Who would have thought that a film about demon-hunting K-pop idols, an animated Netflix film with barely any promo or hype, would end up being one of the most defining pop culture moments of the decade? It wasn’t just viral and catchy tunes or a unique plotline for KPop Demon Hunters (KPDH). The film was a whole global phenomenon that we haven’t seen since Frozen was released more than a decade ago!
Here we are, a year later, and KPop Demon Hunters hasn’t just shaped the pop culture landscape, but bagged awards and broke records left and right. With two Oscars, a Grammy, topping the Billboard Hot 100, and now spending a total of 52 weeks in Netflix’s Global Top 10 just to name a few, KPop Demon Hunters really conquered it all!
Popularity wasn’t instant, but the growth sure was exponential. Only a month and a half after its release, KPop Demon Hunters became Netflix’s most-watched film of all time, which is already impressive for an animated film on its own. But more than that was the film’s soundtrack, charting all of the songs simultaneously. You wouldn’t be surprised to walk into a store and hear ‘Golden’ playing!
And then there was HUNTR/X and The Saja Boys, our favourite fictional idol groups that were outcharting real ones! At some point in time, in the Spotify charts, both HUNTR/X and The Saja Boys overtook BLACKPINK and BTS! It’s a crazy feat in itself, and just goes to show how impactful the film really was.
But there was one special song that stood out the most, and changed the game for everything. ‘Golden’, the song that was supposed to seal the Honmoon, ended up sealing a place for herself in music history. It even won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, as well as a Grammy!
The song was even performed in the big stages, like the Oscars or the BAFTA film awards. You just know that ‘Golden’ really does have a place in the history books.
Bringing home awards and breaking records was just the tip of the iceberg. KPop Demon Hunters brought with it a huge cultural impact worldwide. A month after the movie was released, Seoul recorded its largest monthly tourist tally, and part of this was attributed to the rising popularity of the film. Surveys also showed that almost half of KPDH fans gained a deeper interest in K-Pop and Korean media in general, marking a new phase of the Hallyu wave.
We’ve got multiple covers from various K-idols and celebrities, and even Kelly Clarkson’s done a cover of ‘What It Sounds Like’! The K-pop world definitely showed up, with groups like Stray Kids of BOYNEXTDOOR doing their own dance covers. Heck, even Jungkook of BTS had a whole livestream of him watching the film!
There was even an amazing performance in South Korea’s MAMA Awards, one of the biggest awarding bodies for K-music, featuring the girls from BABYMONSTER and Ahn Hyo-seop, the voice of Jinu!
It’s been such a huge year for KPop Demon Hunters, moreso for all the people involved creating the film. The first time we watched KPDH, we said that this movie deserved to be shown in theatres. Eventually, this did happen, and the film was screened theatrically, making it Netflix’s first-ever number one box office hit! While we’re both proud and amazed at what KPop Demon Hunters has accomplished, this also goes to show that pushing boundaries and welcoming new voices could result in something incredible. K-pop idols slaying demons? Who would have thought!
There’s been word that a sequel is in the making, though it won’t be here for some time! Nevertheless, KPop Demon Hunters has been such a phenomenal movie that a sequel will be nothing short of another blockbuster in the making. There’s really no other way for them to go than up, up, up!
