5 things to know about KPop Demon Hunter's Ejae

Netflix's animated musical film K-pop Demon Hunters has been an overnight sensation that has captured hearts worldwide with its dynamic animation and storyline. The lead character Rumi's singing voice is provided by singer-songwriter Ejae, real name Kim Eun Jae. Chloe Wong gives you five fun facts about this rising star

She was a K-pop trainee under SM Entertainment

It might be a surprise, but Ejae's singing chops comes from a legit K-pop background. She was a trainee at SM Entertainment for 10 years, one of South Korea’s top entertainment agency, to become a K-pop idol. She trained with members of Girls’ Generation but did not manage to successfully debut. After seemingly no returns after years of effort, the aspiring idol was left disillusioned and jaded. However, she is now immortalised as the singing voice of Rumi, the leader of KPop Demon Hunter's (read #legend's film review here) girl group Huntrix. Huntrix is now officially the highest charting K-pop girlgroup in history so you can say this is destiny fulfilled. 

She turned to songwriting and production 

Despite her setbacks with debuting as a K-pop idol, Ejae wouldn’t give up her love for music. She went on to pursue music academically by studying music industry and psychology at NYU in New York. She got her first major breakthrough was by co-writing Red Velvet’s hit “Psycho” in 2019, which was certified gold in the US. Her writing credits have continued expanding impressively, with her getting co-writing credits for Aespa's “Drama” and “Armageddon". More recently, she helped write “Golden”, “Your Idol”, and “How It’s Done” for the KPop Demon Hunters film. 

Her personal story helped inspire KPop Demon Hunters

Ejae’s experience as a K-pop trainee and knowledge came into handy while writing the lyrics for the movie's songs. She knew how it felt like to be in the industry and feeling inadequate. Ejae shared that in “Golden”, the lyrics “we dreaming hard, we came so far, now I believe” carried a lot of personal meaning for her as both a former trainee and as a songwriter. 

She is inspired by K-pop girl group BlackPink

Ejae worked with Korean record company The Black Label and songwriter Danny Chung (who provided the singing voice for Baby Saja) on the diss track “How it’s Done”. Chung has writing credits on quite a number of BlackPink songs, including "How You Like That", which led to some stylistic similarities for their output. Ejae happened to be on vacation in Japan when they needed her to finish the song, so she recorded while in a quiet Airbnb. Hearing someone belting those high notes in a quiet Japanese neighbourhood must have been quiet a treat.

Her surprise return to singing 

Ejae's turn as the singing voice of Rumi marks the first ever role where she ventured out from the shadows of songwriting to voice a character by singing. Ejae joined the songwriting team for KPop Demon Hunters in 2020 and by 2023, she had provided demo vocals for several key tracks, including “Golden”. When director Maggie Kang heard her demos, she asked Ejae to provide the singing voice for the film’s heroine, Rumi. “Golden” has since become a worldwide chart success, topping the Billboard Global 200 and charting on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Also see: #review: Stream or skip KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix?