EJAE’s CV puts the rest of us to shame. Since she came into our world last year, the K-pop singer, songwriter and movie star can boast more than one billion streams with “Golden,” the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 from K-pop Demon Hunters, which is now recognized as the most-watched Netflix film ever.
Performed by HUNTR/X (EJAE, Audrey Nuna & REI AMI) with music by Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Park Hong Jun and lyrics by Kim Eun-Jae (EJAE) and Mark Sonnenblick, “Golden” is the first song by a K-pop act to win a Grammy Award, and a Golden Globe, and the first to be nominated for an Oscar.
Like the rest of us, however, she’s had to navigate all the challenges on the express elevator up, from self-doubt to panic attacks and more, all of which she unpacked on Thursday’s (Feb. 26) episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show.
When asked about her whirlwind success, EJAE told the show’s host: “It’s been crazy. I don’t know how to take it all in. It’s really hard to process everything.”
Born in South Korea, but raised in the United States, EJAE (real name: Kim Eun-jae) was “made fun of for liking K-pop.” That was then. Now, the genre is a pop-culture phenomenon which shines a blazing light on Korea and its people. “It’s such an honor,” she remarks, “we’re all so proud us Koreans, us Korean-Americans. It’s just a dream come true. We can’t ask for anymore. It’s truly about representation. Especially right now. It’s important to love all cultures.”
In a cute fill-circle moment, EJAE admitted that Hudson’s music was a soundtrack to her 10-year training to break the K-pop business. Hero stuff. To prove it, EJAE busted out an impromptu rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” Jhud’s iconic song that featured in her own breakthrough film, Dreamgirls.
The life of a K-pop star-in-waiting, “it’s a long journey,” EJAE admits. Her experience wasn’t exactly up and down, but “left, right, sideways.”
For a time, her vocal talents didn’t suit the trends and EJAE developed insecurities with her singing voice. And performing can be downright terrifying. A spot on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was her first major performance, she tells Hudson, and she “freaked out and had a panic attack. It was really hard.” Prior to Fallon, her previous experience on a stage was performing at her brother’s wedding eight years ago. There were no such problems performing alongside Hudson.
Ultimately, songwriting is “truly my form of therapy. And I love it,” EJAE remarks.
Hudson asked the question many K-pop fans wanted answered. Would HUNTR/X consider being, well, a real group? “Yes,” EJAE enthuses. “I think so. I never thought we were a fictional K-pop group, I think we were a K-pop group that debuted in a movie. It was just introduced in a very creative way.”
Watch the interview below.