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Kim Eun-jae delivers “Golden” at BAFTAs amid nerves

8/14/2026

28 5 Full Breakdown

Summary

Kim Eun-jae Performs

Kim Eun-jae (singer) performed “Golden” at the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards, grew nervous when Leonardo DiCaprio (actor) sat in front of her, and cracked several high notes.
She said the BAFTAs haunt her because the pressure of performing before many celebrities heightened her anxiety.
A week later at the Brit Awards, fans’ cheers and the chant “Rumi, you got this!” helped calm her nerves.

Summary

Golden Wins Oscars

"Golden," written by Ejae and Mark Sonnenblick, became the first K-pop song to win an Oscar for Original Song and a Grammy for Song Written for Visual Media.
The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and earned the trio a Golden Globe.
Netflix’s “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” which logged over 325 million views, was ineligible for a BAFTA Best Animated Film nomination due to no theatrical release.

History

Historical Context

In July 2012 Psy released “Gangnam Style,” which became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion views on December 21 2012 and earned a 4th-Class Order of Cultural Merit and MTV Europe’s Best Video award. That viral surge paved the way for Korean artists like Kim Eun-jae, whose “Golden” captured an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe, showing the lasting impact of the 2012 K-pop breakout.

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Kim Eun-jae Performs

Kim Eun-jae (singer) performed “Golden” at the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards, grew nervous when Leonardo DiCaprio (actor) sat in front of her, and cracked several high notes.
She said the BAFTAs haunt her because the pressure of performing before many celebrities heightened her anxiety.
A week later at the Brit Awards, fans’ cheers and the chant “Rumi, you got this!” helped calm her nerves.

1 / 3