Stop The Madness and Give Credit Where Credit Is Due
‘Golden’, the OST of the global hit animated movie Kpop Demon Hunters, landed at number one of Billboard Hot 100. This isn’t the first time a song from an animated movie made it to the 10. ‘Let It Go’ from the movie Frozen charted for 33 weeks. More importantly, it won several major awards including Best Original Song at the Academy Awards and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the Grammy Awards. It was an OST and it was labeled and treated as such. Idina Menzel was often mentioned as the voice behind the character.
There have been other OSTs as well. They got called the same thing, a soundtrack.
And then came Kpop Demon Hunters, an animated movie about a kpop girl group who are closeted demon hunters. It was entertaining and the songs were great. It wasn’t surprising that it is dominating the chart.
What’s surprising is how, somehow, almost all western media outlets are suddenly calling Huntr/X, the fictional girl group in the animated movie, a Kpop girl group, putting it in the same league as actual kpop groups like Twice, Blackpink, and others.
The voices behind the songs, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, are rarely mentioned, not nearly as much as Idina Menzel was when ‘Let It Go’ was reigning in the chart.
Billboard, the organization who actually computes the chart, has formally called it a fictional act in their article. Their Facebook post, however, acknowledged that while it is a fictional act, they would still consider them a legitimate girl group. Other media companies, small or big, continue to call the fictional act an actual Kpop girlgroup, crowning them with records reserved for actual, breathing, living, human beings.
The question is why.
Why are they suddenly pushing this narrative, insisting on putting this fictional group in the same league as other kpop groups?
Do they think they are being inclusive by “elevating” the work of Asians?
Have they not met their viral quota for the year and decided rage baiting Kpop girlgroup fans will do the job?
Are these social media accounts and publications so hungry to give Western labels like Sony, the producer of Kpop Demon Hunters, their Kpop crown that they are willing to defy logic?
Is this the consequence of hiring social media “experts” to write posts instead of real journalists? They only care about what will catch on regardless of the consequence.
And the consequence is this, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami are not able to maximize the exposure that the success of the movie could give them the way Idina Menzel has been able to from the success of ‘Let It Go’. These three artists each have a career. Getting their name out will help them book jobs or get their project off the ground.
Instead of further validating whatever this is, let’s celebrate the actual accomplishments of this movie and the people behind it.
Voices behind the animated characters – Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami
Most Elite Among The Elites
‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ from the animated movie Encanto reached the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 but it was an ensemble song. Prior to that, ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin also clinched #1 but with the pop version by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle and not the version used in the movie.
There wasn’t another between 1993’s Aladdin and the early 1960s because the Billboard Hot 100 itself only began in 1958, and animated films of that era typically didn’t produce Hot 100 chart-toppers. This makes Golden’s achievement a groundbreaking one. Not only is the version in the movie charting, the singers in the version that’s charting are the same as the singers in the movie.
First Foreign Language Soundtrack To Hit #1
There are only 40 non-English songs that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in its 67-year history, 9 of which are Korean. The rest are Spanish with 23, three are German, Italian and French with two each and one Japanese song. Eleven of the 40 songs landed at No. 1, two by BTS (‘Life Goes On’ and ‘My Universe’) and one by Jimin (‘Like Crazy’).
This makes Golden only the 11th non-English song and 4th Korean song to claim the crown. However, Golden is the first soundtrack of an animated movie no less.
Streaming Success
Kworb, a site that tracks streams of songs in several streaming platforms, clocks its daily streams at 7.87M per day with a total of 325M so far. This dwarfs the current most streamed song of standout kpop girlgroup Blackpink, ‘Jump’ with 3.5M daily. Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Manchild’ also pales in comparison with 2.8M daily streams.
As of August 14, it is the most streamed Korean language song on Spotify.
Oscar Nomination
KPop Demon Hunters is qualified to be nominated for an Oscar, specifically in categories like Best Original Song and potentially Best Animated Feature. To be eligible for Oscar consideration, a film must should have a theatrical release in at least one of six qualifying U.S. metro areas (Los Angeles County, New York City, the Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, or Atlanta) for a minimum of seven consecutive days, with at least three screenings daily, including one between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. The film must also be advertised in a manner typical for theatrical releases and cannot have its first public exhibition in a non-theatrical format (e.g., streaming) before the theatrical run.
KPop Demon Hunters satisfied these requirements by playing for one week (June 20–26, 2025) in three theaters: Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema in San Francisco, Laemmle in Glendale (Los Angeles County), and Quad Cinema in New York City, coinciding with its Netflix streaming debut.
The film’s original song “Golden,” co-written by Kim Eun-jae (EJAE) and Mark Sonnenblick, has been submitted for the Best Original Song category for the 2026 Oscars.
Grammy Nomination
For the Grammy, here are the categories KPop Demon Hunters could potentially compete in:
Best Song Written for Visual Media: The film’s original song ‘Golden’, co-written by Kim Eun-jae (EJAE) and Mark Sonnenblick, is integral to the film’s narrative, reflecting the character Rumi’s journey, and its submission for the Oscars’ Best Original Song category suggests it meets similar criteria for the Grammys.
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: This category is for original scores composed for a film. While less is known about the film’s instrumental score compared to its songs, if KPop Demon Hunters features an original score by a composer like Mark Sonnenblick or another collaborator, it could be eligible.
Kpop Demon Hunters and its official soundtrack, ‘Golden’, is truly groundbreaking. Let’s give it the proper and actual flowers it deserves.
