Who are the real-life singers behind Kpop Demon Hunters?

South Korean music has reached unprecedented global heights, with five of 2025’s top-selling albums attributed to K-pop groups. Yet, the year’s most unexpected sensation, Huntr/x, has emerged from seemingly nowhere to dominate the charts.

This groundbreaking group consists of animated characters from the Netflix film Kpop Demon HuntersKpop Demon Hunters. Their powerful singing voices are provided by Audrey Nuna, 26, Ejae, 34, and Rei Ami, 30. Their hit single, ‘Golden’, became the world’s second most popular song in 2025, only surpassed by fellow K-pop star Rose’s ‘APT’, featuring US singer Bruno Mars.

Kpop Demon Hunters follows Huntr/x as they battle the rival boyband Saja Boys, who are secretly demonic entities. Ejae, who voices the character Rumi, initially joined the project as a songwriter before being offered the role after directors were impressed by her vocal demos.

Ejae’s journey began with training to become a K-pop idol in the early 2000s under SM Entertainment, one of the genre’s biggest companies. She later transitioned into songwriting and production, collaborating with prominent acts such as Red Velvet, Aespa, Twice, and Le Sserafim.

Reflecting on the film’s impact, Ejae stated: "This whole thing has changed my life 180 — and that feels like an understatement. I moved here to the States and my dream was to have a (Billboard) Hot 100 hit song. To have it be a K-pop song with Korean lyrics in it, it means so much."

Audrey Nuna, born and raised in New Jersey, lends her voice to Mira in the film. She was already an established singer with three albums and popular singles like ‘Damn Right’ and ‘Comic Sans’, the latter featuring US rapper Jack Harlow. Rei Ami, the voice of Zoey, rose to prominence with her guest performance on Sub Urban’s 2020 viral TikTok hit ‘Freak’, releasing her debut mixtape Foil in 2021 and the EP Shhh in 2023.

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The success of the film and its music has led to Huntr/x characters being immortalised as toys by Lego and Mattel. Hasbro has also released a card game and a Monopoly adaptation, alongside a dedicated clothing range.

K-pop, the genre depicted in the film, originated in the 1990s as a highly produced form of pop music, blending influences from dance, hip hop, and rock. Groups are renowned for their complex choreography and rigorous training programmes, which reportedly cost millions per artist and include foreign language instruction alongside singing and dancing.

While other South Korean stars like Blackpink’s Rose and boybands Enhypen, Seventeen, and Stray Kids enjoyed best-selling LPs last year, the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack, featuring Huntr/x, eclipsed them all. The record was the third best-selling album worldwide, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

The K-pop phenomenon is set for a further boost in 2026 with the return of BTS, the genre’s most famous group, who will release a new album and embark on a world tour after completing their mandatory 18 months of military service.

Huntr/x received nominations for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at this year’s Grammy Awards, and nods for International Group and International Song at the Brit Awards, where a pre-recorded performance of ‘Golden’ was broadcast. They also performed at the Bafta Film Awards and secured Best Song at both the Critics’ Choice Awards and Golden Globes, with the film itself winning Best Animated Film at both ceremonies.

Now, the fictional group is set to compete for Best Original Song for ‘Golden’ at this year’s Oscars, while Kpop Demon Hunters vies for Best Animated Feature. They face competition for Best Song from Kesha’s ‘Dear Me’ (Diane Warren: Relentless), Miles Caton’s ‘I Lied To You’ (Sinners), ‘Sweet Dreams Of Joy’ (Viva Verdi!), and the title track from Train Dreams. In the Best Animated Feature category, the film is up against Zootopia 2, Little Amelie Or The Character Of Rain, Elio, and Arco.

Kpop Demon Hunters co-director Maggie Kang admitted she had to keep her "happy scream" quiet to avoid waking her family upon hearing of the Oscar nominations, though fellow director Chris Appelhans confessed he "did not scream quietly". He recounted: "My five-year-old son came in to figure out what was going on, and I tried to explain to him what the Oscars were, but he didn’t really care. He said, ‘do you get a trophy?’, and I said, ‘I don’t know’." Kang added: "To see how proud Koreans are of this film as this beacon of representation for them, it just makes me so happy that there’s validation from the motherland."

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Released last June, Kpop Demon Hunters has become Netflix’s most-watched film of all time, according to the streamer. ‘Golden’ has spent 10 weeks atop the UK singles chart, with other tracks like ‘How It’s Done’, ‘What It Sounds Like’, and ‘Takedown’ also charting.

The Oscar winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hollywood on 15 March, hosted by US chat show host Conan O’Brien, and will air on ITV, ITVX, STV, and STV Player. Kpop Demon Hunters is available to stream on Netflix.