada.
"Hitting No. 1 is absolutely crazy," EJAE told The Hollywood Reporter in August 2025. "I cried all day, literally, and the first thing I thought about was me as a kid. I’m just so happy I made little 11-year-old EJAE's dream come true."
The song has since received billions of streams — including surpassing 1.5 billion on Spotify and 1 billion on YouTube.
In addition to the commercial success of "Golden," it also won Best Original Song at the 2026 Academy Awards and the 2026 Critics Choice Awards and Best Original Song — Motion Picture at the 2026 Golden Globes. They also took home the Grammy award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, making history as the first-ever K-Pop song to win a Grammy.
Ahead of the 2026 Oscars, EJAE told PEOPLE that the nomination and success of the song have felt "very surreal."
"I feel very honored and grateful, but it's weirdly pushing me more to work harder," she shared. "I feel more energized for what's to come and [it's] so inspiring because you're amongst such incredible artists and incredible writers and filmmakers."
Sonnenblick also told PEOPLE that he loved exceeding the expectations for "Golden" and the film.
"I think about this whole movie and the expectations for it were so low. It's the fans ... the people who found the music early on and spread the word," he said in February 2026. "That's why any of these awards are happening. That's why we are where we are. It's been cool to go from low expectations to, wow, this amazing, surreal surprise."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
