MANILA, Philippines – K-Pop Demon Hunters is a high-octane animated film that uses music as armor and weapon. We follow HUNTR/X, a fierce K-pop girl group-slash-demon slayers, as they clash with their rivals — the charming but sinister Saja Boys — both on stage and in battle, confronting fandom, identity, and the demons that threaten their world.
Here we offer a track-by-track breakdown of the KPDH soundtrack, comparing each original song to K-pop hits that share similar moods, aesthetics, or concepts — from performance anthems and girl crush power tracks to bubblegum pop, haunting B-sides, and wistful ballads.
These sonic parallels don’t just echo familiar sounds; they help shape the film’s narrative arc, establishing tone, building the world, and even foreshadowing key story beats.
‘How It’s Done’ – HUNTR/X
The opening track is lightning and precision; an anthem of arrival. It introduces HUNTR/X as fierce and confident.
“It had to have that energy, it had to set up a unique sonic world for these three girls and how they sing together, and it also had to be a banging opening number that everyone just was drawn into,” producer Ian Eisendrath explains to Netflix.
With its aggressive trap beat, industrial flourishes, chant-like delivery, and brash charisma, “How It’s Done” unmistakably resembles the “Blackpink formula” — a now-iconic sound shaped by producer TEDDY (who also worked on the soundtrack): sparse, beat-heavy verses that escalate into explosive, layered choruses. Think “DDU-DU DDU-DU,” “The Girls,” or Lisa’s “LALISA.”
This isn’t criticism. The girl crush concept has become a staple for a reason — it’s confidence as armor, power with polish. That makes it perfect for an opening number — especially one that must project unity, force, and theatrical appeal. HUNTR/X is here to dominate, a sentiment echoed in the declarative tones of ITZY’s “Born to Be” or aespa’s “Armageddon.”
Like TWICE’s “ICON,” EVERGLOW’s “Dun Dun,” or XG’s “Woke Up,” “How It’s Done” thrives in the intersection between empowerment and performance, attitude and aesthetic.
‘Soda Pop’ – Saja Boys
If “How It’s Done” is very BLACKPINK, then “Soda Pop” is very TXT. The Saja Boys make their entrance with this addictive track that’s all pop and fizz on the surface, but laced with danger underneath. The demons “decide to masquerade as a K-pop boy group, and just be the most appealing, innocent, charming people that have ever been seen performing a K-pop song,” Eisendrath explains in the same interview with Netflix — but the lyrics hint at the Saja Boys’ sinister intent.
Sonically, “Soda Pop” resembles The Boyz’s “Lip Gloss” in arrangement — chirpy melodies, bubbly bass lines, smooth falsettos — but its overall feel aligns more closely with TXT’s “Drama” or “Blue Hour.” Both balance brightness with shadows, presenting fresh, youthful concepts paired with lyrics that hint at isolation, yearning, or melancholy. This is a common TXT motif: bright, upbeat production masking sadder, darker emotional undercurrents. That duality matches the Saja Boys’ narrative deception well.
For this song, fans have also pointed to IVE’s “Not Your Girl.” A girl group being on here demonstrates a broader shift within the larger K-pop scene. Where girl groups once leaned cutesy and boy groups leaned tough, the script has flipped: girl groups go edgy, while boy groups embrace vulnerability and softness. “Soda Pop” is a boy group bop cloaked in innocence — and that gives it teeth.
A Tagalog version of “Soda Pop” was also released, which softens the edges of the original track. While the English lyrics carry a sly, even predatory undertone beneath the sweetness, the Tagalog lines come across as more playful and earnest.
Rather than revealing the Saja Boys’ true nature, the Tagalog version leans more into the illusion, disarming you further. It reminds that language, like music, can shape how we hear intent — or overlook it entirely.
Additional tracks in the same glittering register include ”ASTRO’s “Candy Sugar Pop” and “Breathless,” TXT’s “Poppin’ Star,” NCT Dream’s “Boom,” NCT 127’s “Replay (PM 1:27),” and SHINee’s “View.” IZ*ONE’s “Panorama” — if reimagined by a boy group — also fits right in.
‘Golden’ – HUNTR/X
“Golden” gleams with synths and soaring vocals, its melody open and unguarded. It’s a declaration of belief, in themselves, and in each other.
“In a traditional film musical structure, this is the ‘I want’ song,” Eisendrath told Netflix. “The whole point is, ‘It’s all going to be golden. We want to fulfill our destiny.’”
IVE’s “I Am” and “Rebel Heart” immediately come to mind. These tracks are triumphant but emotionally complex. BTS’s “Mikrokosmos” and Taeyeon’s “Spark” also resonate, mapping self-discovery through celestial metaphor. “Golden” is sonically uplifting — it floats and shines. It suggests, not quite victory yet, but potential.
But also, because it’s soaring, open and unguarded, it leaves Rumi vulnerable: “In the middle of the song is this bridge, [with] Rumi alone in her dressing room,” Eisendrath says. “Suddenly the song goes from being this inspirational pop to totally sotto voce… a little bit darker.”
Like EVERGLOW’s “La Di Da,” there’s an optimism here that’s grounded in resolve. It’s not naïve; it shines with the conviction that they’re going to make it, that their victory is just within reach.
