{"id":495147,"date":"2026-02-21T18:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/495147\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T18:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:08:11","slug":"kpop-demon-hunters-the-black-label-on-cowriting-golden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/495147\/","title":{"rendered":"‘KPop Demon Hunters’ The Black Label on Cowriting ‘Golden’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cKPop Demon Hunters<\/a>\u201d and its song \u201cGolden<\/a>\u201d continue to dominate music seven months after the film\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this week, the song reached 5x platinum status, adding to its record-breaking achievements.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt took a mighty group of songwriters to deliver \u201cGolden.\u201d That group included EJAE, who also provides the singing voice of Rumi, Mark Sonnenblick and South Korean hit factory The Black Label<\/a> \u2013 IDO (Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Zhun.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it came to collaborating, Zhun, speaking through a translator, told Variety, \u201cThe production team wanted us to work on the drum loop. They wanted it to be a very specific BPM between 100 and 120, so we developed the drum loop first and went from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs they were developing the first demo, Nam explained that the song followed a very traditional structure of a KPop song. \u201cWe had two voices, two verses and a bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdditionally, they received the notes from filmmakers Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans with a very specific request \u2013 that the song needed to have a high note. \u201cThis was a very important component to the song itself,\u201d Zhun said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat note was A5 and written in intentionally by EJAE \u2014 who would also have to perform it when recording the vocals. When IDO first heard it, Zhun says their reaction was one of awe. \u201cThere\u2019s a limit to how high a note can be, so we weren\u2019t expecting to include a note so high. It\u2019s really incredible to see her hit that note.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to working on the music for \u201cGolden\u201d and songs sung by the film\u2019s all-female group Huntr\/x, IDO also wrote the music for the Saja Boys.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn writing that music, Zhun explains that the film\u2019s music producer Ian Eisendrath played a key part in helping to create two distinct sounds for the bands in the movie. \u201cThey inhabit very different roles within the story itself; it was relatively easy to approach them in a different way. Saja Boys are a group that\u2019s actually evil, that\u2019s pretending to be kind, whereas Huntr\/x is a group that is expressing frustration, and they are the heroines of the story itself. So that was able to lead us in the development of the music.\u201d He continued that it was Eisendrath whose experience as a music producer helped mesh the music into the visual image of writing music for film, and was committed to providing feedback so the song could come together. Zhun said, \u201dWe come from a KPop background, and we didn\u2019t have much experience doing scores for visual media. He played a role in directing us and guiding us in creating these two sounds. You feel his influence and direction, the music coming together with the visual image, because it feels completely different than standalone music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for the lyric that resonates the most, Lee said, \u201cI\u2019m done hiding, now I\u2019m shining\u201d shows the inner growth of Rumi. \u201cThat moment really moved me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Nam and Zhun, it was the Korean lyrics being featured in a song that went on to become a global hit. \u201cThat brings me a great sense of pride, and to see people singing along to these Korean lyrics is a very moving moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d and its song \u201cGolden\u201d continue to dominate music seven months after the film\u2019s release. Earlier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,16492,28936,136,249577],"class_list":["post-495147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-golden","tag-kpop-demon-hunters","tag-music","tag-the-black-label"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495147","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=495147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}