Ejae
Kim Eun-jae, known professionally as Ejae, is a South Korean and American singer, songwriter, and record producer.
A graduate of New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Kim started as a trainee for SM Entertainment in 2003 but did not officially debut as a soloist or music group member. She then transitioned into songwriting and producing and initially became known for her work with K-pop acts Red Velvet, Aespa, Twice, Le Sserafim, and other South Korean artists. This included co-writing the topline for "Psycho" for girl group Red Velvet, which went on to be certified gold in the US.
Kim had her international breakthrough in 2025 after providing the singing voice for Rumi in the Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters and co-writing several songs on its soundtrack. "Golden", one of the songs she co-performed and co-wrote for the film, topped the Billboard Hot 100 and other global music charts, and earned four Grammy Award nominations. It became the first K-pop song to win both a Grammy Award and Golden Globe Award, winning Best Song Written For Visual Media and Best Original Song, respectively. Kim released her debut solo single "In Another World" on October 24, 2025.
Early life and education
Kim was born in Seoul in 1991. When she was six months old, the family moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey, where she spent several years of her childhood. She studied at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where she received a BFA from Tisch's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in 2014.Career
Early years
At the age of 11, Kim started out as a trainee for SM Entertainment for almost 10 years beginning in 2003. However, approval for her debut did not happen, either with a group or as a soloist. In 2011, she took a break from training to finish her studies. By 2015, her contract ended and she was dropped from the label, bringing her idol training to an end.2016–2024: Songwriting and producing
After graduating from college, Kim transitioned to songwriting and producing. She met Andrew Choi, who became her mentor. Kim's songwriting "passion crystallized in 2017 when she attended her first SM Entertainment songwriting camp". Her first big break came when she co-wrote the topline for "Psycho" for Red Velvet, which went on to be certified gold in the US. It led to more opportunities to work with SM Entertainment. In 2019, she was featured on the soundtrack of the K-drama Woman of 9.9 Billion.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim co-wrote "Drama" for Aespa. She also helped co-produce the Girl Crush K-pop Vocals sample pack for producing K-pop songs. In 2022, she worked with Red Velvet again on the lead single "Birthday".
2025–present: ''KPop Demon Hunters'' and further success
In April 2025, it was announced that she would be featured on the soundtrack of the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters. She also wrote several of the songs on the soundtrack. Director Maggie Kang attributed Kim's demos as one of the reasons the film was greenlit; Kim explained she had co-written and recorded "most of the demos" for the film when the directors then asked her to be the official singing voice for the character Rumi. The film received positive reviews for its soundtrack. The soundtrack also charted at number two on the Billboard 200. One of the songs she co-wrote and performed, "Golden", topped the Billboard Hot 100. On "Golden" composition, Ars Technica commented that the song "spans an impressive three-octave range, eventually hitting an A-5 on the chorus–a high note usually reserved for classically trained operatic sopranos" and Kim's "performance on this song has impressed a lot of YouTube vocal coaches". The Korea Herald similarly highlighted Kim's "Golden" performance, noting "the result is both technically impressive and emotionally resonant, a combination that has resonated with audiences far beyond the film". On August 18, 2025, Billboard highlighted that songs from the film's soundtrack "claim four of the top five on the Billboard Global 200 chart" and that only "four elite albums", three by Taylor Swift and one by Drake, "have generated as many as four concurrent top five hits" on the Global 200 since the chart's debut in September 2020. Kim is credited on three of these charting songs; in addition to "Golden", Kim co-wrote and performed "How It's Done" and co-wrote "Your Idol". Kim noted she reached a high note of D6 during the adlib background vocals of "How It's Done".In July 2025, YouTube channel Studio USOG announced Kim will contribute a song to the "Another Day of Debut Training" project, with all profits being donated to descendants of Korean independence activists. On August 14, 2025, the group formed through the web series, TDYA, debuted with the song "Keep the Light" composed by Kim and performed the song for the first time the following day at Gwanghwamun Square in Jongno-gu, Seoul in a set of performances celebrating the 80th National Liberation Day of Korea.
