Mallery McKay January 6th, 2026 - 1:53 PM
KPop Demon Hunters went golden at the Critics’ Choice Awards on Sunday; the hit Netflix animated feature earned two awards for Best Song and Best Animated Feature.
To receive the Best Animated Feature award, directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans brought out the entire cast, singing and voicing, to share the sentimental moment. While accepting the award for Best Song was singer and voice actor EJAE, the singing voice for Rumi, who co-wrote the winning track ‘Golden’ with Mark Sonneblick, who accepted the award alongside her. The duo was joined onstage by the rest of the singing voices that make up the fictional K-pop group Huntrix, Rei Ami, and Audrey Nuna. EJAE gave a speech to the audience, saying,
When writing this song, I found myself living vicariously through my character Rumi. Her life and journey in the movie felt deeply familiar to me. The song needed to be an expression of hope to convince herself that she could write and reach her dreams. In many ways, it did the same for me, but most importantly, giving hope to so many people around the world is truly the greatest honor.
When it first came to streaming in June, KPop Demon Hunters was an instant hit, topping the Netflix charts for several weeks while the soundtrack also spent time at the top ten of the Billboard chart, with ‘Golden’ also hitting No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. A potential sequel to the animated feature was first reported in August, but nothing was officially confirmed until November. The release date for said sequel is still up in the air, but sources suggest the next installment could arrive in 2029.
Stay tuned at mxdwn for potential updates regarding KPop Demon Hunters as well as other movie news!
