While the lead vocalists in animated film KPop Demon Hunters are largely inspired by the work of other K-pop artistes, Ejae, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna said they also admire Black American hip-hop stars like Kendrick Lamar, Missy Elliott and Doechii.
"I think I discovered West Coast rap in high school, and I learned a lot about storytelling, lyricism and rhythm,” Korean American rapper and singer Rei Ami said.
All three vocalists said that rapper and record producer Lamar’s music had particularly impacted their musical styles.
"(Lamar’s) flow is insane, cadence, his way of writing, his way of vocal producing, I learned a lot from that,” Korean American singer and songwriter Ejae said.
KPop Demon Hunters, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and available on Netflix, is trending around the world. Its soundtrack has dominated the charts this summer, boasting more than 3 billion global streams to date, and breakout hit Golden reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Netflix reported in August.
The streaming platform reported last week that the movie was currently its most popular English-language film.
A sing-along version of KPop Demon Hunters topped the domestic box office during its opening weekend on Aug 23 and 24, in what appeared to be a historic first for Netflix.
The action-packed movie received 2.1 billion on-demand audio and video streams in the US across all platforms and earned a total of 5.4 billion minutes watched on Netflix in the US by late September, according to Luminate.
Luminate added it was the most-consumed soundtrack in the United States so far this year when looking at album sales and streaming equivalents.
SNL performance
While the first live performance for the lead trio of KPop Demon Hunters was originally going to be Oct 7 when the singers will perform Golden on The Tonight Show, there was a surprise performance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) on Saturday, which marked their official live singing debut together.
Ejae, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna performed Golden during an SNL skit with host, singer Bad Bunny.
The movie, which came out on June 20, follows a K-pop girl group called Huntr/X, comprised of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, who are also a trio of demon hunters that perform K-pop music to impress fans and combat demons.
Ejae provides the singing voice for the lead singer Rumi and cowrote Golden, which she performs with Rei Ami, who sings as Zoey, and Audrey Nuna, who’s the vocalist for Mira.
The film was produced by Sony Pictures Animation.
With the musical movie continuing to trend, directors Kang and Appelhans said they are considering what the future may hold.
Both said they are thinking about a potential sequel, but right now, they are just trying to take their busy schedules day by day.
They are also appreciative of the Oscar and Grammy awards buzz they have received.
"It’s an honour to be even recognized, to be potential nominees,” Kang said. - Reuters
