KPop Demon Hunters’ lead vocalists say they learnt a lot from US rapper Kendrick Lamar
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(From left) Audrey Nuna, Ejae and Rei Ami on the red carpet at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards in New York on Sept 7.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – While the Korean-American lead vocalists in the hit animated film KPop Demon Hunters are largely inspired by the work of other K-pop artistes, Ejae, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna said they also admire American hip-hop stars like Kendrick Lamar, Missy Elliott and Doechii.
“I think I discovered West Coast rap in high school, and I learnt a lot about storytelling, lyricism and rhythm,” said rapper and singer Rei Ami, 30.
All three vocalists said rapper and record producer Lamar’s music had particularly impacted their musical styles.
“His flow is insane, cadence, his way of writing, his way of vocal producing – I learnt a lot from that,” added singer and songwriter Ejae, 33.
KPop Demon Hunters, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and available on Netflix, is trending around the world. Its soundtrack has dominated the charts this summer, boasting more than three billion global streams to date.
The breakout hit Golden also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Netflix reported in August.
The streaming platform added on Sept 30 that the movie was currently its most popular English-language film.
A sing-along version of KPop Demon Hunters topped the domestic box office during its opening weekend on Aug 23 and 24, in what appeared to be a historic first for Netflix.
The action-packed movie received 2.1 billion on-demand audio and video streams in the US across all platforms, and earned a total of 5.4 billion minutes watched on Netflix in the US by late September, according to Luminate.
Luminate added it was the most-consumed soundtrack in the US so far in 2025 when looking at album sales and streaming equivalents.
The first live performance for the lead trio of KPop Demon Hunters – who provide the singing voices of the fictional girl group Huntrix – was originally going to be Oct 7, when the singers perform Golden on talk show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
But there was a surprise performance on US comedy sketch series Saturday Night Live (SNL) on Oct 4, which marked their official live singing debut together.
Ejae, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna performed Golden during an SNL skit with guest host, Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny.
“It’s official,” the singers said in unison, talking about the upcoming performance on The Tonight Show.
“These girls, it’s an honour being on stage with them,” Rei Ami said, noting that for her, this history-making moment is overdue. REUTERS
