They’re going up, up, up; it’s their moment. EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park — the team behind the global smash “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” — took home the original song award at the Oscars on Sunday.
It is a first-time win and nomination for all seven members behind the hit. It is also the first K-pop song to win in the category.
“KPop Demon Hunters” is an animated, musical film about a fictional K-pop girl group tasked with saving the world by defeating demons. Netflix has said it is the platform’s most watched film of all time and has amassed hundreds of millions of hours viewed worldwide. It also produced the highest charting soundtrack of 2025 with eight of its songs landing on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Thank you so much to the Academy,” EJAE started her speech, holding back tears. “This award is not about success, it’s about resilience.”
“Golden” beat Diane Warren for “Dear Me” from “Diane Warren: Relentless,” Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson for “I Lied to You” from “Sinners,” Nicholas Pike for “Sweet Dreams of Joy” from “Viva Verdi!” and Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner for “Train Dreams” from “Train Dreams.”
When nominations were announced in January, EJAE told The Associated Press that she was totally shocked by the recognition. “It just doesn’t feel real even right now. I’m just still trying to digest the situation. It’s just definitely a dream come true. And that’s why, you know, we write — to have a song that everyone can sing, and not just sing, but make them feel good, because the lyrics (are) very uplifting, and challenge them to sing those high notes,” she said. “For me, also, it’s the fact that there are Korean lyrics in it. It is just kind of really crazy to see everyone from all different countries and races singing it. So, I’m just forever grateful to be a part of this incredible film that I wish I grew up watching, too.”
‘Sinners’ wins best score
Three-time Academy Award winner Göransson won the Oscar for original score for “Sinners,” winning his third Academy Award.
Göransson beat Jerskin Fendrix (“Bugonia”), Max Richter (“Hamnet”), Jonny Greenwood (“One Battle After Another”) and Alexandre Desplat (“Frankenstein”).
Göransson previously won original score Oscars for 2018’s “Black Panther” and 2023’s “Oppenheimer.”
“My dad bought his first blues album in Sweden, 1964,” Göransson said, crediting his dad’s love of music for his own. He “devoted his whole life to music,” the composer said. Eventually his father gave him a guitar and opened up his world.
“I love the guitar,” he continued. “It was the guitar that eventually led me to one of the greatest storytellers of our time, Ryan Coogler.”
“Sinners” is filmmaker Coogler’s bluesy, vampire, gangster musical about the tenuousness of life in the Jim Crow South. But it’s also a story of two brothers coming home to Mississippi in 1932 to launch a juke joint after spending time on the German front in World War I and then learning from Al Capone in gangland Chicago, as The Associated Press’ Jocelyn Noveck writes in her review. It’s a also story about love, and one about music, especially the transporting power of the blues. “Sinners” entered the night with a record-setting 16 nominations.
When the nominations were announced in January, Göransson told AP that he was grateful for the recognition for this project in particular.
“We woke up to a bunch of amazing, beautiful texts and calls. And it’s very much like a family affair, this film. Everyone on “Sinners,” we’ve been working together for a long time and we’re kind of like a family,” he said. “What’s cool about this film, and what’s incredible about this movie, is that it’s about blues music. It’s about a guitar player. … Anything we’re hearing today on the radio and from Western culture, you know, wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for blues. Ryan (Coogler) was able to show that in the movie and through the movie.”
For more coverage of the 2026 Oscars, visit https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards
