KPop Demon Hunters singer EJAE says she was surprised by an unexpected compliment from Kendrick Lamar about her work.
In a new interview with iHeartRadio’s JoJo Wright, the 34-year-old Korean-American singer-songwriter recalled her experience at the 2026 Grammy Awards. In addition to winning the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media for her breakout hit, “Golden,” EJAE was also left stunned by her run-in with the GNX rapper.
"Kendrick Lamar, that part was insane,” she said at the five-minute and 24-second mark in the video linked here. I was like, 'Oh, I'm [from] KPop Demon Hunters—EJAE, you know, the singing voice of Rumi.He goes, 'Yeah, my kids love you!’ I was like, 'What?' I never thought I'd ever hear that out of Kendrick Lamar's mouth.
“I'm like, 'Wait, they sing the songs?' He's like, 'Yeah, they sing 'Golden' all the time! And I'm like, 'No, cuz I sing your songs!'" He's so nice!”
Lamar shares two children with his fiancée Whitney Alford, six-year-old daughter Uzi and son Enoch who is believed to be about three or four years old.
That evening, EJAE said she was seated by Katseye and Lauryn Hill. Her her fiancé was also able to meet Red Hot Chilli Peppers drummer Chad Smith.
While reflecting on her Grammy win, EJAE admitted the whole experience was “a blur.”
“At that moment, the first thing I thought was as a Korean-American woman: I felt very very proud," she explained, before pointing out that the film was created by Korean-Canadian director Maggie Kang, calling the win "a day of representation for sure," especially because it marked a rare moment for a film and song featuring Korean lyrics to be recognized in that way.
"It just goes to show how hard work does pay off and you know, the whole team worked so hard," she added.
KPop Demon Hunters is Netflix’s most popular title of all time having been viewed 481,600,000 times since its premiere on the streaming platform in June 2025. Both the film's soundtrack and the single “Golden” have topped the Billboard Album 200 and Hot 100 charts, respectively.
The film earned two nominations for the 2026 Academy Awards in the categories of Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song for “Golden.”