The film Golden earns the first K-pop song nomination in Academy Award history — and the songwriters have a story to match
Golden Makes History: KPop Demon Hunters and the First K-Pop Oscar Nomination
When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 98th Academy Awards on January 22, 2026, one moment stood apart from the rest: “Golden,” the breakout song from Netflix’s animated film “KPop Demon Hunters,” received a nomination for Best Original Song, becoming the first song in the K-pop genre ever nominated for an Oscar. The film simultaneously earned a nomination for Best Animated Feature. For a film that arrived as a summer streaming release in June 2025 and has since become Netflix’s most-watched movie of all time, the double nomination confirmed a cultural footprint that had been building for months. “Golden” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and held that position for eight weeks. It spent 20 weeks at the top of Billboard’s Global 200. Three songs from the film’s soundtrack — “Golden,” “Your Idol,” and “Soda Pop” — have been fixtures on Billboard’s Hot 100 simultaneously, a feat no animated film soundtrack has previously achieved.
The Song and the Songwriter
“Golden” was written by Kim Eun-jae, who performs under the name EJAE, along with Mark Sonnenblick, DO, 24, and Teddy Park. EJAE also provided the singing voice for Rumi, one of the three members of the film’s fictional K-pop group HUNTR/X. The other singing voices were Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, with voice acting by Arden Cho, May Hong, and Ji-young Yoo. EJAE’s path to the song is a narrative that has resonated far beyond the film industry. She trained for a decade trying to become a K-pop idol and was rejected — told she was not a good enough singer, not a good enough dancer, too old, and too tall. Rather than abandon the music industry, she pivoted to songwriting and relocated to the United States. Her Golden Globes acceptance speech, in which she described her rejection and its aftermath, circulated widely. “I moved here to the States and my dream was to have a Hot 100 hit song. To have it be a K-pop song with Korean lyrics in it, it means so much,” EJAE said following the Oscar nomination announcement. Prior to the Oscars, “Golden” won the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media in February 2026 — the first Grammy ever awarded to a K-pop track. It had already taken home the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for Best Original Song.
The Film and Its Roots
“KPop Demon Hunters” was co-directed by Maggie Kang, a Korean-Canadian filmmaker, and American director Chris Appelhans. The story follows HUNTR/X, the K-pop trio whose members secretly use the power of their voices to battle soul-eating demons. The film is notable not only for its cultural premise but for its creative fidelity to Korean aesthetics, language, and pop music structures. It features songs with Korean lyrics and draws on the visual vocabulary of K-pop performance in ways that critics noted felt genuinely informed rather than appropriative. The film’s Grammy, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and Oscar nominations collectively represent a significant moment in the ongoing conversation about Korean and Korean-American cultural influence in American entertainment — a conversation that began, in earnest, with Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” winning Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020. “Parasite” became the first South Korean film to win Best Picture at the Oscars and also took Best International Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. The trajectory from that moment to “KPop Demon Hunters” represents six years of accelerating Korean cultural presence at the center of global popular entertainment.
What the Nomination Signals
The K-pop industry, while globally dominant in terms of streaming numbers, touring revenue, and merchandise, has rarely been formally recognized by Western award institutions. The Grammy nomination and win for “Golden” and its subsequent Oscar nomination mark a structural shift. “The fact that it has Korean lyrics, and to see kids who don’t speak Korean singing the words perfectly, makes me so proud,” EJAE said. “The representation of Korean culture and knowing that it doesn’t matter if you don’t speak the language, you can still connect, unite and feel empathy.” For context on the history of Korean cinema and its international recognition, the Korean Film Council maintains a comprehensive archive at Korean Film Council. Background on K-pop’s global trajectory is documented by Billboard’s dedicated Korean music coverage at Billboard magazine. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts maintains the official record of nominations and winners. The 98th Academy Awards take place March 15, 2026.
