What Makes KPop Demon Hunters a Cross-Cultural Sensation

Teen girls hang out on a street corner, glasses clinking, as a convoy of police cars passes by in the distance. “That’s a perfect ending, everybody! Oh wait… we’re not in Canada anymore,” yells Rumi, main character of the Netflix Original KPop Demon Hunters, as the camera zooms out from the group’s Snapchat story to the fantastical scene. The animated film, which hit the streaming giant’s catalogue in June, tells the story of three Korean pop idols who fight dark creatures. The Korean-American production has become a global hit and a social media sensation among the general public and K-pop fans alike, in many ways living up to its ‘Demon Hunter’ title.

Fast fact-tracking to current times and, two weeks after its premiere, KPop Demon Hunters had become Netflix’s most-watched title worldwide, with over 33 million hours streamed globally. It ranked in the service’s global top 10 in 93 countries and is currently no. 2 overall. Fans have already started creating fan art, while requests for season two mount up online daily.

Unsurprisingly, the film’s success has bled into real-world charts as well. Since 20 June, when the film premiered, the two fictional bands at its centre — Huntr/x, an all-female group of righteous “Demon Hunters” and their mischievous nemesis, Saja Boys — have risen on the real-world music charts faster than even the industry’s heavyweights BTS and Blackpink. Seven of the movie’s songs have hit the Billboard Hot 100, and on Spotify’s US chart, Saja Boys and Huntr/x occupy the coveted first and second positions in the Top Songs section. Achieving such success as a fictional group of singers is extremely rare.

Fantasy Adventure with K-Pop Icons

Huntr/x’s trio of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey has it all — global fame as pop stars and a secret life battling supernatural monsters. They battle it out against the notorious Saja Boys, both on stage and off. Between dazzling performance numbers, slick fight scenes, and themes of friendship, trust, and self-acceptance, KPop Demon Hunters throws a glitzy slice of Korean culture at its viewers.

Plot spoilers: This superhero fantasy adventure is overflowing with energy, and the perfect introduction to K-pop for people of all ages. Bursting with colour and fantasy action, there is a lot of material for both casual viewers and K-pop fans. On the cultural authenticity front, the Korean parts were appreciated for both their attention to detail and lack of stereotypes.

Director Maggie Kang, who is Korean-Canadian, said she was inspired by the K-pop idols she grew up following. In the film, the music idols are also superheroes, able to vanquish forces of darkness with their music and skill. The fantasy and mystery elements play a natural role in the film, and the dialogue and song lyrics are included in the script organically so as not to interrupt the action. “It gives the film a surprising level of maturity,” says Lashai Ben Salmi, founder and president of the Paris-based Aegis Community, which works on Korean culture and co-productions in Europe.

Veteran director Chris Appelhans said the music is one of KPop Demon Hunters’ key elements. For the original soundtrack, he and Maggie worked with some of the biggest names in the industry: Teddy Park, the acclaimed songwriter and producer behind the music of BLACKPINK, as well as Grammy-winning producer Lindgren, who has produced tracks for BTS and TWICE. For the film, Teddy Park and Lindgren produced original songs, which they said could be mistaken for real K-pop music. Their songs for the film are described as pounding EDM with a touch of hip-hop and boyband vocal harmonies.

Film connects to culture with a Korean soundtrack.

On top of creating songs that fit within K-pop’s vast soundscape, filmmakers also wanted a Korean soundtrack, including many other K-pop hits. Some were in the background, as the characters drove through Seoul and worked out in the gym. Others were part of the overall experience, such as the electronic techno tune that plays in Kpop Dance Battle.

Netflix has not yet released an official soundtrack or song list, but director Chris Appelhans said that more than 30 K-pop songs were woven into the movie. The soundtrack runs the gamut from BTS to BLACKPINK and everything in between. Amanda Golka, a Los Angeles-based content creator, told DW that she is not a K-pop follower. “I have been blasting the soundtrack from Spotify every time I’m in the car, and it’s fascinating how music can be such a universal language,” she said.

Maggie and Chris visited Korea a few times, said Golka, to take in the details. They visited folk villages and other historic sites, photographed streets in Myeongdong, and took in fashion trends such as traditional clothing. For the animation, although they speak English in the end product, “all of the lip movements were synced with Korean pronunciation”, and the expressions are “definitely Korean in their over-reactions,” Golka wrote.

There are Korean words and lyrics in certain scenes. Some of the details appear subtle: traditional table and eating customs, a restaurant setting ,and everyday places, such as the ancient city walls in Seoul, historic Hanuiwon clinics and public bathhouses, and Namsan Tower. “It’s thoughtful, and it goes beyond tired stereotypes. For Korean viewers, I think it was a pleasure to see a film where we were represented in such a respectful and authentic way,” Golka wrote.