‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Singer Says Leonardo DiCaprio Made Her ‘Nervous’ During BAFTA Performance
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- EJAE said Leonardo DiCaprio made her 'so nervous' during the BAFTA Film Awards in February that she cracked on the high notes of 'Golden,' specifically noting he was seated right in front of her and 'was not smiling.'
- EJAE pinpointed the moment she locked eyes with DiCaprio right before singing the lyric 'born to be,' calling that the moment that 'put me off.'
- EJAE recalled meeting Beyoncé and Jay-Z at an afterparty, where Jay-Z introduced himself as 'Shawn' and Beyoncé told her she has 'an incredible voice' and confirmed her daughters sing 'Golden.'
- EJAE co-wrote 'Golden' with Mark Sonnenblick; the song won the Oscar for Best Original Song and brought the trio HUNTR/X — EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami — to the BAFTAs, Brit Awards, Golden Globes, and Grammys.
- EJAE told the Times she had 'no inkling' 'KPop Demon Hunters' would become as big as it did, adding 'in the past year I've lived five lives' and 'I was a nobody and suddenly I'm a something.'
- EJAE stars as the singing voice of Rumi, the lead member of the fictional K-pop group HUNTR/X in the Netflix animated film 'KPop Demon Hunters.'
Why it matters: The BAFTA performance stumble is a small footnote in a career-defining year: 'Golden' earned an Oscar for Best Original Song, and EJAE went from anonymous songwriter to sharing afterparties with Beyoncé and Jay-Z within months. Her admission that a front-row DiCaprio rattled her humanizes a meteoric rise that otherwise reads as fairy-tale success.
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