NEED TO KNOW

• “Golden,” which was performed by the 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 se reunieron para cantar “Golden” en los 98th Academy Awards y luego volvieron al escenario para recibir el premio a la Mejor Canción Original. Si bien la canción parece ser un éxito pop instantáneo, fue un gran esfuerzo de amor.

“Queríamos crear una canción que diera contexto a cada una de las chicas”, explicó el supervisor musical Ian Eisendrath a Tudum en febrero de 2026. “Como algunas grandes canciones pop, puedes aprender algo sobre la cantante mientras mantienes el texto bastante universal.”

Desde el significado de la canción hasta las otras canciones que inspiraron a “Golden”, aquí hay todo lo que necesitas saber sobre cómo se creó “Golden”.

EJAE encontró inspiración para la canción “instantáneamente”

Rei Ami, Ejae y Audrey Nuna se presentan durante los 98th Annual Academy Awards el 15 de marzo de 2026 en Hollywood, California.
Crédito: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP vía Getty

Mientras creaban KPop Demon Hunters, los cineastas y productores de la canción determinaron que “Golden” necesitaba resonar con un público más amplio, al mismo tiempo que contaba la historia de cada uno de los tres personajes principales y los desafíos que intentan superar.

“‘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.”

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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 contacted Sonnenblick, and they collaborated on the rest of the song together. “We finished the song, and we were just like, ‘Wait, this is a hit!’ 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 involved 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.

“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

Después de que “Golden” alcanzó una gran popularidad, EJAE habló sobre el significado de la canción y cómo se relaciona con una parte de su pasado.

“A veces, perseverar puede ser tóxico”, dijo en una entrevista en Good Morning America. “Si haces demasiado, hasta el punto de reprimir todas tus inseguridades o todos tus defectos, a veces, empeora. ‘Golden’ es un hermoso mensaje de seguir adelante, seguir adelante.”

Agregó: “Sin embargo, acepta tus defectos, acepta quién eres por completo, para poder seguir adelante y perseverar —perseverar no solo con tu tamaño perfecto, perseverar [y] aceptar todo de ti.”

“Golden” ha roto varios récords

Rei Ami, Ejae y Audrey Nuna se presentan durante la 98ª entrega de los Premios de la Academia, el 15 de marzo de 2026, en Hollywood, California. Crédito: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP vía Getty

Tanto “Golden” como KPop Demon Hunters continuaron rompiendo récords y encabezando las listas de éxitos en todo el mundo.

Pasó un impresionante total de 18 semanas en el número 1 en la Billboard Global 200 y se convirtió en el primer grupo de mujeres con tres o más miembros — desde el éxito de 2001 de Destiny’s Child “Bootylicious” — en alcanzar el número 1 tanto en los EE. UU. como en Canadá.

“Достижение первого места – это просто безумие”, – сказал EJAE The Hollywood Reporter в августе 2025 года. “Я плакал весь день, буквально, и первой мыслью, которая у меня возникла, была о том, каким я был ребенком. Я просто очень рад, что смог осуществить мечту маленького 11-летнего EJAE.”

Песня получила миллиарды прослушиваний – включая превышение 1,5 миллиарда на Spotify и 1 миллиарда на 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 strangely pushing me to work harder,” she shared. “I feel more energized for what’s to come and [it] is 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.”

Read the original article on People