{"id":182389,"date":"2025-10-01T11:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T11:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/182389\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T11:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T11:17:08","slug":"the-moment-the-kpop-demon-hunters-crew-knew-they-had-a-hit-in-golden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/182389\/","title":{"rendered":"The Moment the ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Crew Knew They Had a Hit in ‘Golden’"},"content":{"rendered":"

As KPop Demon Hunters<\/a> continues to take over the world, dominating the movie and music charts<\/a> with its infectious songs and badass heroines<\/a>, it\u2019s no surprise that two empowering women behind the scenes played a major role in bringing it all to life. Director Maggie Kang and songwriter (as well as the singing voice of main character Rumi) EJAE recently sat down with the press to talk about their collaboration in creating the film\u2019s iconic pop idols and their music catalog.<\/p>\n

And yes, \u201cGolden\u201d did start off on a trip to the dentist.<\/p>\n

EJAE clarified the lore behind the hit song while speaking to io9 and other outlets at a press conference for\u00a0KPop Demon Hunters\u00a0today. \u201cIt was on the way to the dentist\u2014and guess what I got in the dentist? Gold fillings. Isn\u2019t that insane?\u201d EJAE recalled of the experience, which seemed like one with a huge payoff, as visits to the dentist typically involve a painful cost. This one, at least, would prove worth it. \u201cIt was in the car. I got the track [idea],\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

EJAE added that she didn\u2019t know at the time of writing the songs for the film\u2019s soundtrack that \u201cGolden,\u201d among other hits, would go viral after KPop Demon Hunters\u2018 launch, let alone become one of the songs of the summer. But she did think that golden dentist visit felt like a special moment when she cracked the song\u2019s melody on the drive home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited to get my gold filling done and go home and put it down. [I] had my co-writer [Mark Sonnenblick] come on Zoom, and that\u2019s how we would write. And I was like, \u2018Oh my God, Mark, I have this melody. I think it\u2019s pretty epic,\u201d she continued, motioning towards Kang, who also played a pivotal part in the brainstorming of the title track. \u201cIt was all meant to be, and then the melody idea came out really fast. But obviously there was fine-tuning that was back and forth. But the main hook idea we got, and we\u2019re like, \u2018we\u2019re done with that.\u2019 And we\u2019re like, \u2018Wait.\u2019 Literally Mark and I and Zoom were like, \u2018Did we just write a hit?\u2019 Like, it sounded so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kang shared that soon after that, she got to hear the rough early version of \u201cGolden.\u201d \u201cI think it was in Vancouver. I know exactly where I was. I was going to the airport,\u201d Kang recalled, saying that the film\u2019s executive music producer, Ian Eisendrath, had urged her to get on a phone call with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on a phone call and he\u2019s like, \u2018Maggie, I just want you to, I just need you to listen to it right now,’\u201d Kang continued. \u201cI was like, \u2018Okay,\u2019 so I just take my AirPods out, and I\u2019m listening to it. And I\u2019m just like\u2026 I heard the few notes in the beginning and then I just had tears. I knew it was it. I was like, \u2018this is it.\u2019 It\u2019s so magical; like right from the beginning, I was like, \u2018Oh my gosh, we finally got it.\u2019 Then I started crying, and then I cried more because it\u2019s getting better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The process to land on the song as we know it came down to the perfect balance of K-Pop and movie musical magic. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a different approach because you have to follow the story a lot, and you have to understand the characters and what they\u2019re going through [in] each scene,\u201d EJAE said of striking the balance between making a good pop song and a good song for a musical. Kang wanted the trio of Huntr\/x\u2014Rumi, Mira, and Zoey\u2014to feel like a fully fleshed-out band, to the point where the co-director requested that EJAE stay on as the singing voice for Rumi.<\/p>\n

Kang also closely guided EJAE and Sonnenblick on how to use the music they were creating to propel KPop Demon Hunters\u2018 story. \u201cI come from a K-pop world, so I\u2019m all about: \u2018What\u2019s a great melody? What\u2019s a catchy hook? What\u2019s a good concept?\u2019 That\u2019s always what I\u2019m thinking about,\u201d EJAE explained. \u201cEven with \u2018Golden\u2019, I needed a title that just sticks\u2014\u2019Golden\u2019 sticks, you know? That\u2019s what I\u2019m focusing on, and Mark is focusing on the storyline, so it was a lot of us going back and forth, policing each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love musicals, by the way, but in pop form, it can get a little different,\u201d she continued. \u201cSometimes musicals, you could, because you\u2019re saying a lot of things, it could get wordy sometimes. As a pop writer, we try to avoid that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, EJAE and Sonneblick leaned on each other to remind themselves of balancing the fine line in making the film\u2019s songs. \u201c[I\u2019d] say, \u2018oh, that sounds weird\u2019, and then Mark would tell me, \u2018Hmm, that\u2019s off the storyline. I know that\u2019s a really cool line, EJAE, but let\u2019s get back to the story,’\u201d EJAE concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that was a lot of back and forth; it was really, really challenging, and I remember Mark and I were like, \u2018This is so hard, but if we pull this off, we\u2019re freaking geniuses.\u2019 And we pulled it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

KPop Demon Hunters is now streaming on Netflix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As KPop Demon Hunters continues to take over the world, dominating the movie and music charts with its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,49945,134,28936,44823,136,435],"class_list":{"0":"post-182389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-ejae","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-kpop-demon-hunters","13":"tag-maggie-kang","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-netflix"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}