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By Soo Kim
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EJAE, who co-wrote the soundtrack for KPop Demon Hunters, the global Netflix sensation, unpacked the unexpected moment she wrote the film’s smash hit “Golden” in an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
EJAE, who is the singing voice of Rumi from HUNTR/X, the film’s fictional girl group, recalled how the melody for “Golden” came to her “instantly” in the back of a cab.
“I was in the car, the cab, and on the way to the dentist,” EJAE told Fallon on Tuesday. On the show, EJAE, Audrey Nuna (the singing voice of Mira from HUNTR/X), and Rei Ami (the singing voice of Zoey from the band) did their first-ever full live performance of “Golden.” The trio sang a brief clip of the song and others from the film during a KPop Demon Hunters-themed sketch on Saturday Night Live last week.
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Co-directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, KPop Demon Hunters follows HUNTR/X, whose other mission in life, when not selling out stadiums, is to chase away any demons who try to take human souls from Earth. They later meet a rival group called the Saja Boys, demons disguised as a boy band who are looking to catch human souls.
During the interview, Fallon also broke the news of the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack going platinum to the group, having claimed the No. 1 ranking on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the second week, as of the week of October 11.
Earlier this week, “Golden” marked its eighth week at the top of the Billboard 100 chart. The song previously claimed the No. 1 spot on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. US charts for the fourth non-consecutive week in the week of August 16. The song also made history by becoming the first by an all-female group to top the Billboard Streaming Songs chart, according to Netflix.
Back in July, HUNTR/X beat real-life global K-pop stars Blackpink on the U.S. Spotify chart with “Golden,” becoming the highest-charting female K-pop band. The film’s Saja Boys surpassed K-pop giant BTS as the highest-charting male K-pop band on the U.S. Spotify ranking with their song “Your Idol.”
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‘Instantly’ Realizing the ‘Golden’ Melody
EJAE told Fallon that she received the base track for “Golden” and thought “the track was just so beautiful…that intro is so beautiful.”
She recalled: “This rarely happens but…just instantly…I got inspiration from it, melodically.” So, she immediately recorded the melody that came to her in a voice note on her phone.
Humming the main chorus of the song, EJAE said: “I have the voice memo…you could hear me just going ‘Neh, neh, neh’ [to notes of the main chorus]…I don't know what I'm saying, it's just gibberish.”
“I was just excited,” she noted. She later finished writing the song with her co-writer Mark Sonnenblick. Afterwards, they both said: "Wow…is this a smash?" she said. "It felt really good."
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A Spooky Moment in the Studio: ‘Freaks Me Out'
EJAE also recounted “something strange” happening while recording the song “Golden,” which she said “freaks me out every time.”
She told Fallon: “I saw a ghost while recording ‘Golden.’” She noticed that the volume knob in the studio wasn’t working and summoned the assistant engineer, Sully, for help.
EJAE said: “So I was like ‘Hey, Sully, it's not working’ and I heard him walk in, open the door, and [heard] his footsteps.”
She later saw that the knob started working again. “I was like ‘Oh, actually, Sully, it's okay’ and I look up, and there was no one.”
Instead, for a split second, she saw a “tall dude with a flannel,” she said. “It was a grunge ghost…with blue jeans…walking towards me.”
Straight after the encounter, their music director, Ian Eisendrath, just said, "Okay, ladies, let's get back to work," so EJAE had “no time to digest the situation” of the ghostly encounter.
On her return to the music studio the following day, she asked a worker how old the building was and he replied: “Why? Did you see a ghost?...was it a girl or a guy?"
When Ejae said it was a guy, the worker replied: "Oh, he's the third floor [ghost],” while the one on the fourth floor is apparently a resident “woman ghost” in the building, EJAE was told.
EJAE’s mom later reminded her that "there's a myth in Korea, in the studio, in the music labels, if you see a ghost or any paranormal activity while recording a song, it's a hit,” she told Fallon.
KPop Demon Hunters is available for streaming on Netflix.
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