Ejae rises from K-pop songwriter to global voice of Golden's success

Ejae spent years shaping K-pop from behind the curtain. Then “Golden” pushed Kim Eun-jae, the Korean-American singer-songwriter who once trained at SM Entertainment, into the center of a global pop moment that has forced fresh questions about who gets to own K-pop, and what authenticity means when the genre becomes worldwide.

KPop Demon Hunters premiered on Netflix on June 20, 2025, and its soundtrack quickly became a commercial anomaly. Netflix says it was the first soundtrack ever to place four songs simultaneously in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10, and by late summer the film had passed 3 billion global streams. At the center of that surge was “Golden,” sung by Ejae as the voice of Rumi, which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts and went on to spend 11 weeks at the top before later extending to 16 weeks atop the global charts.

That success changed Ejae’s public profile almost overnight. Before the film, she had written or worked with Red Velvet, LE SSERAFIM, TWICE and NMIXX, building a career inside the machinery of Korean pop after failing to debut as an idol herself. Director Maggie Kang has said Ejae’s demo recordings helped get the project made, and Ejae has said she was originally meant to be only the songwriter, not the character. The film’s breakout then made her one of the year’s most visible faces of K-pop.

The awards followed the streaming numbers. Netflix says “Golden” won Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 68th Grammy Awards on Feb. 1, 2026, and the film won Golden Globe honors in 2026, including Best Motion Picture - Animated. Netflix also says the song is approaching 4 billion streams, was the No. 1 most-streamed single released in 2025 and the top-streamed track in 2026 so far.

That arc has made Ejae a symbol of how global pop success can sharpen questions of nationality, image and artistic control. The New York Times described her as the face of K-pop in 2025, but also as an artist facing hard questions about art, national belonging and authenticity. Her rise has taken her from studio writer to public figure, including appearances at major events such as the 2026 Met Gala. In K-pop, where identity is often packaged as meticulously as melody, Ejae’s success has made the cost of that packaging impossible to ignore.