EJAE Opens Up About Trainee Struggles and Global Fame of ‘Golden’

By Jieun, Baek

Oct 23, 2025

EJAE Opens Up About Trainee Struggles and Global Fame of ‘Golden’



Lee Jae, who wrote a global syndrome with the Netflix animation 'K-pop Demon Hunters (hereinafter referred to as K-Pop)', revealed the behind-the-scenes story.

On tvN 'You Quiz on the Block (hereinafter referred to as You Quiz), which aired on the 22nd, Lee Jae, who made and sang 'Kedeheon' OST 'Golden', appeared as a guest.

'Golden' has been gaining worldwide popularity, topping Billboard's main singles chart 'Hot100' for eight consecutive weeks. In addition, Lee Jae participated in producing the OST of the peak popular 'Kedeheon', including 'How It's Dawn' (composed song), 'Takedown' (arranged song), and 'Your Idol' (arranged song).




In response, Cho Se-ho expressed his curiosity, saying, `Many people say that the accumulated copyright fees are as much as KRW 45.6 billion, which is the prize money of the 'Squid Game.' In response, Jae-jae "I didn't know. Copyright fees come in late in the United States. It takes a year."

EJAE Opens Up About Trainee Struggles and Global Fame of ‘Golden’
Lee Jae has 12 years of experience as a trainee at SM Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as SM). The first thing that came to mind when we topped Billboard 'Hot100' with 'Golden' was the moment we were trainees. Lee Jae is the same student as SHINee f(x) of Super Junior Girls' Generation. I started my trainee career at 11 years old, I went at 7 a.m. and left the practice room at 11 p.m. practice at the age of 13 There were times when I fainted. But I didn't make my debut. I didn't think well with SM. SM wanted a clean voice, but I didn't and I was old enough to debut."

He "I learned at an early age that I shouldn't work hard."I woke up after sleeping and crying for a month. There was a lot of resentment towards idols. But the music was good. I saw a genre other than K-pop. The music raised me up. Watching YouTube and learning, I kept making beats and working on some OSTs. Sinsa-dong Horang played the beat to the studio and said it was okay. After that, I heard that Hani from EXID will sing it. There were SM composers, so I went to SM Song Camp. Red Velvet 'Psycho' was the first song camp song, and also made espa 'drama'Armageddon'", he explained.








silk781220@sportschosun.com