‘KPop Demon Hunters’ stars talk ‘Golden’ #1 success: ‘It’s the movie in real life”KPop Demon Hunters’ stars talk ‘Golden’ #1 success: ‘It’s the movie in real life’

The soundtrack to the animated film KPop Demon Hunters has become the first soundtrack in history to generate four simultaneous top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “Soda Pop,” “How It’s Done,” “Your Idol” and the #1 hit “Golden.” But since the actors who voice the characters in the film aren’t the singers on the soundtrack, they can be objective when it comes to revealing their favorite Demon Hunters tunes.
“I love the entire soundtrack. I feel like every day there’s a new song that’s stuck in my head,” says Arden Cho, who voices Rumi. “I love ‘What It Sounds Like.’ … But these days, I mean, I can’t get ‘Golden’ out of my head.”
“It is so contagious and I kind of feel like it’s so fitting for where we are: ‘We are going up, up.'”
“It’s always been between ‘Golden’ and ‘What It Sounds Like’ for me … depends on the day,” May Hong, who voices Mira, says.
The first time Arden and May actually heard “Golden” was when they watched the movie. Arden tells ABC Audio, “Seeing that moment and then listening to the song with the animation, I mean, I was crying because I was like, ‘This is so perfect.'”
Both actresses say they’re shocked at how the real-world success of “Golden” has mimicked the song’s trajectory within the movie. Arden says when they were recently in New York City she couldn’t escape it.
“We were walking through the city for almost two hours, and I think I was singing it nonstop and … there would be cars driving by blasting ‘Golden.’ … It’s everywhere,” says Arden. “And I’m just like, ‘Wait, it’s the movie in real life.'”
“The whole thing has been life imitating art: the fandom, everything,” May laughs. “It’s like, they really wrote it and it came true.”
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.