EJAE has spoken openly about the mental health crash she suffered when her childhood plan to become a K-pop teen idol suddenly disappeared.<\/p>\n
\nThe 34-year-old songwriter and singing voice behind Rumi in the 2025 blockbuster animation KPop Demon Hunters shared how rejection hit her hard after spending her entire youth preparing for a debut that never came.<\/p>\n
\nShe told The New York Times: \u201cDepression was a thing.”<\/p>\n
\nEJAE said she had been accepted into a major Korean label at just 11 and believed her future was set.<\/p>\n
\nShe continued: \u201cI had a whole future set out for me. I was like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m going to be a K-pop idol, huge superstar by like 18.'”<\/p>\n
\nBut by 22, she was told she was already past the industry\u2019s cut-off.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cThat\u2019s actually considered like the \u2018Grandma Age\u2019 is what they call it.”<\/p>\n
\nEJAE said she only began to recover when she \u201caccidentally\u201d found her way into songwriting \u2014 a shift she now credits with changing the course of her life.<\/p>\n
\nShe has penned tracks for major K-pop acts including Red Velvet, aespa, TWICE and LE SSERAFIM.<\/p>\n
\nEJAE also shared that the pressure to succeed had been drilled into her from an early age.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cMy grandpa was a huge figure in the movie industry of Korea. He would always tell me you have to work hard to be successful.”<\/p>\n
\nShe also grew up studying Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s early training videos, pushing herself through \u201cseven, eight hours of dancing and singing every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDespite the work, she faced constant rejection.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: “I went through so many rejections. I\u2019m like, what am I doing wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHer breakthrough moment came when she was chosen to record Oscar-winning KPop Demon Hunters track Golden.<\/p>\n
\nEJAE said the shock was overwhelming: \u201cI heard that before you die, you have flashback for three seconds of your whole life. I felt like I had that moment walking down that aisle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nPerforming the song at the BRITs helped her confront her stage fright.<\/p>\n
\nShe recalled hearing a young fan shout, \u201cRumi, you got this,\u201d which gave her the push she needed.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cI sang so well that day.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe love from the fans was just why I feel confident about my singing voice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EJAE has spoken openly about the mental health crash she suffered when her childhood plan to become a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[45968,45986,12327,1769,45991,39629,45957,64,1590,63,45964,6983,45979,45973,45959,457,39877,45993,45998,39389,25184,14659,21101,477,8836,24740,45990,45996,45997,45967,134,45985,1972,31238,17846,45992,3087,45960,6994,1770,45966,314931,45956,45963,4125,24195,5275,45976,45969,3088,38088,45995,45983,136,9057,45954,45962,35859,45971,44,8153,45961,45970,11255,45972,45984,45978,5483,1195,41823,8512,27648,45994,45974,1771,45958,14622,45987,45975,45955,45980,45982,45981,45977,30461,4048,31166,45965,38297,446,45988,45989],"class_list":["post-651156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-nsync","tag-45986","tag-albums","tag-alternative","tag-angst","tag-artists","tag-ash","tag-au","tag-audio","tag-australia","tag-backstreet-boys","tag-beatles","tag-beck","tag-blink-182","tag-blur","tag-books","tag-britney-spears","tag-buy-tickets","tag-cd","tag-cds","tag-christina-aguilera","tag-classic","tag-competitions","tag-concerts","tag-dance","tag-david-bowie","tag-e-cards","tag-e-mail","tag-email","tag-eminem","tag-entertainment","tag-fifty","tag-films","tag-foo-fighters","tag-free","tag-gigs","tag-hardcore","tag-hendrix","tag-hip-hop","tag-indie","tag-korn","tag-kpop-demon-hunters-star-ejae-says-songwriting-pulled-me-out-of-depression-after-k-pop-teen-idol-dreams-ended-music","tag-lennon","tag-limp-bizkit","tag-live","tag-madonna","tag-magazine","tag-manics","tag-marilyn-manson","tag-metal","tag-metallica","tag-microsoft-media-player","tag-moby","tag-music","tag-music-news","tag-music-news-reviews","tag-muzik","tag-my","tag-nelly","tag-news","tag-nirvana","tag-oasis","tag-pearl-jam","tag-pop","tag-prince","tag-prodigy","tag-pulp","tag-quotes","tag-radio","tag-radiohead","tag-rap","tag-rb","tag-real-audio","tag-rem","tag-rock","tag-sex-pistols","tag-shop","tag-singles","tag-smashing-pumpkins","tag-soul","tag-stereophonics","tag-stone-roses","tag-suede","tag-supergrass","tag-tickets","tag-top","tag-travis","tag-u2","tag-underworld","tag-video","tag-webcasts","tag-webchats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651156","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=651156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}