Ejae

Kim was born on December 6, 1991, in Seoul, South Korea. When she was six months old, the family moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey, where she spent several years of her childhood. She moved back to South Korea at the age of eight, where she attended Seoul Foreign School. After returning to the United States for high school and graduating, she studied at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where she received a BFA from Tisch's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in 2014.

Beginning

At the age of 11, Kim started out as a trainee for SM Entertainment for almost 10 years beginning in 2003. However, approval for her debut did not happen, either with a group or as a soloist. In 2011, she took a break from training to finish her studies. By 2015, her contract ended, and she was dropped from the label, bringing her idol training to an end.

2016-2024: Songwriting and producing

After graduating from college, Kim switched to songwriting and producing. During this time, she was invited to sing on the soundtrack of a k-drama. While recording, she met a producer, Shinsadong Tiger. He then invited her to write a song in his studio. That song became "Hello", which was cut for Hani of EXID. She then met Andrew Choi, who became her mentor. Kim's songwriting "passion crystallized in 2017 when she attended her first SM Entertainment songwriting camp". Her first big break came when she co-wrote the topline for "Psycho" for Red Velvet, which went on to top the US Billboard World Digital Songs chart. It led to more opportunities to work with SM Entertainment. In 2019, she was featured on the soundtrack of the K-drama Woman of 9.9 Billion.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim co-wrote "Drama" for Aespa. She also helped co-produce the Girl Crush K-pop Vocals sample pack for producing K-pop songs. In 2022, she worked with Red Velvet again on the lead single "Birthday". In 2025, Kim signed with Prescription Songs, an independent music publisher founded by Dr. Luke.

2025-present: KPop Demon Hunters and further success

In April 2025, it was announced that Kim would be featured on the soundtrack of the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters. She also wrote several of the songs on the soundtrack. Director Maggie Kang attributed Kim's demos as one of the reasons the film was greenlit; Kim explained she had co-written and recorded "most of the demos" for the film when the directors then asked her to be the official singing voice for the character Rumi. The film received positive reviews for its soundtrack. The soundtrack also charted at number one on the Billboard 200. One of the songs she co-wrote and performed, "Golden", topped the Billboard Hot 100. On "Golden"'s composition, Ars Technica commented that the song "spans an impressive three-octave range, eventually hitting an A-5 on the chorus-a high note usually reserved for classically trained operatic sopranos" and Kim's "performance on this song has impressed a lot of YouTube vocal coaches". The Korea Herald similarly highlighted Kim's "Golden" performance, noting "the result is both technically impressive and emotionally resonant, a combination that has resonated with audiences far beyond the film". On August 18, 2025, Billboard highlighted that songs from the film's soundtrack "claim four of the top five on the Billboard Global 200 chart" and that only "four [other] elite albums", three by Taylor Swift and one by Drake, "have generated as many as four concurrent top five hits" on the Global 200 since the chart's debut in September 2020. Kim is credited on three of these charting songs; in addition to "Golden", Kim co-wrote and performed "How It's Done" and co-wrote "Your Idol". Kim noted she reached a high note of D6 during the adlib background vocals of "How It's Done".

In July 2025, YouTube channel Studio USOG announced Kim will contribute a song to the "Another Day of Debut Training" project, with all profits being donated to descendants of Korean independence activists. On August 14, 2025, the group formed through the web series, TDYA, debuted with the song "Keep the Light" composed by Kim and performed the song for the first time the following day at Gwanghwamun Square in Jongno-gu, Seoul in a set of performances celebrating the 80th National Liberation Day of Korea.

On October 4, 2025, Kim announced her debut solo single, "In Another World," which was released on October 24. On the night of October 4, she along with her fellow KPop Demon Hunters cast-mates Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami made a cameo appearance on the season 51 premiere of Saturday Night Live in a sketch based on the film, reprising their respective roles as Rumi, Mira and Zoey. On October 7, they together performed "Golden" live in full for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On October 22, Kim signed with WME. She then featured on the single "Out of My Body" from the upcoming deluxe edition of Anyma's third studio album The End of Genesys, which was released on December 19. On December 25, she and the other voices of Huntrix performed "12 Days of Christmas" at the Snoop Dogg 2025 NFL Halftime Show. On February 6, 2026, she released her second single "Time After Time." On April 10, 2026, she and the other voices of Huntrix appeared during Katseye's Coachella 2026 performance as surprise guests and performed "Golden" alongside Katseye. On June 10, 2026, the song "DNA (More Than a Game)", the official anthem of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, was released, which included Andrea Bocelli, Megan Thee Stallion and David Guetta alongside Kim. Kim, along with Bocelli, performed the song at the opening ceremony in Mexico City on June 11.

Kim is currently based in Brooklyn.

Since late 2023, Kim has been engaged to Sam Kim, a former music producer. They originally met in 2017 during a songwriting session. They plan to marry in Los Angeles on November 7, 2026. Her grandfather, Shin Young-kyun, is an actor and arts patron.

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Soundtrack appearances

Production and songwriting credits

All song credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) databases, unless otherwise noted.

  indicates a [b] background vocal contribution.
  indicates a [c] credited vocal/featured artist contribution.

Awards and nominations

Listicles