South Korea celebrates K-pop’s ‘Golden’ historic Grammy win

South Koreans celebrated on Monday as the song “Golden” claimed K-pop’s first Grammy Award, a milestone that critics say highlights the genre’s global appeal and signals broader acceptance in the American mainstream. The Grammy win for “Golden” — from the Netflix animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” — which also contended for song of the year, could help strengthen K-pop’s US foothold and boost the genre’s prospects at future awards, music critic Lim Hee-yun said. The win for best song for visual media capped a highly visible night for K-pop at the Grammys — an institution where the genre has long been undercelebrated despite its massive international following. Rosé of the juggernaut girl group Blackpink joined Grammy favorite Bruno Mars on stage to belt out their megahit “APT.,” which was a song of the year nominee. The girl group Katseye, created by a partnership between South Korea’s HYBE and U.S. label Geffen Records, earned two nominations, including best new artist, for their song “Gabriela.”

The awards captured a moment in which K-pop is surging as a youth-driven global phenomenon and increasingly attracting interest from the US film and music industries. American legacy studios, struggling to reach younger audiences, have taken note of K-pop’s viral strength on social media and short-form platforms - a momentum that has driven collaborations such as Rosé and Bruno Mars and projects like Katseye and “KPop Demon Hunters,” according to Lim Hee-yun.

There is debate over whether “Golden,” an English-language pop song from a Sony Pictures Animation film, qualifies as K-pop. Still, the Grammy award sparked joy in South Korea, where the film inspired Demon Hunters-themed ramen and boosted tourism to Seoul’s old fortress walls and other cultural sites featured in the film.

“It feels unreal,” said Kim Na-young, a 50-year-old who said she saw the movie at least five times. “Sony made it, Netflix released it, but the film was definitely about Korea.” “KPop Demon Hunters” follows the three members of the fictional Korean girl group HUNTR/X as they use their music and martial arts skills to keep demons out of the human world.

The film went on to become Netflix’s most popular release of all time, with songs like “Golden” and “Soda Pop” climbing global music charts and its characters becoming popular Halloween costume choices in the United States. The singers behind HUNTR/X — Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami - gained huge followings.

After winning their award at the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony, the songwriters of “Golden” delivered their acceptance speech in both English and Korean, highlighting its bilingual appeal. “This is just crazy because this is like a historical moment for you know, as being a Korean American,” said Ejae, who co-wrote and provided the lead vocals for the song. “It’s a song that also represents Korea.”

Some South Koreans saw the Grammy win as the latest significant moment marking the rise of South Korean pop culture, following the 2020 Oscar triumph of Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.”

“When Parasite won, it felt like South Korean culture had entered the global mainstream. The Grammy win takes that recognition even further,” said Park Jeong-eon, 48, recalling trips abroad in the 2000s when she felt that South Korea was little known.

Seo Ga-yeon, who studies K-pop at a university, said she could emotionally relate with the personal story of Ejae, who struggled as a young K-pop trainee in South Korea before establishing herself as an artist in the United States.

“I think it was above all her outstanding vocal performance - overflowing with emotion, as if she was singing about her own life, almost like a cry - that made ‘Golden’ a success,” Seo said.

South Korea’s governing Democratic Party said the Grammy win was a historically significant moment in which K-pop “finally overcame the long-standing Grammy barrier.”

The Recording Academy had long overlooked major K-pop acts like BTS. Some analysts question whether “Golden” should truly be considered K-pop’s first Grammy win.

Associated Press