“Golden” started the way few smash hits do — with a seven-page memo. 

In outlining their vision for KPop Demon Hunters’ heart anthem, performed by iconic girl group HUNTR/X, directors and writers Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and producer Michelle Wong asked for something basically impossible. They needed a banger so catchy and soulful you’d believe it could inspire enough fan love to conjure the elusive Golden Honmoon, a perfect shield that keeps demonic forces out of the mortal realm for good. 

A sketch of the climactic performance of “Golden.” In the film, the song is first revealed as a viral music video release from HUNTR/X and then revisited multiple times as we follow Rumi’s arc, leading to this shimmering and intense finale.

Also, the track couldn’t just sound like a monster K-pop crossover smash. In true movie-musical fashion, the song had to perform a hat trick: introduce the most personal struggles of all three HUNTR/X members; reveal lead singer Rumi’s biggest secret (that she’s a demon hunter who’s half demon); and land a hook so punishing to sing that the fight to hit the stratospheric note becomes its own plot point. (If you’ve ever tried to sing along, you know the struggle is real).

So, no pressure. To accomplish this, the filmmakers and music supervisor Ian Eisendrath called in the best: IDO, 24, and Teddy of K-pop powerhouse THEBLACKLABEL; musical theater songwriter Mark Sonnenblick; and K-pop songwriter EJAE, who also voices Rumi’s singing. With everyone working together, the alchemy of storytelling and state-of-the-art songcraft clicked into place.

EJAE, one of the songwriters of “Golden” and the singing voice of Rumi

PHOTO BY RICKY MIDDLESWORTH

“To us, it was a hit, but we didn’t think it could get this far,” EJAE recalls.

That may be the understatement of the year. Already, “Golden” has won a Grammy and a Golden Globe, and has garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. And it might be a bigger hit in real life than it was in the film: The anthem, which is approaching four billion streams, is the No. 1 most-streamed single released in 2025 and the top-streamed track in 2026 so far.

Read on for the full journey of the song that began as a hopeful glimmer in a PDF memo and is now shining like it was always meant to be.

THE LAST SONG — AND THE MOST IMPORTANT

The movie’s second big musical number was the last one to fall into place — which makes sense, because “Golden” has to carry everything. It’s the plot engine behind the Golden Honmoon and the emotional mission statement for the three members of HUNTR/X. Rumi is asking, “Who am I meant to be?” Mira is reckoning with being her family’s “black sheep.” And Zoey struggles with feeling misunderstood. 

That pressure cooker produced a lot of drafts — and a standing weekly meeting that served as a healthy push-pull between the team’s goals of telling a character-driven story and writing an undeniable banger.

Storyboarding the “Golden” music video was a unique challenge for story artist Bridget Underwood. “There are so few limits on what can be in a music video, it was a blast getting interpretive and vibey with it,” they say. “The combination of great visuals with great music elevates both into something greater than the sum of its parts, the same way that dancing is such a huge part of what makes K-pop incredible.”

Danny Chung, producer/songwriter at THEBLACKLABEL: “Golden” was the last song to be really locked in. The whole team was meeting every single week face-to-face on these Zoom calls, because we started meeting during COVID times, and we were all across the world.

Ian Eisendrath, music supervisor: I think there were five to six versions of the song written before we landed here.

Mark Sonnenblick, songwriter and lyricist: Everything starts with the story and Maggie and Chris and [producer Michelle Wong] and Ian. “What does the song need to do in this moment?” There were many songs before this version of “Golden.” They were like, “Is the song called ‘Forever Gold’? Or is the song just called ‘Gold’?” 

EJAE, songwriter, lyricist, and Rumi’s singing voice: I have to say, they were all equally hard to sing. Very hard.

Chris Appelhans, co-director and writer: “Golden,” as the song that’s meant to create the Golden Honmoon, is both the plot goal of the movie and a vessel for the girls’ personal and emotional goals.

Maggie Kang, co-director and writer: HUNTR/X’s mission is to protect the world from the demon threat that is always trying to get to humans. Their goal is to keep the world connected and these good vibes of [the] human soul alive, because that’s what fuels this barrier between the worlds that protects us. And so their mission is to always create amazing music that really ignites the human spirit and keeps them connected.

Sonnenblick: The filmmakers, along with us, mapped out section by section what needs to happen for these characters — what the first verse needs to cover, and what the second verse has to cover, what happens in the chorus. So the map was there before the songwriting happened.

Eisendrath: We wanted to create a song that gives backstory for each of the girls. Like some great pop songs do, you can learn something about the singer while keeping the text pretty universal. It’s also the song that states their “I want,” which is for everything to be golden and to fulfill their destiny. On one hand, it’s fun and exciting, because it’s hopeful. “We’re going to succeed!” But at the same time, it’s frightening, because the stakes are so high.

