“KPop Demon Hunters” made history on Sunday by giving K-pop its first-ever win at the Grammy Awards.
The film’s popularity has turned two fictional K-pop bands, HUNTR/X and Saja Boys, into overnight stars. Its plot follows HUNTR/X members Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong) and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo), who must keep demons out of the human world through their music.
The animated blockbuster, produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix in June, gave the streaming platform its first No. 1 box-office title when it also rolled out to theaters last year. Its score became Billboard’s highest-charting soundtrack of 2025, and hit songs from the film — such as “Golden” and “Your Idol” — similarly topped the U.S. Spotify charts.
Fan fervor around “KPop Demon Hunters” was so widespread that characters from the movie became a popular choice for Halloween costumes. And the vocalists behind characters’ singing voices — including HUNTR/X singers Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami — have gained massive fan bases.
“KPop Demon Hunters” was nominated in four categories at the Grammy Awards, including the coveted song of the year.
“Golden” scored an early win on Sunday with an award for best song written for visual media at the show’s Premiere Ceremony. Songwriters for the track included Ejae, Park Hong Jun, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Mark Sonnenblick.
“It’s a historic moment,” Ejae said later on the red carpet, adding that the award was meaningful to her as a Korean American.
In response to their win, Rei Ami encouraged other young girls to “dream bigger than you think you need to. Work hard and believe in yourself. That confidence will take you very far.”
“Just be your truest self and claim all the parts of yourself, including the dark parts of yourself,” Audrey Nuna added.
"KPop Demon Hunters"' historic Grammy Award comes after the film kicked off the Hollywood awards season with two wins at both the Critics’ Choice Awards (for best animated feature and best song) and the Golden Globes (for best animated motion picture and best original song in a motion picture).
