First K-Pop Songwriter Grammy Winner EJAE Says It Holds "Special Meaning as an Asian American Woman"

Honored With Best Song Written For Visual Media

Lee Jae. Associated Press Yonhap News

Singer-songwriter EJAE shared her thoughts on becoming the first K-pop songwriter to win an award at the 68th Grammy Awards.

On the 4th, EJAE wrote on her social media (SNS), "Everything that has happened over the past week still doesn't feel real," adding, "It is an incredible honor to see what I have dreamed of since I was a child become reality."

The Korean American musician added, "This award is very meaningful to me as a musician, but it is even more special to me as an Asian American woman," and wrote, "It is proof that we must take on challenges without fear and hold on until the very end."

"Golden," which EJAE worked on, won in the category of "Best Song Written For Visual Media" at the Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles, United States, on the 1st (local time). This award, given to the best song featured in a film, drama, or animated work, was shared by EJAE along with Teddy, 24, iHwak, and others who participated in the songwriting. This is the first time that a music producer or songwriter working primarily in the K-pop genre has lifted a Grammy trophy.

"Golden" is the theme song for the Netflix animated film "K-Pop Demon Hunters," released in June last year. The film set a global box-office record by becoming the first in Netflix history to surpass a cumulative 500 million views.

Buoyed by the popularity of the film, the theme song "Golden" also made history as the first K-pop genre track to top both the Billboard main singles chart, the Hot 100, and the UK Official Singles Chart Top 100. The OST album containing the song also reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, Billboard's main albums chart.

At this year's Grammy Awards, "Golden" was nominated in a total of five categories, including the main award, Song of the Year. Although it was not called as the winner in any category other than Best Song Written For Visual Media, it is encouraging that the strength of K-pop songwriting has been recognized at the world's most prestigious awards ceremony. The song was performed by Korean American singers Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, together with EJAE.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.