'KPop Demon Hunters': Inside the music behind the Netflix hit

Here & Now Anytime

NPR

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Golden Globes are this weekend, and the hit movie KPop Demon Hunters is up for three awards, including one for best original song. The movie has become a global sensation for Netflix in part because of its catchy soundtrack. Ian Eisendrath is the man behind the music. As executive music producer of the film, he worked from the story's conception to make the music stand out and tell a story. Eisendrath talks about working with top K-pop performers and producers to create the film's history-making, chart topping soundtrack.

And, America's Test Kitchen's senior book editor Joe Gitter shares his advice and tips for how to make and experience excellent mocktails for Dry January.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This week, Unconsider This, the deadly ice shootings in Minneapolis.
0:05.5	That city's police chief told us he was already concerned with how federal agents were doing their jobs.
0:10.9	Truly, the matter how this enforcement action is being conducted.
0:16.2	An immigration crackdown gone wrong on Consider This.
0:20.0	Listen every weekday afternoon on the NPR app or wherever
0:22.7	you get your podcasts. WBUR Podcasts, Boston. The point is that this is what truth and authenticity
0:32.8	sounds like. And it needed to be a song that could build, build, build into a giant demon
0:41.6	battle and culminate with the entire stadium singing together. How to write a mega hit with the
0:48.4	musician behind K-pop demon hunters. Demon Hunters.
1:05.6	It's Friday, January 9th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston.
1:06.4	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:09.7	It's been a tumultuous week in the news.
1:13.2	You'd be forgiven for wanting a break over the weekend.
1:16.7	If you need to get caught up, go back and listen to our previous four episodes,
1:20.7	all about Venezuela, the legacy of the Capitol riots, and the ice shooting in Minnesota.
1:29.6	But today on the show, we're answering a burning question that I know many of you have been
1:36.2	wondering.
1:37.5	What makes the music in K-pop Demon Hunters so damn catchy?
1:47.3	We'll talk with the film's music producer ahead at the Golden Globes this weekend.
1:52.3	And after that, mocktails should be more than just expensive fruit juice.
1:59.0	We asked an expert bartender how to capture the spirit of our favorite drinks,
2:04.3	sans the spirits themselves.
	...

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