As KPop Demon Hunters continues to take over the world, dominating the movie and music charts with its infectious songs and badass heroines, it’s no surprise that two empowering women behind the scenes played a major role in bringing it all to life. Director Maggie Kang and songwriter (as well as the singing voice of main character Rumi) EJAE recently sat down with the press to talk about their collaboration in creating the film’s iconic pop idols and their music catalog.
And yes, “Golden” did start off on a trip to the dentist.
EJAE clarified the lore behind the hit song while speaking to io9 and other outlets at a press conference for KPop Demon Hunters today. “It was on the way to the dentist—and guess what I got in the dentist? Gold fillings. Isn’t that insane?” EJAE recalled of the experience, which seemed like one with a huge payoff, as visits to the dentist typically involve a painful cost. This one, at least, would prove worth it. “It was in the car. I got the track [idea],” she continued.
EJAE added that she didn’t know at the time of writing the songs for the film’s soundtrack that “Golden,” among other hits, would go viral after KPop Demon Hunters‘ launch, let alone become one of the songs of the summer. But she did think that golden dentist visit felt like a special moment when she cracked the song’s melody on the drive home.
“I was so excited to get my gold filling done and go home and put it down. [I] had my co-writer [Mark Sonnenblick] come on Zoom, and that’s how we would write. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, Mark, I have this melody. I think it’s pretty epic,” she continued, motioning towards Kang, who also played a pivotal part in the brainstorming of the title track. “It was all meant to be, and then the melody idea came out really fast. But obviously there was fine-tuning that was back and forth. But the main hook idea we got, and we’re like, ‘we’re done with that.’ And we’re like, ‘Wait.’ Literally Mark and I and Zoom were like, ‘Did we just write a hit?’ Like, it sounded so good.”
Kang shared that soon after that, she got to hear the rough early version of “Golden.” “I think it was in Vancouver. I know exactly where I was. I was going to the airport,” Kang recalled, saying that the film’s executive music producer, Ian Eisendrath, had urged her to get on a phone call with him.
“We were on a phone call and he’s like, ‘Maggie, I just want you to, I just need you to listen to it right now,'” Kang continued. “I was like, ‘Okay,’ so I just take my AirPods out, and I’m listening to it. And I’m just like… I heard the few notes in the beginning and then I just had tears. I knew it was it. I was like, ‘this is it.’ It’s so magical; like right from the beginning, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we finally got it.’ Then I started crying, and then I cried more because it’s getting better and better.”
The process to land on the song as we know it came down to the perfect balance of K-Pop and movie musical magic. “It’s definitely a different approach because you have to follow the story a lot, and you have to understand the characters and what they’re going through [in] each scene,” EJAE said of striking the balance between making a good pop song and a good song for a musical. Kang wanted the trio of Huntr/x—Rumi, Mira, and Zoey—to feel like a fully fleshed-out band, to the point where the co-director requested that EJAE stay on as the singing voice for Rumi.
Kang also closely guided EJAE and Sonnenblick on how to use the music they were creating to propel KPop Demon Hunters‘ story. “I come from a K-pop world, so I’m all about: ‘What’s a great melody? What’s a catchy hook? What’s a good concept?’ That’s always what I’m thinking about,” EJAE explained. “Even with ‘Golden’, I needed a title that just sticks—’Golden’ sticks, you know? That’s what I’m focusing on, and Mark is focusing on the storyline, so it was a lot of us going back and forth, policing each other.”
“I love musicals, by the way, but in pop form, it can get a little different,” she continued. “Sometimes musicals, you could, because you’re saying a lot of things, it could get wordy sometimes. As a pop writer, we try to avoid that.”
Ultimately, EJAE and Sonneblick leaned on each other to remind themselves of balancing the fine line in making the film’s songs. “[I’d] say, ‘oh, that sounds weird’, and then Mark would tell me, ‘Hmm, that’s off the storyline. I know that’s a really cool line, EJAE, but let’s get back to the story,'” EJAE concluded.
“So that was a lot of back and forth; it was really, really challenging, and I remember Mark and I were like, ‘This is so hard, but if we pull this off, we’re freaking geniuses.’ And we pulled it off.”
KPop Demon Hunters is now streaming on Netflix.