From valet, to check-in, to the elevator ride up to the rooftop, the excitement was buzzing at the KPop Demon Hunters “Behind the Music” reception hosted by Netflix at Bar Lis in Los Angeles. Grammy-nominated “Golden” songwriters Ejae and Mark Sonnenblick were in attendance, alongside the film’s directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, plus producer Michelle L.M. Wong.

The intimate KPop Demon Hunters event started with the bar serving up drinks named after the film’s iconic songs: Golden, Takedown, Your Idol, and a non-alcoholic option: Soda Pop. There were also photo opportunities in front of a backdrop adorned with gorgeous flowers. The color scheme screamed, “If Gwi-Ma were floral.” My personal favorite was the meet-and-greet pictures with the songwriters themselves.

Record-Breaking Film with a Record-Breaking Soundtrack

“We had no idea this movie would become the most-watched movie in Netflix history. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, our stellar music team has produced five Grammy nominations,” Maggie Kang said at the start of the panel.

Chris Appelhans added, “We threw so much crazy sh*t at those two. Google Docs that were pages long, with stories, scenes, characters, and things we wanted to do in the songs. Mashup of references from H.O.T to Bill Withers to Imogen Heap to BTS.”

The creative version for KPop Demon Hunters started with Maggie and Chris, for a world that hadn’t been musically defined before, since they wanted the songs to work both inside and outside the narrative. “All the songs were truly the guidance of the directors telling us exactly what they needed,” EJAE said.

EJAE x Mark Sonnenblick Collaboration

While EJAE joined the project early in 2020, before the story was finalized, Mark was brought in much later through Ian Eisendrath, Executive Music Producer. Their dynamic blends EJAE’s extensive pop background with Mark’s theater storytelling. 

“We’re constantly policing each other like, ‘Hey EJAE, let’s get back to the story.’ So if I’m writing a line and it’s kind of general, you’d be like: That’s not really telling what Rumi wants to say. So he helped me a lot. Or you would write a lot of words and I’d be like: Oh no, it’s too many words!” EJAE shared.

The result, as you know by now, became irresistible songs with deep storytelling packed in.

Building “Golden”

“This is the story of the girls. This is the story of Huntrix. How do you get the backstory of all three of these girls in like eight lines of this song? And so, figuring out the melody that has enough syllables to do that,” Mark continued.

They debated between two melodies, but ultimately chose the one with “more real estate” for lyrics. With many versions sent back and forth among writers, directors, and producers, they coordinated to build Golden as the thematic backbone of the Huntrix trio. “Maggie was coming back and being like, can it be more yearning?” said Mark.

The audience then had a fun moment to sing along (briefly) with the songwriters.

The Hunter’s Mantra: The Film’s Spiritual Core & Korean Roots

Maggie and Chris had written what elements needed to be in “The Prologue (Hunter’s Mantra),” and EJAE composed it to be powerful, emotional, and cinematic. “Every time EJAE sent a voice memo, it was like, where is this divine inspiration coming from?!” Mark said in awe.

EJAE said, “It was a melody that could fit in many outfits throughout the movie.” She then dived deeper into how her being bilingual and culturally rooted helped her blend tradition + pop + cinematic styles. “The Korean lyrics aren’t modern, they’re actually old historical Korean.”

She continued to explain “pansori” (Korean traditional storytelling), which is typically known for emotional grit and vocal power, and that she blended it with “arirang” (Korean folk anthem), which is a more modern melodic approach. “I’m proud I brought that side of Korea into it,” EJAE smiled.

“Your Idol”: The Film’s Darkest Track 

Internally called The Black Hat song, EJAE is the original singer and songwriter for the “demo” version of “Your Idol.” 

She shared, “I don’t know if Maggie and Chris know this, but I purposely put the Mantra reversed as the intro. It sounds really eerie and demonic that way. So I did that, and then I harmonized it.” Drawing upon childhood exposure from her dad’s appreciation for cathedral Latin music, she layered in different harmonies to translate her metaphor strategy of: “They’re trying to kill the Honmoon.” 

“To sound like a dude, I had to transpose my tracks down. I had hundreds of tracks for this. I had to do the lead tracks, the doubles, harmonies, and effects vocals. I’m one vocalist and literally had to pitch down every single vocal take,” said EJAE. “Screaming in my room, it was fun.”

Mark added, “My favorite part of the song – dropping the beat going into the chorus. It’s missing a beat, and you just slam into the chorus harder, and it’s cool when there’s like little sort of weird things happening.”

EJAE continued, “Exactly, it was great. THEBLACKLABEL, like 24, and TEDDY just killed it with the trap. It’s like modern combined with that choir voice and the trap beats.”

The Soundtrack That Will Dominate Your Spotify Unwrapped

With multiple writing teams, working with people who have or haven’t done films before, “collaboration was so important and just no ego, and just making sure the song is king and making sure the story is alive while writing these songs were so hard, but magical,” said EJAE. “I think we did it!”

With KPop Demon Hunters being the most watched movie in Netflix history and with five Grammy nominations of Song of the Year (“Golden”), “Best Pop Duo/Group Performances (“Golden”), Best Song Written for Visual Media (“Golden”), Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media (The “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack) and Best Remixed Recording (“Golden” David Guetta REM/X), it’s safe to say, yes, yes they did. 

Thank you, Netflix, for inviting us to this intimate event! I look forward to seeing my Spotify Unwrapped to confirm what I already know.