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\n\tThe singers and songwriters are, of course, the singing voices for the fictional K-pop girl group HUNTR\/X<\/a>, heroes of the 2025 Netflix animated musical film KPop Demon Hunters.<\/p>\n \n\tSince KPop Demon Hunters hit our screen and devices, the trio has been smashing ceilings, busting records and collecting awards left and right.<\/p>\n \n\tAlong the way, HUNTR\/X made history as \u201cGolden\u201d collected best original song at the Academy Awards, marking the first time a\u00a0K-pop song had won an Oscar. The number also won best pop duo\/group performance at the Grammy Awards, the first time a K-pop track had won a golden gramophone.<\/p>\n \n\tOn Wednesday night, April 29, the artists made history again at the WIM, hosted at the Hollywood Palladium.<\/p>\n \n\tThe road to the top, it hasn\u2019t been easy. The journey has been one of self-belief, rebounding and recalibration, and hard work. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWorking in music is not easy,\u201d Ejae remarked. \u201cAnd as an Asian woman, the lack of representation was obvious to me. Growing up in the U.S., I rarely saw artists who look like me on Western stages. So I pursued becoming a K-pop idol. And when that didn\u2019t work out, I thought I was done. But when I found songwriting, I realized that music isn\u2019t music itself never questioned me. Because music doesn\u2019t see race or gender. It only asks for the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tGrammy Award-winning British R&B artist Ella Mai was on hand to present the award, but not before Ejae, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna performed their hit \u201cGolden,\u201d an addictive song that racked up eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n \n\tRead their WIM speech in full below.<\/p>\n \n\tEjae: Wow. Oh, my God, guys. Thank you, guys. Thank-you, Billboard, for this incredible honor, and just to be in this room with so many incredible women working across industry is the real honor here, obviously. Working in music is not easy. And as an Asian woman, the lack of representation was obvious to me.<\/p>\n \n\tGrowing up in the U.S., I rarely saw artists who look like me on Western stages. So I pursued becoming a K-pop idol. And when that didn\u2019t work out, I thought I was done. But when I found songwriting, I realized that music itself never questioned me. Because music doesn\u2019t see race or gender. It only asks for the truth. And when I bought my full truth into it, my voice, my wholeness, my women-ness, everything began to shift. I realized that as a woman, our power has never been in fitting in, but it\u2019s now resilience to speak our truth.<\/p>\n \n\tSo I just want to say to every woman who may feel unseen, your voice is something to honor. Your story is not something to dilute, it\u2019s something to amplify. And your identity is not a barrier, it\u2019s your power. <\/p>\n \n\tBecause when we create without apology, take up space and lift each other up, we don\u2019t just make music, we can change what it sounds like.<\/p>\n \n\tI also like to acknowledge some of the amazing women behind KPop Demon Hunters. Of course, director Maggie Kang, Spring Aspers, Michelle Wong, Sunny Park, and so many others.<\/p>\n \n\tOf course, these lovely, beautiful ladies, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami. I love you guys so much. It makes this journey super worth it, guys, seriously. And of course, our moms, our heroes, right?<\/p>\n \n\tRei Ami: Thank-you for this incredible honor. I want to thank God, I want to thank my mom, these two incredible, beautiful women beside me. Thank you, Billboard. Thank you for Republic Records, my incredible team, family, friends, and fans. Being a woman in this male dominated industry is honestly ass sometimes. Uh, we have to work twice as hard, with a smile on our faces, as the world nitpicks every part of our being. First, we\u2019re too skinny, and then we\u2019re too fat. It goes from, \u201coh, she\u2019s giving nothing\u201d to \u201cwhy is she being so extra?\u201d It seems utterly impossible to exist. <\/p>\n \n\tOh, and God forbid you\u2019re confident, they\u2019ll crucify you for that. But I think that\u2019s why they\u2019re so obsessed, because, well, there\u2019s nothing more intimidating than a confident woman who knows what she wants.<\/p>\n \n\tOur ability to persevere and show up is an absolute superpower. So, thank-you to all the women in this room for using your superpowers to inspire, lead, and protect. We are not too much. We are not too loud. We are exactly who the f\u2014 we think we are.<\/p>\n \n\tAudrey Nuna: I\u2019m very emotional tonight. I\u2019ve been known to be the emotionally constipated one out of this group, and tonight, I really feel so much, so thank you so much, Billboard, for that. Thank you to my fellow Women in Music. It\u2019s honestly an honor to just stand in this room. Women who bring leadership, light, boldness, excellence and change to our community.<\/p>\n \n\tFrom when I first started releasing music back in 2019, to this moment now, I really never identified with the boxes that Korean-American women were expected to fit into. And quite frankly, I didn\u2019t even know how to even begin to try to fit into those boxes. I mean, I\u2019m literally wearing shoes that are boxing gloves right now.<\/p>\n \n\tSo to receive this honor and represent a song in a film that affirms its notion that the world needs women to show up as their fullest, most whole selves. Their weirdest selves, their smelliest selves. Whatever it is, it\u2019s rewarding beyond words.<\/p>\n \n\tThey have never seen me cry in real life, so it\u2019s not gonna happen today.<\/p>\n \n\tI think we all grow up being fed ideas of what our role is supposed to be as a woman in this world. And something that navigating this industry in particular has shown me firsthand is that women are natural born leaders, and they are the best at it.<\/p>\n \n\tSorry, I\u2019m just just gonna say it. And when women genuinely support one another from the heart, deep in their core, you know, I was fan grilling over Ella Langley earlier, \u2019cause that s\u2014 was f\u2014ing amazing. Um, It is one of the most transformative, effective, and boundary-breaking forces in this world. And that being said, I want to dedicate this award to my team of visionary women. Paula Park was also being honored tonight. Truly, I could never do this without you. Love you so much.<\/p>\n \n\tThank-you Nina Lee, Ashley Chu, Sarah Tehrani, Carolyn Massey, Mary Hannon, Grace Lee. Literally, my team is basically all women at this and it\u2019s probably why I\u2019m winning so hard. Thank-you, Ejay. Thank you, Rei. You guys are my muses, and truly some of the pure souls I\u2019ve ever met. Thank you to my mom. Thank you to my aunt. Who are here tonight. You guys show me what it means to be an empathetic, but also powerful woman.<\/p>\n \n\tThank you to the women execs who are constantly fighting for more equity, it really means a lot, and I love what Zara Larsson said about being the only woman in the room. You guys do that for us, and we see you, and we appreciate you. Our empathy is an asset, our humanness is a catalyst and portal for change. Thank you so much.<\/p>\n \n\tThe 2026 Women in Music ceremony was hosted by Keke Palmer and streamed live on Billboard\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a> and Billboard.com.<\/p>\n
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