KPop Demon Hunters' breakout song Golden inspired by Biggie and Drake
K-pop mega-hit Golden was actually inspired by rap greats.
KPop Demon Hunters’ mega‑hit Golden was inspired by rap icons including The Notorious B.I.G., Drake, Eminem and Lil Wayne, the film’s creators have revealed.
In a new oral history published by The New York Times, co‑director Chris Appelhans explained that the team looked to classic hip‑hop storytelling when shaping the track.
He said: “For Golden, our references were a Biggie track called Juicy. There was Drake, Eminem, Lil Wayne. Those were songs about starting as nobodies and finding yourself through music.”
Director Maggie Kang added that the song went through multiple rewrites before the final version clicked.
She said: "We did like eight versions of Golden. The last one came in when I was in a car in Vancouver going to the airport. I heard the first tingly notes and I knew that was it. Not even the lyrics yet — just the track. When we asked EJAE to go as high as she could with her voice, she was like, ‘I hope I don’t ever have to perform this.’”
EJAE, who provides the singing voice for Rumi in the fictional girl group HUNTR/X, admitted the song pushed her to her limits as a vocalist.
She added: “It’s not a comfortable register for me. I can hit the notes, obviously. But it would be impossible to sing live. There’s no breathing room — 90 per cent of it is Rumi singing. That’s unrealistic as hell.”
Golden has since become the breakout anthem of Netflix’s most‑watched film of all time, topping charts in both the UK and US and helping cement the movie’s soundtrack as a global phenomenon.
The track is nominated for several Grammys, including Song of the Year.
