In one of the most emotional moments of the 2026 Golden Globes, singer-songwriter EJAE fought back tears as she accepted the award for Best Original Song, making history as the first Korean-American singer to win a Golden Globe in the category.

Her victory for "Golden" from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters came more than a decade after she was rejected by the Kpop industry that once told her she wasn't good enough.

"When I was a little girl, I worked tirelessly for 10 years to fulfill one dream, to become a Kpop idol, and I was rejected and disappointed that my voice wasn't good enough," EJAE said during her acceptance speech at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday night. "So I leaned on songs and music to get through it. So now I'm here as a singer and a songwriter."

The 33-year-old artist, born Kim Eun-jae, spent nearly a decade training at SM Entertainment beginning in 2003 when she was just 11 years old. She trained alongside future members of Girls’ Generation, SHINee and f(x), but was never selected to debut in any group nor considered for a solo career. After being dropped from the company around 2014-2015, she moved to the United States and enrolled at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Rather than giving up on music entirely, EJAE pivoted to songwriting. Her breakthrough came in 2019 when she co-wrote Red Velvet’s massive hit "

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