Why this kids show is a lesson for us all, yes, adults too.
If I have learned anything in my time as a parent, it is to pick and choose your battles. My daughter and I drive long distances in the car a lot. When she was a few months old, and I was commuting over a hour to work with her in the backseat, I’d play her nursery rhymes over the speakers. It helped, sometimes, other days I’d have to come out of traffic and pull over because it was time for her next feeding. But at least now, a few years later we can toggle between Folded, Burning Blue, or some soundtrack from the latest movie she likes. On this particular day, we were gearing up for an hour drive, and since I also just got off work I didn’t mind some peace and quiet — she requested “Golden” by KPop Demon Hunters, and I obliged.
Usually I listen to her songs both keenly and passively. I’m listening to make sure it isn’t anything inappropriate, but also I’m not too into it because I rather hear R&B. But this soundtrack in particular almost stopped me in my tracks. Instead of just listening to the lyrics, I actually felt every single emotion behind the words.
It started off very upbeat, and I wish I studied music so I could describe it better, but the singers voice was so perfect. The song begins with “I was a ghost, I was alone / Given the throne, I didn’t know how to believe / I was the queen that I’m meant to be / I’ve lived two lives, tried to play both sides / But I couldn’t find my own place”
The song begins this way, explaining how one of the main characters, Rumi, felt so alone and ashamed because she was born half-human and half-demon. She was also given the task of being a demon hunter, which came with its own complexities because she was suppose to hunt the very same thing that she is apart of. So she spent most of her life hiding her true identity from her friends and fellow demon hunters, Zoey and Mira. Together, the three of them make up the pop group Huntrix.
The lyrics also discusses another character, Mira’s struggles. “Called a problem child ‘cause I got too wild / But now that’s how I’m getting paid, on stage”. When Mira was younger, she had issues with her family because she was rebellious and daring, but those same qualities is what earned her fame and fans who praise love her for being, her.
The catchy chorus brings together these struggles beautifully, as the characters reclaim their strength and confidence in their identity and their success. “I’m done hidin’, now I’m shinin’ / Like I’m born to be / We dreamin’ hard, We came so far / Now I believe.” Now y’all should know me at this point – when it comes to dreams I am ALL EARS. This blog is even titled For Women With Dreams!? So when I heard the lyrics in this chorous chileee, I told my daughter we have to run this one BACK! And can we talk about the genius naming of the title? The girls were singing that they’re going to be “Golden” and we know Gold holds so much value and power, and we know the strength of believing in yourself and affirming positivity and success over your life is power within itself.
We ended up listening to the entire soundtrack for our car ride. Another song that got to me was “Free”. It revealed how Rumi started to feel free the more she confided into Jinu, a demon who was once a hunter like her. Throughout the movie, Rumi’s voice started to break, because the same demon patterns that she was working so hard to hide, were starting to spread throughout her body. But as she met Jinu and was honest with him it felt, liberating and freeing, as she explains this in the song when she sings “But here with you I can finally breathe.” Imagine, hiding a huge part of your identity and finally meeting someone who just gets you? No masks, no facade needed – you can just be. Jinu had challenges of his own, in which he constantly hears the voice of the demon king in his head, but when he’s with Rumi he says he doesn’t. As if talking to her, and expressing his own insecurities and anxieties help to free him as well. This song revealed to me the power of community and healing. How there are many times in our life where we may be holding on to fears, anxieties, burdens, or just negative self talk in our minds but when we find someone we can truly be ourselves with, and confide in – how liberating, freeing and life changing it could be.
See how excited I was to tell y’all about the songs, that I didn’t even get a chance to give an overview of the plot for anyone who hasn’t watched it yet! And if you haven’t — you NEED to, immediately. Basically, the movie covers a pop girl group called HUNTR/X, who are also secretly demon hunters. They fight demons through the power of their voices and their performances, and this has long been a tradition in their world, set in a futuristic version of Seoul, North Korea. HUNTR/X is made up of Rumi, Zoey, and Mira and they face a challenge when this rival boy group, the Saja boys, who are also demons, try to steal their fans and take over their world. Another key part of the movie is Rumi’s internal struggle with shame and her identity. The movie covers themes of identity, belonging, and purpose. And to me, another big theme in the movie covers what happens if we allow our negative self talk to stop us from unlocking our potential (shown through the demons!).
Now I know I’m late to the party but I first overheard my coworkers talking about the movie, and I was like yeah I have no desire to watch anything that features demons — I don’t care animation or not I do not mess with that stuff. But after hearing the SONGS I told my daughter girl we have to watch this! I was truly taken aback as to how the demons can be viewed metaphorically as our negative self talk, and the ways in which we could be our own worst enemy by talking ourselves out of our full potential. In the movie, the demons voices control the characters, and Rumi who is extremely talented is also driven by shame and guilt because of her demonic nature. Rumi doesn’t even want to go to the bathhouse and relax because she’s ashamed of showing her demonic patterns! (Hello? Themes about body image too??)
Imagine how many times the negative voices in our heads would stop us from relaxing? There’s moments when we’d know we need a break, but something in our head would tell us to keep going because hustle culture says so. Or because the to do list is never ending. Or because we have to be strong moms, and parents, who does it all. “If I don’t do it, it wont get done!”
How many times have we talked ourselves out of our dreams, because it isn’t a typical 9-5 job, or a college major that we can apply to? How many times have we made a mistake in the past, and we’ve allowed that mistake to define us and make us think we’re less than? This movie illustrates how sometimes we allow those voices and experiences to take over and prevent us from truly being free and unlocking our full potential. The demons in the movie clearly illustrate how sometimes we can truly be our own biggest barrier to success and liberation (and I’m specifically discussing our own self talk here, and not systemic barriers that truly exist that are also indeed barriers).
The movie, the songs, and Rumi’s character also highlighted for me how often we can let shame and guilt take the lead in our lives and cause us to take cautionary steps as we move through the world. However, those cautionary steps are the same ones holding us back.
Hopefully this blog post wasn’t a bit all over the place, and I truly hope that you made it to the end. I hope my excitement and lessons I’ve learned from the movie was able to be communicated clearly and I also hope that it ignites some reflection from us all. This is certainly a movie that I will rewatch and I am glad I too could learn amazing lessons from this genius. Its a win win in my house! And so glad I let my daughter take the lead in choosing the music for our soundtrack, she may be on to something!
For Women With Dreams 