EJAE composed Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters hit song Golden on the way to the dentist
Singer-songwriter EJAE revealed she came up with the melody for Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters smash hit Golden on her way to a dentist appointment.
K-Pop singer EJAE wrote hit song Golden on her way to the dentist.
EJAE revealed she came up with the melody for Golden from the soundtrack to the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters after receiving an unexpected creative boost on her way to a routine dental appointment.
The track - performed by the fictional K-Pop girl group Huntr/X in the film - has topped the charts in countries across the world and become one of the summer’s biggest songs.
The movie, which debuted in June, is Netflix’s most-watched film ever and features four soundtrack songs in Billboard’s Top 10.
Golden blends English and Korean lyrics, telling the story of the group’s struggle to balance their demon-hunting duties with their rising stardom. EJAE co-wrote the song with Mark Sonnenblick while 24, Ido, Teddy and Ian Eisendrath work as producers.
Revealing that the song came to her suddenly, she told Variety: “I actually wrote the melody on my way to the dentist.”
The song needed to capture the emotions of Rumi, the group’s leader, who struggles with self-acceptance while fighting demons.
As a former K-Pop trainee, EJAE related deeply to Rumi’s pressure and vulnerability. Drawing on that personal experience, she helped write the empowering bridge that highlights overcoming hardships together.
She said: “It needed to have the word gold in it, and the feeling of what Rumi was going through. It needed a pep talk and the idea that we can do this together.”
The film follows Huntr/X, a girl group doubling up as demon hunters, as they battle rival demon boy band the Saja Boys and face personal challenges. The mix of catchy music and action has drawn fans of all ages, with social media flooded with videos of fans singing Golden.
EJAE’s bilingual skills helped incorporate the Korean language seamlessly into the song, a key request from the film’s co-director Maggie Kang.
She said: “One of the biggest assets I brought to the movie, or when writing the songs, was being bilingual. It was important for our co-director, Maggie Kang, to have Korean in the lyrics, and I just love that it’s not just the verses; it was in the actual song too.”
