The singing voices behind Huntr/x, the fictional K-pop girl group in the wildly popular, animated Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters, took The Tonight Show stage on Tuesday night for Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami’s first-ever live performance together.
The trio sang their hit single, “Golden,” and also joined host Jimmy Fallon on the couch for an interview. The vibrant performance kicked off with an animated intro before the trio took the stage to showcase the soaring track.
In the animated musical fantasy film, Ejae, Nuna and Rei Ami sing for the roles of Rumi, Mira and Zoey, respectively. (Arden Cho, May Hong, and Ji-young Yoo voice the character’s spoken lines.) The movie follows the K-pop sensation as they moonlight as the mystical destroyers of an invisible demon realm and are soon faced with their biggest battle yet when rival band, Saja Boys, turn out to be demons intent on stealing Huntr/x fans.
During their interview with Fallon, the singers reflected on the phenomenon of the film and their recent appearance on Saturday Night Live, calling the opportunity “so insane.” They also shared how amazing it’s been to get emotional responses from both viewers and themselves.
“This movie has affected all us so much on an emotional level,” Nuna told Fallon. “I’m emotionally constipated, so I take a very, very long time to process my emotions. But I guess I was due for a cry the day of the premiere because literally five minutes into the film I’m, like, bawling my eyes out. And it’s weird because the thing that got me was seeing kimbap, which is a Korean food, it’s like a Korean rice roll, animated on screen.”
Following its premiere, KPop Demon Hunters’ skyrocketed to take the title of the Netflix’s most-watched animated film ever. Meanwhile, its soundtrack reached Number One on the Billboard 200, while “Golden” which has enjoyed eight weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. The album features a high energy score composed by Marcelo Zarvos and K-pop tracks produced by the likes of Teddy Park, Lindgren, Stephen Kirk, and Ian Eisendrath.
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EJAE and Mark Sonnenblick, two of the songwriters among the impressive roster of collaborators, spoke to Rolling Stone in August about why the soundtrack has resonated with fans. “I don’t know if Mark knows this, but when I wrote ‘Golden,’ I was going through a hard time. I actually cried singing the demo, because it resonated with me so much,” said EJAE, the singing voice of Rumi, who opened up about her own experience in the K-pop world. “Maybe that’s why ‘Golden’ is ‘going up up up.’ Because everyone’s going through a hard time. And they want to feel hope.”
Earlier this summer, Netflix confirmed plans to submit “Golden” for consideration in the Best Original Song category at the 98th Academy Awards.
