Despite the resounding success of its film and soundtrack, KPop Demon Hunters faced a tricky challenge since its breakout: translating a fantastical, animated musical world into the human reality of a concert stage.
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A longtime K-pop veteran as a member of boy band U-KISS and one of the voices for the Saja Boys, Kevin Woo found the answer was — and has always been — to keep showing up.
After recording as Mystery Saja in KPop Demon Hunters‘ supervillain singing sensation Saja Boys, the star experienced unprecedented chart feats (“Soda Pop” and “Your Idol” peaked within the top 5 during the same week on the Billboard Hot 100) and earned exponential spikes in streaming (his Spotify page currently boasts 21 million monthly listeners with 1 billion streams in 2025 alone).
To close out 2025, the California native transformed his role in the viral film and soundtrack into accelerated career momentum, culminating in a new record deal and his most visible stateside moments yet.
“After KPop Demon Hunters, I think my Spotify monthly listeners went from 10,000 to 2 million overnight,” he recalls backstage at the New York stop of iHeartRadio’s 2025 Jingle Ball tour. The attention turned into offers, but Woo says he was intentional about his next step. Drawing on a small but solid number of solo releases like 2021’s “Got It” (produced by Ariana Grande and XG collaborator Shintaro Yasuda) and “Deja Vu” from this year (crafted with go-to K-pop crossover creatives Aiden Lewis and Vanessa Jefferson), Kevin built a team with new manager Gary Marella of Mono Group Music, whose clientele includes Timbaland, Ron Fair and ATL Jacob.
They met with prospective partners over several months and ultimately felt seen in a Los Angeles meeting with Atlantic Music Group’s 10K Projects.
“The chemistry was there,” he said of meeting Elliot Grange, the label’s CEO, who brought his independent label under the Atlantic umbrella last year. “He already knew about me, which was so flattering. He was like, ‘Huge congratulations, you are killing it, and we want more voices and faces like you in our label.’ And he really understood diversity with music — he just gets it. And then in that moment, I just felt like it was the right move.”
With nearly two decades of working in global entertainment, the connection “felt like a reward at the end of a lot of hard work that I put into my artistry and my craft.”
After being discovered at age 15 and moving to South Korea for K-pop training, Woo debuted in the mid-2000s and ultimately stayed with boy band U-KISS for nine years, until 2017, when the band’s music releases slowed, and he began gaining traction in hosting and television roles.
Beyond K-pop, he performed in musical theater across the globe, joining different musicals in Korea and making his Broadway debut in 2022’s KPOP, all while pursuing music in the States.
KPop Demon Hunters isn’t even the only movie project the 34-year-old has lined up after his short film Seoul Switch (which was released worldwide on YouTube earlier this year after securing Margaret Cho as an executive producer for a full project), the Tubi movie Death Name (which comes to the service on Jan. 9, 2026) and the upcoming Anderson .Paak–directed K-Pops! (hitting theaters early next year).
The 10K deal has accelerated Woo’s creative pipeline. He has an abundance of material ready to go (“15, 16 songs that I already have written”) along with studio time with Dem Jointz (the hitmaker on board for the K-Pops! soundtrack and crafted multiple cuts on recent albums for Eminem, NCT 127 and JENNIE of BLACKPINK). Woo says he’ll pick a lead single early next year and align that release with his accompanying promotional cycle for K-Pops! “After new music, I’m definitely planning a tour — and not just a U.S. tour, I want to do a world tour.”
But before embarking on his own global trek, Kevin warmed up in arenas across the States by leading Jingle Balls’ “sing-a-long moment” for KPop Demon Hunters across coasts from New York City’s Madison Square Garden to the Intuit Dome in the Los Angeles area.
Ahead of hitting MSG, Woo made a surprise performance on Dec. 11 to close the “A Year in TIME” event, where the magazine honored KPop Demon Hunters as Breakthrough of the Year. ”It was such a nerve-racking moment for me,” he says of the affair also attended by HUNTR/X singers EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, and his fellow Saja Boy vocalist Danny Chung. “ It was filled with so many important people like the head of YouTube, the CEO of TIME, Leonardo DiCaprio, LL Cool J, just to name a few. It was a different energy in the room, but I really wanted to show the energy of the movie and the performance element to K-pop. So, it was such a huge honor for me to perform at that and it was even more special because HUNTR/X was there in the crowd because they performed ‘Golden’ at the beginning of the event. For them to hold the Saja Boys’ and HUNTR/X’s lightsticks and support me performing ‘Soda pop’ was such a surreal moment — it felt like it was a scene right out from the movie,” adding with an inside joke for KDH superfans, “ But I don’t know if the HUNTR/X girls were rooting for me or if they were booing me…”
Kevin also performed a midday set at the pre-Jingle Ball bash for the Z100 All Access Lounge at the Hammerstein Ballroom, spotting fans waiting in line since 7:00 a.m.
