Unless you’ve been living under a rock — or just never open your social media or talk to another human being — you have heard about “K-pop Demon Hunters,” Netflix’s newest sensation that dropped on June 20.
In the strange case that you haven’t, this animated movie follows three K-pop stars Rumi (Arden Cho — known as Kira from Teen Wolf), Mira (May Hong) and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo), who double as demon hunters and try to seal the Golden Honmoon — a seal that would stop all demons from stealing souls. Except their plans get complicated due to a demon boy band led by Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop), who exposes Rumi’s secret: She’s part demon herself.
That’s as simple as the explanation can get, unless you want to open the can of metaphors within this movie.
(If I spoiled that for you, all I can say is that if you didn’t know by now, you really do live under a rock.)
What made this movie so popular wasn’t just the superb animation — though it is incredible and definitely worth talking about — but the songs that have, and still are, dominating the charts.
So much so that on Aug. 23, a limited two-day theatrical sing-along version was released and earned Netflix its first box-office win, pulling an estimated $17-$18 million across 1,700 movie theaters in North America.
If that wasn’t enough, during the week of Aug. 30, the Billboard Hot 100 boasted all of the movies’ songs in the top 25 spots, with “Golden” leading the charts.
This song has made an impact, both in the movie and in the real world. Huntrix (the name of the group in the movie) is the first female group to top the Hot 100 since Destiny’s Child in 2001.
And yes, it might seem silly to think that an animated group is topping the charts — and people’s playlists — but we can’t forget that there are real voices behind the drawn faces.
The singing voices for the characters are different then their main voice actors. Rumi’s singing voice is Ejae — a songwriter/ producer known for her contributions to various songs for K-pop girl groups Twice, Red Velvet and Aespa (including the viral TikTok song “Drama”). Mira is voiced by Audrey Nuna, an American R&B singer and rapper and Zoey’s singing voice is Rei Ami, an American singer-songwriter and voice actress, most known for her feature on Sub Urban’s song “Freak” that went viral on TikTok in 2020.
We also cannot overlook the Saja Boys. The demon boy band might only have two songs, but they certainly made their mark.
Jinu’s singing voice is Andrew Choi, a South Korean singer and composer with songwriting credits in groups like NCT 127 and NCT Ten. He is supported by the singers of the other demon band members, Romance (Samuil Lee), Mystery (Kevin Woo), Abby (Neckwav) and Baby Saja (Danny Chung) (yes, those are the actual names, the writers were very creative with these ones, I don’t know what to tell you).
“Soda Pop” has seen great success not only in the charts, but on TikTok as well, with people learning the movie dance — but the real star of the show is definitely “Your Idol.”
In fact, that song got so popular, Saja Boys managed to dethrone BTS by breaking one of their records, when the song hit No. 2 most streamed song on US Spotify. BTS’ “Dynamite” only reached No. 3.
Now, The Army (BTS fanbase) might not be exactly thrilled about that, but the members (including a lot of other idols) seem to be Saja Boys fans themselves.
Many idols that are currently on tours have referenced the “Soda Pop” dance or posted “Your Idol” covers on their social media in the recent weeks.
My personal favorite, and probably the most overlooked song, has to be “Free.” Choi and Ejae share incredible vocals and somehow manage to make incredibly cheesy lyrics feel incredibly relatable and emotional.
Truly, while the regular voice actors did an incredible job, the singers need to start getting more recognition.
Still not convinced “K-pop Demon Hunters” is probably one of the greatest movies of all time?
After just two months it has become Netflix’s most watched movie of all time with 236 million views — beating the previous record of 230 million views held by “Red Notice” — which stars Gal Gadot, The Rock and Ryan Reynolds.
So next time you hear anyone say that K-pop is not good music and that nobody listens to it anymore, tell them to open Netflix. Or put “Soda Pop” on repeat because as — Huntrix admitted — “it is annoyingly catchy.”
