KPop Demon Hunters’ “Golden” Wins First Grammy for K-Pop

“Golden,” the OST for Netflix’s animated series *KPop Demon Hunters*, received the “Best Song Written for Visual Media” award at the 68th Grammy Awards, marking the first time Korean pop music has won this category. The winner was announced during a pre-event held on February 1, local time, in Los Angeles, United States.

This award is given to the songwriters who created the track, and EJAE, Teddy, 24, and Idio (Lee Yu-han, Kwak Jung-kyu, Nam Hee-dong) took home the Grammy trophy. It is the first time that composers and music producers specializing in K-pop have won a Grammy. Although individuals like Hwang Byung-joon and Youngin Kim (a Korean-American) have previously received awards as music engineers at the Grammys, this is the only instance of a K-pop-focused composer winning.

The series set a new streaming record for Netflix after its initial release in June of last year. “Golden,” performed by the female trio group “Huntrix” in the show, became the first K-pop-related song to top both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Official Singles Chart. The composers delivered their acceptance speech in both English and Korean, highlighting the song’s bilingual appeal.

“Golden” was also nominated for the “Song of the Year” category. The winner of this category will be announced at the main Grammy ceremony. It is also considered a strong contender for the Academy Awards’ Best Original Song category.