EJAE reflected on performing \u201cGolden\u201d at the BAFTA Film Awards \u201cin front of all these celebrities\u201d<\/p>\n
Ejae performing \u201cGolden\u201d during the BAFTA Film Awards in February 2026. Stuart Wilson\/BAFTA\/Getty Images for BAFTA<\/p>\n
It\u2019s understandably hard to focus when an unsmiling\u00a0Leonardo DiCaprio\u00a0is staring at you.\u00a0Kpop Demon Hunters\u00a0singer EJAE reflected on experiencing exactly that while\u00a0performing\u00a0the group\u2019s\u00a0mega-hit\u00a0\u201cGolden\u201d during the BAFTA Film Awards in February.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe BAFTAs haunt me,\u201d EJAE said in a\u00a0recent interview\u00a0with the\u00a0Times. \u201cI made mistakes. I cracked a little bit on the high notes. Leonardo DiCaprio was [in the audience] right in front of me and he was not smiling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She explained that just before she sang the lyric \u201cborn to be\u201d a high note in the song, she looked right at the actor. \u201cThat\u2019s what put me off,\u201d she said. \u201cHe made me so nervous. It was already so nerve-racking to be in front of all these celebrities, and then I look up and lock eyes with Leonardo DiCaprio? Come on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the interview, EJAE recalled crossing paths with one of the music industry\u2019s biggest power couples, Beyonc\u00e9 and Jay-Z. \u201cI was at their afterparty and Jay-Z came up to me and said, \u2018Hi, my name\u2019s Shawn,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI was beyond starstruck. Beyonc\u00e9 is my idol and she said, \u2018You have an incredible voice.\u2019\u201d She added, I asked her, \u2018Do you know\u00a0\u2018Golden?\u2019 She was like, \u2018Yeah, my girls sing it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
EJAE wrote \u201cGolden\u201d alongside Mark Sonnenblick along with several other songs that appear in\u00a0Kpop Demon Hunters. She also starred as the singing voice of Rumi, a member of fictional K-pop group HUNTR\/X. The song\u00a0won the Oscar\u00a0for Best Original Song, and\u00a0brought the trio, which also includes Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, to the BAFTA Film Awards, Brit Awards, Golden Globes, Grammys, and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know [this kind of success] happens, I just didn\u2019t think it would happen to me,\u201d EJAE told the\u00a0Times. \u201cI had no inkling at all that\u00a0KPop Demon Hunters\u00a0would be as big as it became. I did think it might be huge because the story was so cool, but you never know. In the past year I\u2019ve lived five lives. It doesn\u2019t stop. Who does this all in one year?\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cIt\u2019s still crazy to me. I was a nobody and suddenly I\u2019m a something.\u201d<\/p>\n