“New York is on another level, it’s crazy,” he adds. “This whole Jingle Ball experience has been so amazing and I’ve looked up to so many artists who perform at Jingle Ball. I’ve always wanted to attend, but it’s my first time coming to the show and also performing. It has a double meaning for me this year, meeting the fans of KPop Demon Hunters and K-pop in general. They’ve just been so supportive and enthusiastic; they’ve been singing to every lyric at every stop of this tour and for me to present the sing-a-long and also perform along with the crowd has been a huge honor to be that person on behalf of the whole cast.”
MSG was the setting of Woo’s first-ever arena performance in the U.S. when he took the stage at KCON 2019, but he says Jingle Ball truly marks how much K-pop has grown. “Now to see K-pop blow up on another level has just been such a joy for me, being from the world of K-pop. I’ve been sharing this stage with my peers like Jackson Wang, JO1, A2O MAY, GIRLSET, and, today, Monsta X. So, a lot of K-pop peers and I love the melting pot of different cultures and genres at Jingle Ball. I love that we’re diversifying here.”
A throughline across all of Woo’s work has been the star’s persistence and push: working to hone one’s craft, relationships, and timing to all align around a project that cuts through the culture and ultimately manifests new career highs nearly 20 years in the game. As Kevin gears up for even more in 2026, read on for his final reflections on the year including favorite songs, albums, concerts and his reactions to KPop Demon Hunters‘ success on the year-end Billboard charts.
Billboard: I want to get your reactions to some of your rankings on Billboard‘s year-end charts because the KPop Demon Hunters landed at No. 13 on the 2025 Billboard 200 Albums chart.
Kevin Woo: Oh my God. I just got a goosebump. I think I need more time to process, but oh my God, we made that much of an impact? I mean this was a movie and for the soundtrack of a film to translate to the Billboard charts, I still think I’m still in awe.
On the year-end Hot 100 Songs chart, “Soda Pop” landed at No. 61 and “Your Idol” is No. 54. Do you have any feelings about why America was so into “Your Idol”?
That’s insane. In the movie, and also the music itself, it is just so intriguing. It immediately draws you in from the intro of the song; it’s just so dark and mysterious. I feel like because there are rock elements to it mixed in with K-pop, pop, dance, and a little bit of like electronic too — it’s like a little bit of everything. And I know the audiences in North America really like those kind of like hard bangers and I feel like that translated very well, and even more so than “Soda Pop.” But I know “Soda Pop” did well globally.
Google released their “Year in Search” report and “Soda Pop” had the world’s 10th-most Googled lyrics, the only song from KPop Demon Hunters to make the top 10. Why do you think so many people wanted to find the lyrics to “Soda Pop”?
You know what I think it is? I think it’s the younger generation who fell in love with this film. “Golden” was the anthem of this film, right? But it is such a hard song to sing. “Soda Pop” is something that everyone can sing-a-long to and easily dance to; I feel like the “Soda Pop” dance challenge actually made a bigger impact on TikTok and social media. Because “Golden” did have a dance challenge thing too, but I think “Soda Pop” was the one that was more well-received and resonated with kind of everyone globally. It was easier.
Do you have a best show you saw this year?
ATEEZ — I went to both shows at the BMO Stadium in L.A. I’ve seen them grow since debut, but it was my first time experiencing their concert in a stadium. So, that was another level. I saw Day 1 and because there were some parts that I missed because I had to go in and out of the suite, I was like, “I need to come back tomorrow to really catch everything.” Their engagement with the fans is truly outstanding — it’s something very special that I haven’t really seen with other K-pop artists.
And BLACKPINK at SoFi Stadium — The Deadline Tour was probably one of the best tours that I’ve been to. Yeah. And that’s my girl, LISA, of course, she kills it. I don’t know how she gives. It’s 120% at every show. But what I thought was so powerful about the Deadline Tour was that everyone got a moment to shine on their solo careers; every member delivered and had their own moment. For them to come back and show a little bit of their newly found, like, personas, flavors and characters; it was just so amazing to watch that all come together and then do all their throwback songs and their new song “JUMP.” Yeah, it was the full package. So, so, so proud of them. Forever proud.
Do you have a song and album of the year?
Is it biased to say, “Soda Pop”? Oh, I was [initially] more of a fan of “Your Idol,” but things change. “Soda Pop” is so infectious. When I perform it on stage, that’s my go-to song and it’s such a crowdpleaser. I end up singing “Soda Pop” in the shower every time I go back home. It’s been a year since I recorded that, but it hasn’t gotten old yet. But other than that, I do have to say the Lady Gaga album, MAYHEM, has just really been a standout album for me this year — especially seeing it at Coachella and the way she blends theater and that performance aspect to her sets are so genius. Something that only Lady Gaga can pull off. I also want outfit changes like hers one day when I’m doing a tour. So inspiring.
As for standout song, I’d have to say “like JENNIE.” That song was a banger.
Have you thought of any New Year’s resolutions for 2026?
My New Year’s resolution is to be healthy. I feel like it’s been such a busy season for the past five months and it’s only gonna get busier, so I wanna make sure that I’m taking care of myself. Also, I really want to meet the fans in person more next year. I’m planning a world tour and that’s something that’s on my 2026 bucket list.