WEAVING “GOLDEN” FROM EMOTION — AND A GOLD FILLING

With the emotional blueprint set, the team moved on to making it a living, breathing pop song. “Golden” needed a sonic language that could shimmer from a distance in the first seconds, then arrive as a stadium-sized supernova … without losing the private ache at the center of the girls’ stories. The world-saving anthem began with a beat — and, in EJAE’s case, a taxi ride to an appointment no one looks forward to.

Chung: We started with the beat. It took a couple of tries for 24, IDO, and Teddy to figure out what the soundscape of this song really meant. Because it kind of [introduces] the emotional arc of the film and then becomes the cinematic climax as well, it had to be a moment. With the direction of “gold” as the concept, that’s where we got this twinkly feel in the beginning. It sounds like stardust.

EJAE: They gave us the track, and we had a deadline, so I had to listen to it immediately, and I was in the taxi on the way to the dentist to get a gold filling — I always have to point that out. The melody came out really fast, and I brought it to Mark. … We were super excited. Once we were finished, we were just like, “This sounds like a smash.”

Sonnenblick: A huge shout-out to Teddy and IDO and 24. … Before the melody was there, before the lyrics were there, you could feel what the character is feeling.

Chung: There is this vulnerable feeling in the first verse of the song that feels like the tension is there, and the tension is building, and then you feel the release in the chorus, and that just comes from great songwriting. 

Eisendrath: In the middle of the song is this bridge, sung by Rumi, alone in her dressing room. And suddenly the song goes from being this sort of inspirational pop to totally sotto voce, down tempo, interior, internal, a little bit darker, as she’s seeing the patterns on her skin, the markings that show she’s a demon. … She’s just looking at herself and realizing how completely isolated she is.

EJAE: I could 100 percent relate to Rumi, being a K-pop idol trainee myself, because I was in it for 10 years. Rumi is strong, but she has demons that she’s ashamed of, always having to put her best foot forward and be perfect. As a trainee, you have to be perfect, look perfect. … It was honestly very cathartic for me, because it synced with what I went through. 

EJAE performs onstage during the 68th GRAMMY Awards Pre-GRAMMY Gala

PHOTO BY EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES

Eisendrath: It’s a song that was meant to be an athletic vocal challenge for Rumi … something that only Rumi can sing, [so] that everyone in the audience who’s listening to the song realizes, “That is a spectacular voice. She is doing something Olympic, something that no one else can do.” So when she stops [being] able to sing that, the world is falling, the sky is falling, everything’s caving in.

Sonnenblick: The idea is that the melody [is] supposed to be superhuman — and that’s part of the pressure that Rumi puts on herself.

EJAE: As we were writing, Mark would remind me, “You’re going to have to sing this.” When we were [recording], I was constantly saying, “Oh, I hope I never have to sing this live.” And God laughed.

THE MOMENT “GOLDEN” BECAME REAL

Just as “Golden” transforms HUNTR/X inside the film, it profoundly changed the people who made it — and the audience who embraced it. Since the release of KPop Demon Hunters and its soundtrack in June 2025, the song has done what almost nothing does: grow bigger with time. “Golden” became the No. 1 most-streamed global release of 2025, spent eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, and logged more weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 than any song in history — not to mention the industry accolades. The singing voices behind HUNTR/X — EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami — have taken the song to some of the world’s biggest stages. And none of it felt inevitable at the start.

Chung: We were happy just to get something like this released, and something of this nature, and something so Korean, and so K-pop. That was a success in its own [right]. If it was going to get commercial success, that would be another conversation. Of course, we hoped so.

Sonnenblick: There are so many videos and moments where you see comments and messages from fans. It’s a song of healing and coming into your own and moving past maybe the darker parts of who you’ve been or ways that other people have brought you down or that life has brought you down. It’s just so far beyond anything that could even be imagined.

EJAE: I was so used to being behind the scenes, so this whole thing has changed my life 180 degrees, and that feels like an understatement. Goodness, I just never thought I’d be performing again, ever. I thought I shelved that a long time ago, so to have this film bring out different sides of me has been interesting.

Chung: I don’t think anyone could have dreamed of where it has gone, and we’re obviously very grateful for that. And I think we’re still a bit in shock. It’s hard to internalize and hard to live in the moment, because the moment changes day to day.

Audrey Nuna, EJAE, and Rei Ami

PHOTO BY RICKY MIDDLESWORTH

EJAE: I moved here to the States and wanted to do more pop, and my dream was to have a Hot 100 hit song. Now to have it be a K-pop song that I was a part of with Korean lyrics in it means so much. It put things in perspective and has made me very proud as a Korean American.

KPop Demon Hunters is streaming now, only on Netflix.

Watch the ‘Golden’ Music Video from KPop Demon Hunters