‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Star Reveals Leonardo DiCaprio Left Her ‘Put Off’ During BAFTAs Performance

KPop Demon Hunters may have had a golden awards season run, but there’s one performance that Ejae says still plays on her mind to this day.

The 34-year-old singer — who served as the singing voice of Rumi in KPop Demon Hunters, one-third of the fictional K-pop girl group HUNTR/X — looked back on her performance at the BAFTAs earlier this year in a new interview with The Times, where she said one major movie star nearly threw her off her game.

“The BAFTAs haunt me,” Ejae said of performing “Golden” alongside castmates Audrey Nuna and REI AMI during the awards show in February. “I made mistakes. I cracked a little bit on the high notes. Leonardo DiCaprio was [in the audience] right in front of me, and he was not smiling.”

The singer, who ultimately won an Oscar for co-writing “Golden,” recalled looking directly at the One Battle After Another actor, 51, as she sang the words “born to be,” one of the song’s highest notes.

“That’s what put me off,” she continued. “He made me so nervous. It was already so nerve-racking to be in front of all these celebrities, and then I look up and lock eyes with Leonardo DiCaprio? Come on.”

Her nerves did improve as awards season progressed, however, with Ejae telling the outlet that she felt less nervous when she performed at the Brit Awards the following week.

“Because it was performing to fans, kids being like ‘Rumi, you got this!'” Ejae explained. “I never knew that sentence would be so heartwarming and helpful.”

The song not only proved to be an international hit, spending eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, but “Golden” also earned the trio a Grammy and a Golden Globe.

The success of the Netflix animated film has also given Ejae the chance to rub shoulders with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Elsewhere in the interview, she reflected on meeting Jay-Z and Beyoncé at their annual “Gold Party” following the 2026 Academy Awards.

“I was at their afterparty, and Jay-Z came up to me and said, ‘Hi, my name’s Shawn,'” she remembered. “I was beyond starstruck. Beyoncé is my idol, and she said, ‘You have an incredible voice.'”

Having the music legend not only acknowledge her but pay her a compliment was a moment that Ejae said left her stunned.

“I asked her, ‘Do you know “Golden”?’ She was like, ‘Yeah, my girls sing it,'” Ejae shared. “And her daughter’s name is Rumi.”