KPop Demon Hunters’ hit song Golden just won the Golden Globe for the Best Original Song at yesterday’s ceremony. The movie’s soundtrack was of the most successful songs last year, achieving international recognition.
Not many thought that the song by HUNTR/X was going to have such an outcome. While Golden was originally born to be part of the movie KPop Demon Hunters, it unexpectedly caught in the public’s eye and never left. An animated movie centered in Korean culture and women’s strength to save the world may be changing the film and music sphere as we know it.
Victory At the Golden Globes
When accepting the award, Ejae, one of the songwriters of KPop Demon Hunters’s soundtrack, gave a very touching and inspiring speech. “When I was a little girl, I worked tirelessly for ten years to fill one dream: to become a K-pop idol. And I was rejected and disappointed that my voice wasn’t good enough. So, I leaned on songs and music to get through it. So now I’m here as a singer and a songwriter”, said the Korean American singer and producer Ejae.
Furthermore, she took advantage of the moment to advocate for everyone that was benefited from the song’s ambitious message, saying: “Its’s a dream come true to be part of a song that is helping other girls, other boys and everyone from all ages get through their hardships and to accept themselves”.
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She continued thanking the award ceremony for “accepting my voice and our voice. I Just want to say this award goes to people who’ve had their doors closed at them. And that I can confidently say rejection is redirection, so never give up and it’s never too late to shine like you were born to be”, Ejae added.
The Korean film won in a category with some A-list contenders. Here are the nominees for Best original song at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards:
- Golden; KPop Demon Hunters – Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Park Hong Jun, Kim Eun-jae (Ejae), Mark Sonnenblick
- Dream as One; Avatar: Fire and Ash – Miley Cyrus, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Simon Franglen
- I Lied to You; Sinners – Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig Göransson
- No Place Like Home; Wicked: For Good – Stephen Schwartz
- The Girl in the Bubble; Wicked: For Good – Stephen Schwartz
- Train Dreams; Train Dreams – Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner
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Best Animated Movie
On the other hand, KPop Demon Hunters also achieved the prize at the Best Animated Movie category. With two Golden Globe Awards, the Netflix hit movie was one of the most awarded films of the night. The thing is that these outstanding achievements bring the Oscars dream so much closer. The movies that were nominated for Best Animated films are:
- KPop Demon Hunters
- Arco
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
- Elio
- Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
- Zootopia 2
International Success
Golden’s amazing aftermath goes beyond the movie itself, which was also such a hit. Ever since its release on June 20, 2025, it started to break Netflix’s records. KPop Demon Hunters became the most watched original film in the history of the streaming media platform, surpassing top-actor movies such as Red Notice.
Moreover, within 91 from its launch date, the film achieved more than 325 million views. In addition, it reached the top 10 most watched films spot in more than 90 different countries for several weeks.
About the song’s favorable outcome, we are able to find some shocking yet spectacular attainments. It made history reaching #1 at Billboard’s Hot 100 as the only K-Pop song led by a group of women to take that position. Furthermore, it achieved the first spot on Spotify’s Global List in several countries. To top it off, it also achieved thousands of millions of streams online.
