Golden from KPop Demon Hunters wins Grammy, first for a K-pop act
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Singers Audrey Nuna, Ejae, and Rei Ami attend the Recording Academy and Clive Davis' Salute To Industry Icons pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
PHOTO: EPA
Caryn Ganz
KPop Demon Hunters was one of 2025’s most powerful pieces of global culture and the most-watched film in Netflix’s history. And now it has earned a record: K-pop’s first ever Grammy Award.
“Golden”, the breakout smash from the movie, won best song written for visual media at the Grammy Awards pre-telecast ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb 1.
The song — a self-empowerment anthem led by Ejae in character as a singer in the girl group Huntr/x, topped the Hot 100 for eight weeks in 2025.
The track received four nominations for the 68th annual event, including song of the year and best pop/duo performance; David Guetta also received a nod for a “Golden” remix, and the LP the original song appears on is up for best compilation soundtrack for visual media.
“Golden” still has a shot at winning song of the year, which would be the first time a K-pop track took one of the awards’ top categories.
Its writers include Ejae, Park Hong Jun, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Mark Sonnenblick.
In November, Rose, a member of the girl group Blackpink, became the first K-pop artist nominated in any of the awards’ biggest all-genre categories
Rosé of Blackpink attends the red carpet for the 68th annual Grammy Awards ceremony at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Feb 1.
PHOTO: EPA
Katseye, a girl group that was created in collaboration with Hybe, one of K-pop’s most powerful companies, is up for best new artist, though its music is not specifically K-pop and its members hail from several countries.
(From left) Yoonchae Jeung, Megan Skiendiel, Lara Raj, Manon Bannerman, Sophia Laforteza and Daniela Avanzini of Katseye attend the 68th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Feb 1.
PHOTO: AFP
K-pop has not had a lot of representation at the Grammys in the past. BTS has five previous nominations, three of them came in best pop/duo performance, but no wins.
Last August, the Recording Academy announced that a group of artists, producers and songwriters who have made significant contributions to K-pop had joined the organisation’s voting body, including Supreme Boi, Wonderkid, Bumzu, Slow Rabbit, Huh Yunjin, Jungwon, Yeonjun, Zico, Woozi and Vernon.
“Golden” also received a 2026 Oscar nomination for best original song; in January, it won that same category at the Golden Globes.