On October 4, 2025, Kim announced her debut solo single, "In Another World," which was released on October 24. On the night of October 4, she along with her fellow KPop Demon Hunters cast-mates Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami made a cameo appearance on the season 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live in a sketch based on the film, reprising their respective roles as Rumi, Mira and Zoey. On October 7, they together performed "Golden" live in full for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On October 22, Kim signed with WME. She then featured on the single "Out of My Body" from the upcoming deluxe edition of Anyma's third studio album The End of Genesys, which was released on December 19. On December 25, she and the other voices of Huntrix performed "12 Days of Christmas" at the Snoop Dogg 2025 NFL Halftime Show.
In 2025, Kim signed with Prescription Songs, an independent music publisher.
Personal life
Kim is engaged to Sam Kim, a former music producer. Her grandfather is an actor and arts patron Shin Young-kyun. She is currently based in Brooklyn.Discography
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Soundtrack appearances
Production and songwriting credits
All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers databases, unless otherwise noted.indicates a background vocal contribution.
indicates a credited vocal/featured artist contribution.
| Year | Artist | Album | Song | Co-produced / written with | |
| 2016 | EXID | Street | "Hello" | Monster Factory, Made By, Park Yeong-hyeon | |
| 2017 | EXID | Eclipse | "Woo Yoo " | Monster Factory, MadeBy | |
| 2017 | Byul | Leaves | "Leaves" | Byul, Samuel Park, Kim Yeon-seo, Kim Min-ji, Andrew Choi | |
| 2018 | Suzy | Faces of Love | "SObeR" | Andrew Choi, Aaron Kim, Isaac Han | |
| 2018 | Babylon | CAELO | "Karma" | Ming Ji-syeon, Bae Sunghyun, Kim Jin, Jeong Da-un, JQ, THE QUIETT, Sendo, Park Ji-ho | |
| 2018 | Seo In-young | rowspan="3" | "Always" | Monster Factory, JION | |
| 2019 | Nana Mellie | "Goodbye" | Nana Mellie, Isaac Han, Aaron Kim | - | |
| 2019 | Discrete | "Trippin' Bout You" | Ellen Berg, Dennis DeKo Kordnejad, Discrete | - | |
| 2019 | Red Velvet | The ReVe Festival: Finale | "Psycho" | Andrew "Druski" Scott, Cazzi Opeia | |
| 2019 | Ejae | Woman of 9.9 Billion | "Take it Slow" | Sammy Hakim, Stephen Wolf | |
| 2020 | EUN | Dinner Mate Original Soundtrack | "Midnight Cinderella" | Andrew Choi, Ming Ji-syeon | |
| 2020 | Taeyeon | #GirlsSpkOut | "Sorrow" | Sakurai Sara, Ming Ji-syeon | |
| 2020 | Raymond J. Lee | Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts | "Ocean of Love" | Matthew Wang, Daniel Rojas | |
| 2021 | Chung Ha | Street Woman Fighter Special | "Bad Girl" | Czaer | |
| 2021 | Twice | Perfect World | "Pieces of Love" | Isaac Han, Albin Nordqvist, Walter Pok, Aaron Kim | |
| 2021 | Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | "Together" | Stanley Robinson, Gabe Reali, David Westbom | ||
| 2021 | Kim Na-young | Me | "Killing Me Softly" | Aaron Kim, Isaac Han, AND | |
| 2021 | Twice | Formula of Love: O+T=＜3 | "Last Waltz" | Lee Hae-sol, Sim Eun-jee | |
