KPop Demon Hunters’ music comes from the mind of Ejae, who also provides the singing voice for Rumi, the lead singer of the movie’s titular girl group. As such, there are demos for every song in the film with Ejae singing just about every part. This includes songs like “Your Idol,” which Rumi doesn’t perform at all in the finished film, so when we get to hear these demos, it’s like listening to an alternate version of the movie in which the girls of Huntr/x were the demons singing songs to capture the hearts and minds of the masses.
Ejae has played snippets of the demo version of “Your Idol” before, but this is the first time we’ve heard this much of it. The singer/songwriter was part of an event where she and co-songwriter Mark Sonnenblick talked about the making of KPop Demon Hunters’ soundtrack and played a couple of demos for the audience. This included the Grammy-nominated “Golden” and the original “Your Idol” recording, which has some different lyrics than those heard in the film. Even if it only includes the first verse, it’s really cool to hear Rumi’s voice singing a Saja Boys song. I’d take an EP of the Saja Boys singing Huntr/x songs and vice versa, but I’d settle for full releases of Ejae’s original demos as bonus tracks.
KPop Demon Hunters’ soundtrack did get a Deluxe Edition release, but its new additions are mostly just acapella and instrumental tracks. If Taylor Swift can release dozens of versions of her albums, what’s the harm in Netflix and Sony putting out another version of the soundtrack that includes these old demos?
For now, Ejae seems to be gearing up for her own solo debut after the success of the film. She released her first single, “In Another World,” last month, and will hopefully be writing songs for the upcoming KPop Demon Hunters sequel in the near future.
