Netflix’s anime movie KPop Demon Hunters has been a surprising smash success this summer, becoming the content platform’s most-streamed animated movie since its June 20 release. The week of July 21-27, subscribers viewed the film a whopping 26.3 million times—a big number in our age of ever-more fragmented entertainment options.
The story revolves around a KPop band known in the film as Huntr/x. And the three young women in the group are curiously bi-vocational: They’re an incredibly popular Korean pop group and … they fight demons, which you can read more about in Kennedy Unthank’s review of the movie.
Given the movie’s huge viewership, it’s no surprise the accompanying soundtrack has surged to No. 1 on the ARIA album chart as well. And over on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, the empowerment anthem “Golden” has climbed to No. 2 in the U.S. and topped the charts in many other countries around the world.
Apart from a handful of words in Korean, the majority of the song is in English. And it doesn’t feel that far removed, really, from what we might find on Disney soundtracks from films such as Frozen or Moana. I got strong “Let It Go” and “How Far I’ll Go” vibes from those two films, respectively, listening to “Golden.”
Thematically, the song’s lyrics follow a very typical hero’s journey of sorts, from feeling like an outsider to embracing your true identity. “I was a ghost, I was alone,” the song begins. “I lived two lives, tried to play both sides/But I couldn’t find my own place,” the opening verse continues.
But all of that is over now, we hear in the song’s bridge and chorus: “I’m done hidin’/now I’m shinin’/Like I’m born to be.” Tearing a page from Disney’s “Wish Upon a Star” handbook, we then hear, “We’re dreamin’ hard, we came so far/Now I believe.”
Apart from a bit of dramatic tension in the first verse, the majority of the song unpacks those positive and empowering themes further: “We’re goin’ up, up, up/It’s our moment/You know together we’re glowing/Gonna be, gonna be golden.”
The second verse builds further upon the song’s foundation of self-discovery and self-confidence: “Waited so long to break these walls down/To wake up and feel like me/Put these patterns all in the past now/And finally live like the girl they all see.”
The first verse includes a couple of lines that we could describe as self-confidence bordering on narcissism: “Given the throne, I didn’t know how to believe (hah)/I was the queen that I’m meant to be.”
The film deals heavily with the subjects of shame and self-acceptance in the bigger context of a heroic battle against demonic enemies. And the uplifting lyrics in “Golden” mesh with those themes. The result is a positive, if rather generic, message to listeners to courageously embrace your true identity and calling.
And as messages in pop songs go these days, that one’s fairly redemptive—as long as the application of it doesn’t get too self-focused or off track spiritually.
After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.
