By now, you might have heard of KPop Demon Hunters.
When you haven’t truly seen it on Netflix, then you definitely’ve a minimum of heard its ubiquitous music or seen your cousin performing a misguided dance to it on TikTok. Its songs, credited to a fictional demon-fighting woman group with magical voices, have topped Billboard charts. In actual fact, the #1 placement of “Golden” on the Billboard Sizzling 100 makes it the primary track by a lady group to high the charts since Future’s Youngster launched “Bootylicious.” KPop Demon Hunters has introduced again woman teams. It’s an icon, it’s a legend, and it’s the second.
However why? Let’s break it down.
The music
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The aforementioned “Golden” is a licensed banger. Because the film’s recurring inspirational pop anthem, it performs a significant storytelling position, however as a track itself, it’s lined with sufficient hooks to gas 5 months of homosexual screams. I wouldn’t be shocked if “Golden” continues to be taking part in at Pleasure occasions in 2070. However “Golden” isn’t the one track individuals have on repeat. The film’s villain track “Your Idol” is soulless boy band brilliance, whereas “That is What it Sounds Like” is the sort of epic empowerment ballad that will get you away from bed within the morning.
The unique idea
If there’s one lesson that studios discovered from Summer time 2025, it’s that audiences need authentic motion pictures. After Sinners, Weapons, and F1 made waves on the field workplace, it shouldn’t have been a shock that KPop Demon Hunters, a film about legendary demon-slaying Kpop singers, would entice consideration. Netflix took the trace and launched a sing-a-long version of the already-popular film in August, making tens of millions and additional widening the film’s worldwide highlight.
The Kpop connection
KPop Demon Hunters packs in plenty of jokes about Korean tradition which are acquainted to anybody who has watched a Ok-drama and even listened to BLACKPINK. The sequence by which the woman and boy bands share a meet-cute close to the start is comically prolonged, however solely barely. In any case, it often takes three hours minimal for engaging Ok-drama characters to move one another on the street for the primary time.
Provided that Kpop followers are among the many most vocal on-line, this inclusion of Ok-jokes ensured that they might improve social media chatter about KPop Demon Hunters and lift its worldwide profile.
The traditional story
Regardless of its Kpop fan service, KPop Demon Hunters boasts a narrative that transcends cultural boundaries and appeals to a wider viewers. The traditional Romeo and Juliet setup builds stress straight away, and the film’s major theme of self acceptance resonates with anybody experiencing an id disaster. It’s no accident that this film has taken off with queer individuals worldwide, inserting “Golden” on par with “Let it Go” by way of lipsyncability at drag exhibits.
The voice solid
Because the three members of Huntr/x, Arden Cho, Might Hong, Ji-young Yoo are all emotive and dynamic performers. Although their vocal tones don’t all the time match as much as the voice actors who provide their singing voices, they accomplish the difficult purpose of reeling listeners in. However this voice solid has some established stars as nicely. There’s Lea Salonga, Mulan herself, who provides the singing voice for Rumi’s adoptive mom. Then there’s Ken Jeong, he of bare Hangover fame, who gives the common voice for Bobby, the supervisor of Huntr/x. Then there’s Fireplace Island star and comic Joel Kim Booster within the position of “Romance Saja,” a.ok.a. the demonic boy band member with cotton sweet pink hair.
The animation
Motion pictures sometimes have to attraction to a number of segments of the inhabitants to achieve success, and KPop Demon Hunters doesn’t instantly attraction to straight males. In any case, the male characters on this film are largely maligned psychopaths. Nonetheless, the film’s animated fashion may be very harking back to the Spider-Verse motion pictures — a canine whistle to straight males — and there’s loads of motion to maintain boyfriends transfixed. Maybe they’ll even be much less poisonous by the top of the film. All in all, the film made a great determination to embrace an animation fashion that’s distinct from different main studios. Right here we’re at that entire “individuals liking originality” factor once more! Studios, take be aware: In order for you cash, make a KPop Demon Hunters. Not, like, a sequel. Like, a brand new factor.
