KPop Demon Hunters was one of the biggest cultural phenomenons of 2025, and its soundtrack dominated the Billboard Hot 100, especially “Golden.” Now, the film and the song are officially Oscar nominees.
Thanks to “Golden,” the three singing voices of the movie’s girl group HUNTR/X — EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami — have become big stars. They’ve been all over TV and have made a number of live appearances. They told ABC’s On the Red Carpet it’s not something they ever could have imagined.
“Craziest plot twist of the year — I mean, of my life,” said Audrey, the singing voice of HUNTR/X member Mira. “No one was expecting it. Life is a master comedian and I’m still in shock, honestly. And it feels really good.”
Though she couldn’t have predicted the success of the film, Rei, the singing voice of Zoey, said she had a feeling the music would make an impact.
“I did feel like we were going to change the world,” she said. “At least when I heard [song] ‘What It Sounds Like,’ I [said to] our executive music director Ian Eisendrath, I was just like, ‘Ian, we’re gonna change the world.’ And I feel like we did.”
While 2025 was a big year for them, 2026 could bring even more wins. Before the Oscars on March 15, the singers have a shot at Grammys gold on Feb. 1.
“I mean, we’ve been nominated for five Grammy[s] … so hopefully we get to snag one,” said Rei. “That would be really cool. I think that’s one way to top it.”
Among those nominations are song of the year, best pop duo/group performance and best compilation soundtrack for visual media.
EJAE, who recently won a Golden Globe for co-writing “Golden,” has another idea for how to make 2026 even better: “Just gotta work harder, I think.”
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