\u2018The directors were crying, the producer was crying, and I thought: Oh my gosh, this is an incredible musical world.\u201d It was February 2025, and Ian Eisendrath was conducting an orchestra through the final flourishes for the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack. He knew that the team had built something special \u2013 \u201cbut I never thought it would be like this,\u201d he laughs, marvelling at what came next.<\/p>\n
Mere weeks after its release in June, the animated film \u2013 about Korean girl band Huntr\/x who battle soul-hungry demons through song \u2013 became Netflix\u2019s most-watched title ever. The film\u2019s soundtrack, a fleet of emotionally charged, devilishly catchy hits crafted by real K-pop heavyweights, became a platinum-rated phenomenon all its own.<\/p>\n
The film made history when four of its tracks hit the US Top 10 simultaneously, and soaring lead single Golden was the world\u2019s most-streamed new song last year. It has already very appropriately won a Golden Globe and is up for best international song at the Brit awards. Not since the Lion King\u2019s Circle of Life has a song from an animated film been nominated for the Academy award for best song and song of the year at the Grammys. This weekend, if the bookies are right and Golden wins both, it will be the first original song from an animation ever to do so. <\/p>\n
Eisendrath, the film\u2019s executive music producer, credits an unusually collaborative songwriting process \u2013 and K-pop\u2019s innate theatricality \u2013 with the song\u2019s appeal. \u201cK-pop is larger than life, a whiplash in the best way possible,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cSomething can happen, musically, for eight measures, and then you snap to a whole other vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huntr\/x\u2019s sonic battle against demonic boyband Saja Boys demanded thrilling, radio-friendly hits that pushed the story forward with every beat. It also demanded genuine K-pop credibility, provided by Seoul\u2019s taste-making The Black Label (home to Blackpink\u2019s Ros\u00e9 and her own Grammy-nominated megahit APT.), and a who\u2019s-who of independent hit makers.<\/p>\n
Danny Chung, an A&R and songwriter with a decade of chart-toppers, co-wrote the Saja Boys\u2019 bubbly, pastel-hued introduction, Soda Pop. He describes working on the film and voicing the husky Baby Saja as a \u201cdream come true\u201d and a \u201cmuch more engaged\u201d process than he anticipated, due to the challenge of putting character arcs before musical taste or trends.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoda Pop isn\u2019t exactly The Black Label\u2019s signature sound,\u201d he confesses. \u201cIn one of our weekly calls, Ian expressed his concern with where Soda Pop was because it felt \u2018too cool\u2019 sonically. One of The Black Label\u2019s head producers said: \u2018So make it a bit tacky by design?\u2019 There was an overwhelming \u2018Yes!\u2019\u201d Embracing the cheese was a risk to their street cred that paid off: Soda Pop had to be cutesy, to emphasise the boyband\u2019s sinister, soul-reaping second act \u2013 and has since been certified platinum.<\/p>\n
Saja Boys\u2019 switch-up from sweet to edgy is itself a classic K-pop trope, as Ejae, the lead vocalist on Golden, explains: \u201c[Groups] do a 180 and turn into sexy, cool guys \u2013 it\u2019s when interest from fans turns into obsession.\u201d A writer for major Korean girl groups (Twice, Red Velvet, Aespa), Ejae was drawn to the film\u2019s deep celebration of Korean culture \u2013 in particular how Huntr\/x\u2019s powers are inspired by Korean shamans\u2019 use of bells and voices to ward away, or invite in, spirits \u2013 and its nuanced approach to a story of good versus evil.<\/p>\n
Rumi, Huntr\/x\u2019s leader, harbours a secret, and Golden\u2019s victorious lyrics clash with her reality: burnt out, isolated and ashamed. These emotional complexities inspired Ejae to put a lot of herself into the lyrics, drawing on the 10 years she spent training to be a K-pop idol before becoming a songwriter instead, as she explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always connected with Rumi and [her bandmates] Zoey and Mira. Mira being a black sheep in the family \u2013 that\u2019s me. Being from two different places and not knowing your identity, that\u2019s absolutely me as well.\u201d Ejae was born in Seoul and raised in New Jersey before returning to South Korea. \u201cAnd Rumi being really hard-working, but also putting herself through a lot of pressure and perfectionism, that\u2019s exactly me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when Eisendrath asked her to sing as Rumi for the soundtrack, she needed \u201ca lot\u201d of convincing. \u201cPerforming has always been a scary thing,\u201d she admits, \u201cbut Ian helped me come out of my little turtle shell!\u201d<\/p>\n