Billboard Family

While the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack contains three previously released songs, the true outlier is “Path,” an airy, lightly swaying bit of early ‘70s psych-pop from the Asian band Jokers. “Path” is a lovely deviation from the full-throttle K-pop on the rest of the soundtrack, although the song serves as more of a change-up in aesthetic than a highlight of the project.

The instrumental closer to KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is slightly Real KPDH Heads Only, but it’s still a sweeping and transportive three minutes of orchestral strings, pounding drums and “Bring Me to Life”-esque piano. It’s an invigorating and cinematic enough listen that it might just inspire you to play back the whole set over again.

As opposed to the TWICE version of “Takedown,” the HUNTR/X rendition that appears in the film carries a greater narrative weight — a line like “When your patterns start to show / It makes the hatred wanna grow out of my veins,” for instance, hits harder because the character of Rumi is the one singing it while trying to hide her own patterns. Both versions of “Takedown” sizzle with trap-drum urgency, though — creating a rap-inflected diss track for a family-friendly animated film must have been a difficult tightrope to walk, but “Takedown” works in multiple contexts.

Still the song (as of publishing — though perhaps not for that much longer) on the Demon Hunters soundtrack with the most Spotify plays is South Korean duo’s MeloMance’s sweet city pop-indebted “Love, Maybe,” previously familiar for its usage in the hit 2022 rom-com series Business Proposal. In Demon Hunters, its smooth electric piano and syrupy vocals make perfect sense as the sentimental soundtrack to Rumi locking eyes with Jinu for the first time — and then taking a comedic slow-motion spill as he lightly bumps into her while passing by.

As the unofficial ambassadors from the IRL K-pop world to the Demon Hunters-verse, it was only right that one of superstar girl group TWICE’s better original numbers be included on the soundtrack. “Strategy” doesn’t play a particularly integral role in the movie or its plot, but its broken-down romantic plotting over its Neptunes-reminiscent clang-and-shuffle beat fits right in the OST — irresistible enough that you don’t even particularly miss the excised Megan Thee Stallion verse.

To introduce Saja Boys as the out-of-nowhere competition to HUNTR/X, the film needed a song unapologetically catchy enough to sound like an instant smash, and scored with “Soda Pop.” Complete with a fast-paced beat, smooth-like-butter vocals and even a TikTok-ready sound effect, the song is as immediately refreshing as a can being clicked open and fizzing, while also making Saja Boys’ dreamy appeal immediately clear. Yet compared to the best HUNTR/X songs, which are rooted in real emotion, “Soda Pop” can’t help but lose a bit of its flavor.

Kicking off the soundtrack with its version of HUNTR/X’s diss take aimed at Saja Boys, TWICE provides an authentic pop-star sheen to “Takedown” that turns the aggressive lyricism slightly more elegant, and ultimately more satisfying than the film version. In particular, Chaeyoung absolutely shines on the second verse: “It’s a takedown, I’ma take you out, you break down like, ‘What?’” she raps, snarling through every syllable. Although their original track “Strategy” also appears on the soundtrack, “Takedown” is a more effective gateway to TWICE’s overall appeal for unfamiliar listeners.

In the tradition of recent Disney ballads like “Let It Go” and “How Far I’ll Go,” “What It Sounds Like” functions as a turning point through the main character’s moment of realization — swelling in stature after a sparse beginning, and reaching a climax that redefines its greater context. The key difference is that, after Rumi starts the song by shedding her insecurities, her HUNTR/X group mates join her, their voices coming together to proclaim, “The song we couldn’t write, this is what it sounds like.” The result is a powerful riff on a well-used template, as the trio’s collective and individual journeys reaches a culmination with a galloping pace and lump-in-throat emotion.

Opening a movie about a global K-pop girl group with a hit that recalls BLACKPINK’s world-conquering aesthetic was brilliant: the hard-hitting production on “How It’s Done” perfectly supports its various movements, from rap to three-part harmony to even a touch of spoken-word. (The latter part underscores how, despite being pop stars and demon hunters, HUNTR/X are also just girls…for the most part: “Heels, nails, blade, mascara/ Fit check for my napalm era”.) “How It’s Done” is not only the perfect introduction to the individual strengths of the three members of HUNTR/X – Rumi’s soaring vocals, Mira’s choreography and cool factor, and Zoe’s raps and lyrics – but instantly amps up viewers for all that’s to come.

In the story of KPop Demon Hunters, “Your Idol” has been designated as the “villain song”: the mask is fully off Saja Boys by the time they perform it at a stadium show that’s literally soul-sucking, and the five members of the demon boy band spend the track convincing their listeners that being evil is a hell of a ride. That gleefulness is part of why “Your Idol” has become a surprise smash off the soundtrack, but the song also carries an intoxicating edge to it — this quintet is a collection of bad boys, after all, and Saja Boys have devilish fun offering their audience a sense of danger.

The only traditional musical number in KPop Demon Hunters — Rumi and Jinu don’t sing “Free” onstage or as part of their respective pop groups’ catalogs, but just as emotional spillover moments where what they’re feeling about themselves and for each other is too intense not to express in song. Luckily, “Free” justifies the outpouring: EJAE and Andrew Choi’s voices intertwine beautifully on an overpowering chorus that packs all the release you could ask for from a song about letting go, and the result feels halfway between The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s “Closer” and Aladdin’s “A Whole New World.”

The song that’s positioned as a pop smash in the film has rightly become the same thing in the real world. “Golden,” which acts as a throughline for the film’s underlying message of embracing all parts of yourself, is rich with lyrical meaning, about battling the literal demons in the movie and the less tangible ones in life. The genius of “Golden,” however, is spreading that substantial message through unassailable pop style, with gargantuan melodies that are delivered through arena-worthy vocal performances. The takeaway of the film is tightly packaged within a three-minute pop song, and after being teased throughout KPop Demon Hunters, the full song is finally delivered. It was well worth the wait.