Ten years ago, Korean-American singer-songwriter Kim Eun-jae (real name Lee-jae) thought her K-pop career was over.
On Sunday night, her song “Golden” from the Netflix movie “KPop Demon Hunters” won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The song was also nominated for Song of the Year at the 2026 Grammy Awards, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 list for eight weeks from mid-August to mid-October.
“When I was young, I worked tirelessly for 10 years to fulfill one dream of becoming a K-pop idol, but I was rejected,” said Lee Jae, 34, while accepting the Golden Globe award along with her co-writers and producers. “Now I’m here as a singer and songwriter.”
“I can say with confidence that rejection is a change in direction. So never give up,” added Ije, who also provided the singing voice for the character Rumi in the movie. She quoted “Golden” in her speech and said, “It’s never too late to shine like the day you were born.”
Ije’s “change of direction” included pursuing a new dream. After failing to get a record deal as a performer, she pursued professional songwriting.
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The switch comes after nearly a decade of pursuing her previous goals. She signed with SM Entertainment Group, a South Korean media company that develops K-pop stars, in 2003 at the age of 11, she said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that aired on September 3.
Ije said on the Dec. 18 episode of the podcast “Behind the Wall” that she has poured “blood, sweat and tears” into her music career, training before and after school and during summer vacation. Although she ultimately wasn’t chosen to debut as an individual or group performer, she said this is a step that leads some aspiring K-pop performers to perform publicly and release music.
Her contract with SM Entertainment ended in 2015 when she was in her early 20s, leaving her “in a spiral of self-doubt, impostor syndrome,” she told “Good Morning America.” “I felt like I let my 11-year-old self down.”
While training with SM Entertainment, she was told that she did not have a strong enough singing voice to debut as an individual or group singer, she said on the November 14 episode of the podcast “The Zack Sun Show.” After leaving SM Entertainment, she refocused on building a career as a professional songwriter and taught herself how to write songs, she told “Good Morning America.”
She was eventually mentored by Andrew Choi, a Korean singer, composer, and producer who also sang on “KPop Demon Hunters,” who brought her back to SM Entertainment Group to attend a songwriting camp, she said.
Ijae went on to write songs for popular K-pop groups such as Red Velvet’s “Psycho” and Aespa’s “Drama.” Many of her songs have negative themes, and she said on “Behind the Wall” that the inspiration for “Golden” came from advice given to her by her mother about letting positive words reflect in her existence.
“My mother always told me, ‘It’s so important to say it out loud…Everything you say out loud becomes a story,'” Eje said. “‘Golden’ was like a moment where I tried to write something hopeful.”
Perhaps ironically, refocusing away from pursuing a record deal ultimately led her to co-write and perform on one of the biggest K-pop songs of 2025.
“Honestly, the reason I got to the level I am now in singing is because of my songwriting,” Ije said on “The Zach Sang Show.”
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