South Korea celebrates K-pop’s ‘Golden’ historic Grammy win

South Koreans celebrated on Monday as the song “Golden” claimed K-pop’s first Grammy Award, a milestone that critics say highlights the genre’s global appeal and signals broader acceptance in the American mainstream.

The Grammy win for “Golden” — from the Netflix animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” — which also contended for song of the year, could help strengthen K-pop’s U.S. foothold and boost the genre’s prospects at future awards, according to music critic Lim Hee-yun.

The win for best song for visual media capped a highly visible night for K-pop at the Grammys — an institution where the genre has long been undercelebrated despite its massive international following.

Rosé of the juggernaut girl group Blackpink joined Grammy favorite Bruno Mars on stage to perform their megahit “APT.,” which was nominated for song of the year. The girl group Katseye, created through a partnership between South Korea’s HYBE and U.S. label Geffen Records, earned two nominations, including best new artist, for their song “Gabriela.”

These high-profile appearances capture a moment in which K-pop is surging as a youth-driven global phenomenon, increasingly attracting interest from the U.S. film and music industries. American legacy studios, struggling to connect with younger audiences, have taken note of K-pop’s viral strength on social media and short-form platforms — a momentum that has driven collaborations like Rosé and Bruno Mars and projects like Katseye and “KPop Demon Hunters.”

While debate exists over whether “Golden,” an English-language pop song from a Sony Pictures Animation film, truly qualifies as K-pop, the Grammy award sparked widespread joy in South Korea. The film inspired themed merchandise, including Demon Hunters-themed ramen, and boosted tourism to Seoul’s old fortress walls and other cultural sites featured in the film.

“It feels unreal,” said Kim Na-young, a 50-year-old who saw the movie at least five times. “Sony made it, Netflix released it, but the film was definitely about Korea.”

“KPop Demon Hunters” follows the three members of the fictional Korean girl group HUNTR/X as they use their music and martial arts skills to keep demons out of the human world. The film became Netflix’s most popular release of all time, with songs like “Golden” and “Soda Pop” climbing global music charts and its characters becoming popular Halloween costume choices in the United States.

After winning their award at the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony, the songwriters of “Golden” delivered their acceptance speech in both English and Korean, highlighting its bilingual appeal.

“This is just crazy because this is like a historical moment for, you know, being a Korean American,” said Ejae, who co-wrote and provided the lead vocals for the song. “It’s a song that also represents Korea.”

Many South Koreans view the Grammy win as the latest significant milestone in the rise of South Korean pop culture, following the 2020 Oscar triumph of Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite.”

“When Parasite won, it felt like South Korean culture had entered the global mainstream. The Grammy win takes that recognition even further,” said Park Jeong-eon, 48, recalling trips abroad in the 2000s when she felt that South Korea was little known internationally.

Seo Ga-yeon, who studies K-pop at a university, said she could emotionally relate to Ejae’s personal story as a young K-pop trainee in South Korea who struggled before establishing herself as an artist in the United States.

“I think it was above all her outstanding vocal performance — overflowing with emotion, as if she was singing about her own life, almost like a cry — that made ‘Golden’ a success,” Seo said.

South Korea’s governing Democratic Party called the Grammy win “historically significant,” a moment in which K-pop “finally overcame the long-standing Grammy barrier.”

However, some industry observers have questioned whether “Golden” should truly be considered K-pop’s first Grammy win. The Recording Academy had long overlooked major K-pop acts like BTS, despite their massive global success and cultural impact.

“The film, of course, used K-pop as material and helped bring it global attention, but I feel there’s a distance between ‘Golden’ and K-pop,” said music critic Jinmo Lim, who described the Grammy win as recognition of K-pop’s growing international appeal rather than a victory for the genre itself.

Lim Hee-yun noted that “Golden” sounds more like American pop — “Katy Perry or early Lady Gaga” — than a typical K-pop idol track, which may have helped it reach a broader audience. While K-pop groups usually have four or more members who rotate vocal parts to engage fans, “Golden” is carried almost entirely by a single lead vocalist.

Group composition, precision in style and choreography, and passionate — almost religious — fan bases remain key elements that define K-pop, though the genre has become increasingly difficult to categorize musically.

“For people who knew little about K-pop, or had only heard of BTS or Blackpink, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ certainly boosted awareness of the K-pop world and even sparked interest in traveling to South Korea,” Lim Hee-yun said. “K-pop groups are likely to receive far more attention in the future than they would have without the film.”