EJAE on Performing 'Golden' at the BAFTAs in Front of Leonardo DiCaprio

EJAE is having one of the more remarkable breakthrough runs in recent memory, but even Oscar winners have their haunted moments. The K-pop singer behind "Golden", the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash from the Netflix animated film KPop Demon Hunters, sat down with The Times UK to talk about performing the song at this year's BAFTA awards and the specific kind of dread that only Leonardo DiCaprio can inspire.

Her words: "The BAFTAs haunt me. I made mistakes. I cracked a little bit on the high notes. Leonardo DiCaprio was right in front of me and he was not smiling." She says she locked eyes with him right before hitting one of the high notes and immediately lost her footing. "That's what put me off. He made me so nervous."

For what it's worth, the song went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song. So DiCaprio's poker face did not predict anything.

What EJAE and HUNTR/X Have Built Since 'Golden' Dropped

EJAE voices Rumi in HUNTR/X, the fictional K-pop group at the center of the Netflix film, alongside Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna. The three of them have collected Grammys, Golden Globes, and now Oscar gold behind this one song. That is not a trajectory you manufacture. That is a moment.

The interview also included a detail worth sitting with. At an afterparty, Jay-Z introduced himself by his government name, Shawn, and Beyoncé told EJAE directly: "You have an incredible voice." When EJAE asked if she knew the song, Beyoncé replied, "Yeah, my girls sing it."

That line will live rent-free in the heads of a lot of artists reading this.

Why Independent and Emerging Creators Should Pay Attention

EJAE co-wrote "Golden" and performs it as a character inside a fictional group inside an animated film on a streaming platform. The path to a No. 1 hit and an Oscar did not look like a traditional artist rollout. It looked like a creative collaboration across music, animation, and storytelling that found an enormous audience by doing something genuinely different.

For independent artists thinking about where opportunities live right now, that intersection of music and visual or narrative media is real and it is growing. Sync placements, soundtrack work, and cross-medium projects are not consolation prizes. For EJAE, they were the whole game.

If you are an artist working on something at that intersection and looking for ears, [submit your work here](/submit) and we will take a look.

EJAE's profile is only going to rise from here. Watch how she moves in the next twelve months. The BAFTAs voice crack will not be what anyone remembers.