Ejae

• 1. Introduction

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  Ejae, born Kim Eun-jae and known professionally under a name stylized in all capital letters, co-wrote and co-performed a song that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. That song, "Golden," from the film KPop Demon Hunters, later won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Her route to that moment was strange. She had spent her youth trying to become a K-pop idol, and the company that trained her never gave her a debut. How does a singer who was dropped by her label end up writing hits for the biggest names in Korean pop? And why did the creators of an animated film decide that her voice, above all others, belonged to its lead character?

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• 2. Between Two Countries

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  Kim Eun-jae was born on the 6th of December 1991 in Seoul, South Korea. Six months later her family moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey, where she spent several years of her childhood. At the age of eight she returned to South Korea and attended Seoul Foreign School. She came back to the United States for high school. After graduating, she enrolled at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and in 2014 she received a BFA from Tisch's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Her diploma was not the only education she was pursuing, because a second and far less certain one had begun years earlier.

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• 3. The Trainee Years

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  In 2003, at the age of 11, Kim became a trainee at SM Entertainment. She stayed in that system for almost 10 years. Approval for her debut never arrived, either with a group or as a soloist. In 2011 she took a break from training so she could finish her studies. By 2015 her contract had ended and the label dropped her, which brought her idol training to a close. The company that had turned her away would soon become one of her most important collaborators.

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• 4. Behind the Songs

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  After college, Kim switched from performing to songwriting and producing. While she was recording a song for a k-drama soundtrack, she met a producer named Shinsadong Tiger. He invited her to write a song in his studio, and that song became "Hello," which was cut for Hani of EXID. She then met Andrew Choi, who became her mentor. Her songwriting passion, according to one description, "crystallized in 2017 when she attended her first SM Entertainment songwriting camp".

  Her first big break came when she co-wrote the topline for "Psycho," a song for the group Red Velvet. It topped the US Billboard World Digital Songs chart and led to more work with SM Entertainment. In 2019 she was featured on the soundtrack of the K-drama Woman of 9.9 Billion. During the COVID-19 pandemic she co-wrote "Drama" for Aespa, and she helped co-produce a sample pack called Girl Crush K-pop Vocals for people making K-pop songs. In 2022 she worked with Red Velvet again on their lead single "Birthday." Her credits also grew to include Twice and Le Sserafim, though none of these songs carried her own name on the front.

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• 5. Demos That Greenlit

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  In April 2025 it was announced that Kim would be featured on the soundtrack of KPop Demon Hunters, a film from Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix. By then she had also written several of the songs on that soundtrack. Director Maggie Kang named Kim's demos as one of the reasons the film was greenlit. Kim explained that she had co-written and recorded "most of the demos" for the film. Only then did the directors ask her to become the official singing voice of the character Rumi.

  Rumi belongs to the fictional group Huntrix, whose singing voices are Kim, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami. The film received positive reviews for its soundtrack, and the soundtrack itself reached number one on the Billboard 200. Soon the critics turned from the album as a whole to the vocal performances themselves.

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• 6. Three Octaves

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  Ars Technica wrote that "Golden" "spans an impressive three-octave range, eventually hitting an A-5 on the chorus, a high note usually reserved for classically trained operatic sopranos". The same outlet added that Kim's "performance on this song has impressed a lot of YouTube vocal coaches". The Korea Herald said "the result is both technically impressive and emotionally resonant, a combination that has resonated with audiences far beyond the film". On another song, "How It's Done," Kim said she reached a high note of D6 during the adlib background vocals.

  On the 18th of August 2025, Billboard observed that songs from the soundtrack "claim four of the top five on the Billboard Global 200 chart". Only "four other elite albums" had managed that, three by Taylor Swift and one by Drake, since the chart's debut in September 2020. Kim is credited on three of those songs. She co-wrote and performed "Golden" and "How It's Done," and she co-wrote "Your Idol."

  "Golden" earned four Grammy Award nominations, including Song of the Year. It won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Meanwhile, her calendar that summer also held a charity project in Seoul.

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• 7. Beyond the Screen

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  In July 2025 the YouTube channel Studio USOG announced that Kim would contribute a song to its "Another Day of Debut Training" project. All profits were to be donated to descendants of Korean independence activists. On the 14th of August 2025, TDYA, the group formed through the web series, debuted with "Keep the Light," a song composed by Kim. The group performed it for the first time the next day at Gwanghwamun Square in Jongno-gu, Seoul. The performances celebrated the 80th National Liberation Day of Korea. Also in 2025, Kim signed with Prescription Songs, an independent music publisher founded by Dr. Luke.

  On the 4th of October 2025, Kim announced her debut solo single, "In Another World," which came out on the 24th of October. That same night she joined Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami in a cameo on the season 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live. In a sketch based on the film, they reprised their roles as Rumi, Mira and Zoey. On the 7th of October the trio performed "Golden" in full for the first time live, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On the 22nd of October, Kim signed with WME.

  She then featured on "Out of My Body," a single from the deluxe edition of Anyma's third studio album, The End of Genesys, released on the 19th of December. On the 25th of December she and the other voices of Huntrix performed "12 Days of Christmas" at the Snoop Dogg 2025 NFL Halftime Show. Her second single, "Time After Time," arrived on the 6th of February 2026. On the 10th of April 2026, Huntrix appeared as surprise guests during Katseye's Coachella 2026 performance and sang "Golden" alongside them. The honors and ranked lists that followed would name her on her own.

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• 8. Honors and Home

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  TikTok named Ejae its Songwriter of the Year for 2025, and the Variety Hitmakers Awards that year counted her among its honorees. Variety also placed her on its list of 10 Artisans to Watch at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival in 2025. In 2026 she received the Variety Artisans Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. ASCAP gave her its Trailblazing Women honor in 2025 and a Songwriter Award for "Golden" at its 2026 Pop Music Awards. The NMPA and Billboard Grammy Week Songwriter Awards called her a Breakthrough Songwriter in 2026.

  The rankings were just as striking. Forbes included her among its 100 Most Powerful Women in 2025, and Billboard Korea placed her on its K-Pop Artist 100 that year. Luminate listed her as the most streamed K-pop artist in the US in 2025. Gold House added her to its 2026 Gold100 list.

  Kim is currently based in Brooklyn. Her grandfather, Shin Young-kyun, is an actor and arts patron. Since late 2023 she has been engaged to Sam Kim, a former music producer whom she first met in 2017 during a songwriting session. The couple plans to marry in Los Angeles on the 7th of November 2026.

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