| 2021 | League of Legends | rowspan="2" | "Rebirth" | Matthew Carl Earl | |
| 2022 | Nada | "Bulletproof" | Nada, Bae Seong-hyeon, Jeong Se-hee, Lee Seul, Yeon Yu-jin, MSB, Brian U, Markalong, Charlotte Louise Jaye Wilson | - | |
| 2022 | Nmixx | Ad Mare | "O.O" | The Hub: Brian U, Enan, MarkAlong, Charlotte Wilson, Chanti, Awry, Ayushy, Jan Baars, Rajan Muse | |
| 2022 | Hyo | Deep | "Stupid" | Carlyle Fernandes, Chikk, Heber Nathaniel Martinez | |
| 2022 | Lightsum | Into the Light | "Good News" | Galactika: Atenna & Star Wars, Kim Hyun-joong | |
| 2022 | Kard | Re: | "Break Down" | BM, Isaac Han, Aaron Kim, J.seph, Somin, Jiwoo, Ghostchild | |
| 2022 | Twice | Celebrate | "Flow Like Waves" | Anna Timgren, Aaron Kim | |
| 2022 | Red Velvet | The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday | "Birthday" | Kole, Isaac Han, Aaron Kim, Ghostchild Ltd, Loosen Door | |
| 2023 | Billlie | The Billage of Perception: Chapter Three | "nevertheless" | GALACTIKA | |
| 2023 | Kard | Icky | "Icky" | J.seph, HAHM, BM | |
| 2023 | MiSaMo | Masterpiece | "Funny Valentine" | Momo, Yuka Matsumoto, Realmeee, Scott Bruzenak | |
| 2023 | Lightsum | Honey or Spice | "Not My Style" | Lee Hae-sol, Kyndyl Miller | |
| 2023 | Aespa | Drama | "Drama" | No Identity, Waker, Charlotte Wilson | |
| 2024 | Lim Kim | "Ult" | No Identity | ||
| 2024 | Kep1er | Kep1going | "Daisy" | Kole, Isaac Han, Aaron Kim, Ghostchild Ltd, Ashe Ahn | |
| 2024 | Madalen Duke, Kayla Diamond | "Bones" | Madalen Duke, Kayla Diamond, Sophie Curtis | ||
| 2024 | Fifty Fifty | Love Tune | "Starry Night" | Kole, Alawn | |
| 2024 | Aespa | Armageddon | "Armageddon" | No Identity, Sumin | |
| 2024 | Aespa | Whiplash | "Kill It" | Imlay, Kirsten Collins, Waker | |
| 2024 | MiSaMo | Haute Couture | "Baby, I'm Good" | Aaron Kim | |
| 2024 | Irene | Like a Flower | "Like a Flower" | Barney Cox, Joey Eighty, JC. Don, Elena Hoey | |
| 2025 | Le Sserafim | Hot | "So Cynical " | Vitals, Anthony Watts, Huh Yunjin, "Hitman" Bang, Hong Eun-chae, Kim Chaewon | |
| 2025 | Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami | KPop Demon Hunters | "How It's Done" | Daniel Rojas, Danny Chung, Mark Sonnenblick, 24, IDO, TEDDY | |
| 2025 | Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami | KPop Demon Hunters | "Golden" | Mark Sonnenblick, 24, IDO, TEDDY | |
| 2025 | Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, and samUIL Lee | KPop Demon Hunters | "Your Idol" | Mark Sonnenblick, Vince, KUSH, 24, IDO | |
| 2025 | Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami | KPop Demon Hunters | "What It Sounds Like" | Jenna Andrews, Stephen Kirk, Mark Sonnenblick, 24, IDO, TEDDY, Daniel Rojas | |
| 2025 | Ejae | KPop Demon Hunters | "Prologue " | Marcelo Zarvos, Mark Sonnenblick, Daniel Rojas | |
| 2025 | TDYA | "Keep the Light" | SOFTSERVEBOY, Ayushy, JSONG, Mirani, Joy Kim, Lee Jae Ni, Amy Y, LILA, Shico | ||
| 2025 | Nmixx | Blue Valentine | "O.O Part 2 " | Brian U, MarkAlong, Charlotte Wilson | |
| 2025 | Twice | Ten: The Story Goes On | "ATM" | JT Roach, Timothy "Bos" Bullock, Mikhail Miller | |
| 2025 | Ejae | "In Another World" | Breagh Isabel, Ted Andreville, Vitals, Daniel Rojas |