‘Takedown’ – HUNTR/X
If “How It’s Done” is an entrance, “Takedown” is an explosion. This is a diss track — sharp and venomous, fueled by hate and rage. The idea, according to Eisendrath, is that it’s “going to scare away, intimidate, and drive away the demons.” But it’s complicated by Rumi’s (who is half-demon) internal struggle — she can’t bring herself to perform it as written.
Musically, it recalls BLACKPINK’s “How You Like That” and DREAMCATCHER’s “Scream,” songs that channel female rage through grand, maximalist arrangements. But there’s also a critique here. Where the girl crush concept once symbolized empowerment, there’s now room to question whether these anthems uplift all women — or can potentially be used to punish vulnerability, difference, or traditional femininity.
This tension comes to a head when the demons masquerading as Mira and Zoey sing the lyrics to Rumi. With their unflinching, even gleeful delivery, coupled with Rumi’s anguish, the track becomes more than a diss — it begs the question of who gets to wield rage, and what happens when that rage is turned inward.
Aggressive sonic companions include EVERGLOW’s “First,” 4MINUTE’s “Crazy,” LOONA’s “Paint the Town,” and K/DA’s “MORE” (though technically not K-pop).
‘Your Idol’ – Saja Boys
With “Your Idol,” the mask has come off. This is the Saja Boys at their most powerful — dangerous, seductive, and unapologetically dominant.
“By now, they have so much power over [their fans] that they come out and say it. ‘I’m going to be your idol. I’m going to be in charge of you. I’m going to rule you. You are no longer powerful. You are powerless,’” Eisendrath explained to Netflix.
ATEEZ’s fingerprints are all over this track — “Deja Vu,” “Halazia,” “Cyberpunk,” “Answer.” Their sound is militant, symphonic, and mythic, often evoking apocalypse. But we have TXT in there too, especially their later tracks like “Frost” and “Good Boy Gone Bad.” As TXT matured, so too did their sound — the pop polish peeled away and the themes leaned further into existentialism and chaos, which echo their lore, riddled with deals with the devil and shattered innocence.
Lyrically, “Your Idol” weaponizes fandom; the song is both a love letter and a threat. The performance turns fan worship into control. Like Stray Kids’ “MANIAC” or “Red Lights,” or SHINee’s “Lucifer,” it’s hypnotic, oppressive, and deathly catchy.
Expanding on that seductive menace, other entries in this darker, theatrical realm include Kang Daniel’s “Paranoia,” PENTAGON’s “Dr. BeBe,” and ENHYPEN’s “Bite Me” — all songs that explore themes of power, control, and vulnerability, often blurring the line between devotion and domination.
“Free” – Rumi and Jinu
Tender and intimate, “Free” is a moment of stillness within KPDH’s sonic world. Rumi and Jinu sing to one another, not as idols, not as demons, but as people who want more.
“There are great walls between them and the whole thing is, ‘What would it be like if we could be together and free? Because right now, we’re not,’” Eisendrath says.
This is classic duet territory. Think Taemin and Taeyeon’s “If I Could Tell You,” or Key and Taeyeon’s “Hate That” — tracks that hinge on restraint, emotional transparency, and vocal chemistry. The song’s delicate instrumentation mirrors their vulnerability. The ballad crescendos, but never overwhelms.
BTS’s “Butterfly” and “Let Me Know,” Jero and Jamie’s “Save Me,” and Bernard Park and Luna’s “Still” all circle around that same emotional territory: soft ache, fragile hope. As Rumi and Jinu hatch an impossible plot — to destroy the demon within themselves — the song becomes a lullaby, to put that dream gently to sleep…
‘What It Sounds Like’ – HUNTR/X
This is the film’s emotional climax. What begins as a solo cry from Rumi swells into a shared anthem — HUNTR/X joins her, then the crowd, then finally, the soundscape itself. Rumi decides to destroy the honmoon, deconstructing that demon versus human divide, “and acknowledge the fact that we’re all unique, that we’re all individuals, and get to be individuals,” Eisendrath explains. “That is what creates harmony.”
The line “This is what it sounds like” is the heart of the track. The melody resolves on a stable note, grounding the chaos in something that feels restorative and true. It mirrors the group’s restoration of the honmoon, through song. It’s reminiscent of how the “I can make it right” line’s melody in BTS’s “Make It Right” resolves by underscoring its lyrics. Rumi’s desperate refrain of “I can fix it!” — I can make it right — has finally come true.
Sonically, IVE feat. Saweetie’s “All Night” is its closest twin, while IU’s “Love Poem” and Red Velvet’s “LP” share its tenderness. But the song never loses its urgency. It builds into a moment of becoming. That’s what it sounds like.
K-Pop Demon Hunters isn’t just a stylish action flick — it’s a love letter to the genre that powers it. By threading its soundtrack with echoes of real-world K-pop hits, the film doesn’t just reference the industry, it interrogates it; and these sonic parallels don’t just reward fans, they deepen the story’s emotional resonance and highlight the relationship between identity, performance, and power. In this world, music is a weapon; a shield; a promise of something more. – Rappler.com
Content shared from www.rappler.com.