The Playlist: Movies get released on Netflix all the time. You can look at original songs from “Emily in Paris,” and they do 6 million streams in two years. So I’m sure at some point you were like, “Oh, people will hear this.” When did you realize, “Oh, this is potentially one of the biggest songs of the year?
EJAE: Oh, that was pretty fast. When we saw it charting on Spotify and going in, it was in the pop twenties…
Mark Sonnenblick:…on Spotify.
EJAE: On Spotify in the first week.
Mark Sonnenblick: I didn’t have Spotify. I paid for Spotify so I could look at the Spotify numbers. [Laughs.]
EJAE: And then he also went on TikTok and downloaded TikTok to see. [Laughs.] I really thought it was just TikTok algorithming for me. And no, it was like I went to a bar restaurant and there was a kid in a family there, and the kid was on his phone and he was watching the “Golden” music video and singing along. And this was maybe a couple of weeks after the film came out, and that’s when I knew that it was like, “Oh, this is big in New York and Brooklyn.” It was so, “Wow.” Yeah, this is huge.
The Playlist: And since you two have worked together on this, I’m assuming you hope to work together in the future?
Mark Sonnenblick: Oh, yes.
The Playlist: And EJAE, I have to ask you, from my understanding, you’ve produced and you’ve trained other Korean K-pop stars, but please tell me someone has signed you as an artist after all this. Do you want that? Do you not want that?
EJAE: I technically didn’t. I really kind of made peace with the idea, and it was very intentional that I didn’t want to be an artist, to be honest. I didn’t think it fit my personality. But after this, and with fans giving so much love to my vocals and my songs, I think it kind of gave me a little perspective on certain things on what an artist is for me. And songwriting is always number one, and songwriting is art in itself. So, like, maybe that’s kind of the way I will approach my writing. So yeah, I will be releasing some shingles, and yeah, stay tuned.
The Playlist: Mark, you have been mostly working, from what I’ve seen on the stage side, on the theatrical side with shows like “The Devil Wears Prada.” With the success of all this, are you open to doing other sorts of songwriting, pop songwriting, more pop songwriting?
EJAE: Write for K-pop idols?
Mark Sonnenblick: I mean, yeah. Well, I think what’s cool about songwriting and what’s inspiring to me is the collaboration and going into a room. And that can be with an artist or other writers or with filmmakers. So I mean, I’d done a lot of stage stuff. I’ve done several other movies that have also not been in the pop realm. And I think what was really exciting about this was this mashup of some of the best pop writers and singers in the world. Getting to build something that is storytelling over the course of a film this way and over the course of songs in a way that it’s like talking with EJAE and talking with Ian, I guess it is kind of a really complicated involved process that takes a lot of dedication and hours and patience, but at the same time, it makes a lot of sense. You have a sound and you have a spirit and a heart of pop music, and just trying to figure out how to tell a story with it, it makes sense that that would be something that breaks through and connects in a way that I think is just inspiring to me…
EJAE: AKA, he’s going to be doing everything. [Laughs.]
Mark Sonnenblick: Yeah, not singing. Yeah, I would not sing anytime soon.
EJAE: No, I’d be singing.
The Playlist: My last question for you two, whether it’s a relative or a pop star or celebrity, who’s the one that has shocked you the most that they love the song?
EJAE: Oh my God, we have family friends in Virginia, and they do not care about pop culture at all. Especially they don’t really care or interested in it, but they love it. And I’m just like, what? That was a big validation right there. Not the billboards, it was them.
Mark Sonnenblick: I have family members, too. It’s meaningful to me, to my grandma, and her friends are all really excited. And even of the movie itself. They’re like watching it and being supportive, but just the fact that they’re able to look at “Golden.” One that surprised me was Andy Sandberg, I guess, is a huge. Yeah, that was so cool, man. In a way. I’m like, oh yeah, but it’s like he was trying to convince his kids to [watch].
EJAE: That it’s the other way around.
Mark Sonnenblick: Yeah. But what’s cool is that it is sneaky. People who have kids, I mean, many people who don’t, but people who have kids are watching. It’s the gateway for them to hopefully love it too. And that’s part of what Maggie and Chris have built is something that isn’t just for kids. Yeah. It gets to something deeper.
EJAE: Yeah. Even grandpas and grandmas came to the fan signing when we did our Barnes and Noble fan signing for Huntr/x. It was all ages, not just kids.
Mark Sonnenblick: Hey, literally the Saja Boys fans, it’s 80% adults.
EJAE: Yeah.
“Kpop Demon Hunters” is now available on Netflix
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