^{Credit: KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix, Sony Pictures Animation)}

KPop Demon Hunters has scored five Grammy nominations, including Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. “Golden” (performed by Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami/written by Ejae and Mark Sonnenblick) is up for Best Remixed Recording, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Best Song Written for Visual Media. Most notably, “Golden” was nominated for Song of the Year. This isn’t a huge surprise, considering how “Golden” has dominated the charts and pop culture for months. If you follow trends at the Grammys, though, you know that “Golden” getting into Best Song is a big deal. Up until now, tunes from animated films have gone overlooked in the Song of the Year category for almost thirty years. This wasn’t always the case.

In 1988, Song of the Year went to “Somewhere Out There” from An American Tail. In the context of the film, the song is shared between separated siblings Fievel and Tanya. It was the pop duet between Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram that won the Grammy, however. After that, pop covers became a staple of animated films. The titular tune from Beauty and the Beast was nominated in 1993. It lost to Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven,” but only a year later, “A Whole New World” from Aladdin took home Song of the Year. When I interviewed Alan Menken for my books, Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows, he said, “My biggest shockaroo was winning Grammy Song of the Year for ‘A Whole New World.’”

Menken recounted, “We went to the Grammys, and we were up against Billy Joel for ‘River of Dreams,’ against Neil Young for ‘Harvest Moon’… and all those songs were being performed. They chose not to have ‘A Whole New World’ performed. So, it seemed pretty clear that nobody expected it to win. I remember on one station break, the man who was head of NARAS at the time came up to me, profusely apologizing for the song not having been performed on the telecast.” The nature of the apology confused Menken until he put two and two together. “A Whole New World” was the winner.

The Recording Academy subsequently decided that going forward, a review committee would determine the nominees for the “Big Four” categories, Song of the Year included. The lack of hip-hop and alternative artists was among the controversies that brought about this change, but Menken believes his surprise win was another factor. “What they said was, ‘From now on, we don’t want the whole NARAS membership voting on their five top songs of the year,’” Menken recalled. “We want to have a committee of twenty-five music industry experts who will decide.” Stephen Schwartz added, “The awards kept changing the rules to keep Alan from constantly winning is basically what happened.”

At first, it didn’t seem like this would hurt animation’s chances of seeing more songs nominated at the Grammys. In 1995, The Lion King got two nominations in Song of the Year for “Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” Both lost to Bruce Springsteen’s "Streets of Philadelphia.” After that, though, no songs from animated features were even nominated in this category until “Golden” this year. Over the past three decades, several tunes from animated projections have won Best Song Written for Visual Media. “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas, “I See the Light” from Tangled, and “Let It Go” from Frozen are a few examples, but even those earworms couldn’t get nominated for Song of the Year.

Animated characters have had an even harder time breaking into Record of the Year. As Billboard.com pointed out, "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is the only animated act to get nominated in this category. Technically, Alvin and the Chipmunks had yet to make their animated debut when David Seville, aka Ross Bagdasarian, got nominated for his novelty song. Still, it’s not like the Chipmunks were ever live-action characters (even in their live-action movies). “Golden” was submitted for Record of the Year, but it wasn’t nominated. Album of the Year hasn’t been very animation-friendly either, although Beauty and the Beast was nominated.

In 2021, the Grammys officially put an end to the review committee nominating system. Even then, they failed to nominate the inescapable "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto for Song of the Year. Songs from live-action films have had better luck. In 2024, "What Was I Made For?” from Barbie brought Billie Eilish yet another Song of the Year Grammy. “Golden” will compete against Eilish’s “Wildflower,” along with “Abracadabra” (Lady Gaga), “Anxiety” (Doechii), “APT.” (Rosé, Bruno Mars), “DtMF” (Bad Bunny), “Luther” (Kendrick Lamar with SZA), and “Manchild” (Sabrina Carpenter) for Song of the Year. 

^{Credit: KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix, Sony Pictures Animation)}

Even if “Golden” doesn’t take Song of the Year, it stands a strong shot at winning Best Song Written for Visual Media where it’s nominated against “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” from Tron: Ares, “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late, and three songs from Sinners: “I Lied to You,” “Pale, Pale Moon,” and “Sinners.” The Sinners songs may provide some competition, although they could split votes. “Golden” is also the only nominee in this category that’s up for Song of the Year. Funny how KPop Demon Hunters and Sinners both center on music being used to battle demons.

Sinners will likely be KPop Demon Hunters’ most formidable opponent in Best Original Song come Oscar time. Either that or one of the two songs from Wicked: For Good. The Wicked sequel isn’t eligible for Grammy consideration this year, but the first film was. Wicked and Sinners both got nominated for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (Includes Film and Television) along with How to Train Your Dragon, Severance: Season 2, and The Wild Robot, but KPop Demon Hunters got left out. KPDH, Sinners, and Wicked all got into Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media with A Complete Unknown and F1. “Golden” will also compete against “Defying Gravity” from Wicked in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. That category’s other nominees include “30 for 30” (SZA with Kendrick Lamar), “Gabriela” (Katseye), and “APT.” (Rosé, Bruno Mars).

Speaking of Rosé, she’s also a K-pop artist. In the past, BTS was the only K-pop group to be nominated for a Grammy. Even they didn’t get into Song of the Year. Between “Golden” and “APT.,” K-pop has finally broken through in this category. Rosé and the Huntr/x trio are the first female K-pop artists to be nominated in any Grammy category, along with girl group Katseye. If “Golden” can go all the way, it’ll not only be the first Song of the Year winner from an animated film since Aladdin, but it’ll be the category’s first K-pop winner. At the very least, it would be great to see “Golden” performed on the Grammy telecast. It’d be more than “A Whole New World” got. 

The 68th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 1, 2026.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!