Who Is Ejae? Rejected K-Pop Trainee Who Won a Golden Globe for K-Pop Demon Hunters

Through tears, she gripped the Golden Globe and looked out at the audience at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday evening. EJAE, the Korean-American singer-songwriter whose voice carries the character of Rumi in Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters, had just made history as the first Korean-American to win a Golden Globe in any category.

But this wasn't merely a victory for a songwriter; it was a vindication of sorts—a public reckoning with more than a decade of professional rejection by an industry that had deemed her voice insufficiently good. Standing on that stage with her co-writer Mark Sonnenblick and producers, EJAE delivered a speech that would reverberate across social media and spark debate about what success really means when it arrives after years of heartbreak.​​

'When I was a little girl, I worked tirelessly for 10 years to fulfil one dream, to become a K-pop idol, and I was rejected and disappointed that my voice wasn't good enough,' EJAE said, her voice wavering with emotion. 'So I leaned on songs and music to get through it. So now I'm here as a singer and a songwriter.'

The award was for 'Golden,' the soaring pop anthem from the film's soundtrack, which has dominated global charts since the film's June 2025 release, spending eight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and dominating the Billboard Global 200 for ten consecutive weeks.

It was a staggering achievement for a song credited to a fictional K-pop group—yet for EJAE, the accolade represented something far more profound than commercial success.​

Born Kim Eun-jae in Seoul, South Korea, EJAE was only eleven years old when she was recruited by SM Entertainment, one of South Korea's most prestigious entertainment companies.

For nearly a decade, she trained alongside future members of Girls' Generation, SHINee and f(x), enduring gruelling daily schedules that involved hours of vocal training, dance practice and everything else required to become a K-pop idol.

The industry is notoriously competitive and often brutally dismissive—hundreds are selected for training, yet only a handful ever actually debut. EJAE was not one of them.

By 2014 or 2015, SM Entertainment dropped her from their roster, citing reasons that suggested her voice simply didn't fit their vision. It was a devastating rejection that could have ended her involvement with music entirely.​​

EJAE's Musical Reinvention: From K-Pop Idol Hopeful To Global Hitmaker

Instead of abandoning music altogether, EJAE made a gutsy decision that would define her career. She moved to the United States and enrolled at New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, specifically the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.

Rather than pursuing performance as an idol, she committed herself to the craft of songwriting and production—a path that placed her outside the spotlight but given her far greater creative control over her destiny. It was a humbling pivot, yet it proved prescient.​​

By 2017, EJAE attended what would become a transformative songwriting camp at SM Entertainment—the very company that had rejected her as a performer. There, she co-wrote 'Psycho' for Red Velvet, a song that went on to become a global hit, certified gold in the United States and streamed hundreds of millions of times worldwide.

Suddenly, the voice that SM Entertainment had deemed inadequate was being heard on some of the biggest K-pop songs in the world. She went on to write chart-topping hits for aespa, TWICE, Le Sserafim and NMIXX, establishing herself as one of K-pop's most sought-after topliner songwriters.​​

Yet it was KPop Demon Hunters that would ultimately change everything. The animated musical urban fantasy film, released on Netflix on 20 June 2025, follows fictional K-pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Zoey of the group Huntrix, who secretly operate as demon hunters protecting their fans from supernatural threats.

Director Maggie Kang had used EJAE's demo recordings to help get the film greenlit, and eventually asked EJAE to officially provide the singing voice for Rumi. 'Golden,' co-written by EJAE and Mark Sonnenblick and produced by 24, IDO and others, became the film's standout track—a soaring, inspirational pop anthem that captures the film's central themes of self-acceptance and overcoming personal demons.​​

The results have been staggering. KPop Demon Hunters has become Netflix's most-watched film of all time with over 325 million views in just six months. The soundtrack debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the year's best-selling soundtrack.

'Golden' performed by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, became the first song credited to a fictional act to reach the top ten on Billboard's Streaming Songs chart in the twelve-year history of that tally. Most remarkably, it topped charts in more than thirty countries, including South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.​​

EJAE's Golden Globe Victory: A Message To Everyone Who's Been Told 'No'

What made EJAE's acceptance speech at the Golden Globes resonate so powerfully was her explicit framing of the award as vindication for rejected dreamers everywhere.

'It's a dream come true to be part of a song that is helping other girls, other boys and everyone of all ages to get through their hardship and accept themselves,' she said. 'So thank you, Golden Globes, for accepting my voice and our voice.'

She then returned to the microphone with an even more powerful final message: 'This award goes to the people who have had their doors closed on them. I can confidently say that rejection is redirection. Never give up. It's never too late to shine like you were born to be.'​​

The speech sparked immediate debate online. Some fans accused EJAE of subtly criticising SM Entertainment and the broader K-pop industry, whilst others praised her resilience and celebrated her rise from trainee reject to global success story.

On social media, supporters rallied behind her, with many writing that she had been 'rejected because she's bigger than this whole industry' and that she was destined for a far grander stage than a typical K-pop group could ever provide.​​

The momentum shows no signs of slowing. 'Golden' has received four Grammy Award nominations, including Song of the Year, making EJAE the first Korean-American female songwriter nominated in that category.

The song will compete for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards on 15 March 2026, which could deliver even more historic recognition. A sequel to KPop Demon Hunters has already been confirmed for 2029, reuniting the creative team behind the original film.​

For EJAE, the journey from heartbroken eleven-year-old trainee to award-winning singer-songwriter represents something beyond mere professional achievement. It is a refutation of the premise that talent can be measured by how well you fit someone else's predetermined template.

She was rejected by K-pop's most powerful machine. She was deemed not good enough. Yet here, at age 33, standing at the Golden Globes, she is more heard, more celebrated and more influential than perhaps anyone could have predicted when SM Entertainment let her go all those years ago.

Rejection, as she said, was simply redirection all along.