KPop Demon Hunters track ‘Golden’ won Best Song at the 2026 Golden Globes, and in an acceptance speech, EJAE has looked back at how she was “rejected” by the K-Pop industry for 10 years before the win.
The animated movie is officially Netflix’s most-watched movie of all time, and focuses on a girl band named Huntr/x, who lead double lives as demon hunters and face off against a rival boy band (and secret demons), the Saja Boys.
The movie’s success has resulted in songs from the film becoming chart hits. This included the smash hit ‘Golden’, which went to become Number One in the UK and US charts.
At the 2026 Golden Globes ceremony last night (Sunday January 11), the track hit another milestone by winning in the Best Original Song category.
Taking to the stage to accept the award were songwriters Mark Sonnenblick, Lee Hee-joon and EJAE, and the latter went on to say how the award meant a lot particularly given her struggle to break into the K-Pop industry before.
“When I was a little girl, I worked tirelessly for 10 years to fill one dream, to become a Kpop idol, and I was rejected, and disappointed that my voice isn’t good enough,” she said. “I’m so glad to be part of a song that is helping other girls, other queens and everyone of all ages to get through their hardship to accept themselves.”
“Golden” from Kpop Demon Hunters won Best Original Song at the 2026 Golden Globes. pic.twitter.com/rFuRhiiFVl
— EJAE Updates (@EjaeUpdates) January 12, 2026
She later went on to say that she dedicated the award to those “who have their doors closed at them”, adding: “I can confidently say ‘rejection is redirection,’ and so never give up.”
The song was nominated alongside Avatar: Fire and Ash’s ‘Dream As One’, Sinners’ ‘I Lied To You’, Train Dreams’ title track, and ‘No Place Like Home’ and ‘The Girl in the Bubble’, both from Wicked: For Good.
KPop Demon Hunters also won in the Best Animated Feature category, beating off competition from Zootopia 2, Arco, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, and Elio.
As highlighted by Variety, the win saw Maggie Kang – who co-directed with Chris Appelhans – become the first Asian woman to win the category. She is also the second Asian winner overall, following on from Hayao Miyazaki’s win in 2023 for The Boy And The Heron.
The wins at the Golden Globes this weekend follow on from the Netflix film winning Best Song at the Critics Choice Awards too. It has also got three Grammy nods, including ‘Golden’ being up for Song Of The Year.
Last week, the makers of KPop Demon Hunters revealed that the hit song from the film drew inspiration from Eminem, Drake, and Lil Wayne. Before then, they shared that the movie originally had nothing to do with K-pop, and that it “instantly became larger in scale” once the genre was introduced.
Elsewhere at the Golden Globes, One Battle After Another was the big film winner at the Globes this year, while Adolescence, The Pitt and The Studio won big on the TV side.
Mark Ruffalo protested ICE and called Donald Trump the “worst human being” at the event, and Hans Zimmer said he thought it was a “shame” that the organisers opted to not televise the Original Score category.
The post EJAE remembers K-Pop industry rejecting her for a decade as ‘Golden’ wins Best Song at Golden Globes: ‘Never Give Up’ appeared first on NME.
