Saturday Night Live season 51 is off to a “Golden” start.
EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna, who voice the characters of Rumi, Zoey and Mira in the hit Netflix and Sony Animation movie KPop Demon Hunters, made a surprise appearance during an SNL skit in the season 51 premiere. The short performance as part of a brunch-themed KPop Demon Hunters sketch marks the first-ever live performance of the song by the three women.
The ladies of Huntrix are set to make their first official and full-length performance of the song during Tuesday’s episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. They’ll also be interviewed together. The news was announced last week, showing Fallon receiving a special invitation from some familiar faces for fans of KPop Demon Hunters.
The animated feature has become Netflix’s most popular title ever. The project — which chronicles the adventures of Huntrix, a K-pop girl group comprised of three members who just happen to also fight monsters from the underworld — has been a surprise hit for the streamer, and its soundtrack has spent several weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart. THR has confirmed that a sequel film is in talks at Netflix and Sony Animation.
In August, Huntrix ended Alex Warren’s long-running No. 1 streak to take the top spot on the chart. After a flip-flop the following week, the song returned to No. 1, where it remains. Two other songs from the film are in the top 10 of the Hot 100. “Your Idol” and “Soda Pop,” sung by the film’s fictional boy group Saja Boys, sit at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. Six other songs from soundtrack, including Twice’s “Strategy,” are also charting on the Hot 100.
Following the appearance, EJAE, who also served one of the film’s key songwriters, announced her debut solo single, “In Another World,” which is set to be released on Oct. 24. “I’m so humbled and grateful for the love I’ve received as a songwriter and the singing voice of Rumi from KPop Demon Hunters. Getting so much exposure so quickly has been strange, exciting, and truthfully a little scary,” she said in an Instagram post announcing the song.
“People keep referring to me as an ‘artist’ or a ‘star’ — which is everything 11-year-old EJAE dreamed of, but over the years, I became comfortable behind the scenes and I didn’t think I was meant to be an artist,” she continued. “Writing this song helped me through a hard time, and I hope that sharing it can help others too.”
See the surprise KPop Demon Hunters cameo on the SNL season 51 premiere below.