The Power of Production: What K-Pop Demon Hunters Can Teach Us About Writing Good Villain Songs

K-Pop Demon Hunters is everywhere. From The Billboard Top 100, to TikTok and commercial TV spots, this unexpected Netflix movie has now turned into a global worldwide phenomenon. With fans already demanding and clamoring for a sequel (that’s already confirmed to be in consideration by Sony and Netflix), K-Pop Demon Hunters deserves to be respected as a surprise recent high point for Sony Animation. Throughout all the hype around K-Pop Demon Hunters though, I’ve been interested in how we all got here. More specifically, is there a reason as to why K-Pop Demon Hunters is still so popular? While other aspects like great characters and animation are impressive, the musical production, especially in the villain songs carry the narrative weight of its characters. Although I could discuss any song in the film as a strong contender for a narrative and musical blend (“Golden” in particular for HUNTR/X), in this post, I’ll be breaking down the dichotomy of the Saja Boys songs, “Soda Pop” and “Your Idol”. These two songs (in my opinion) do the best at highlighting what it takes to make a great villain song. By the end of this post, you’ll see how villain music has evolved over the years through Disney, their impact on the fans and how K-Pop Demon Hunters uses this both in and out of universe to keep audiences hooked and humming their songs way after their first (or 20^th) viewing.

Be Prepared: The Renaissance of the Villain Song

            To start, I think the most common thing about making a villain song for a character is clearly defining if the song is going to be a true villain song or if the villain is going to be framed as “misunderstood” or “good” in some way, whether the music supports that way or not. Across the examples I’ll be using from Disney, there are three common aspects that I’ve noticed the most for this study: color, presentation and any spoken or melancholic sounding laments (commonly within the middle of the song).

            For true villain sounding songs, you can look at examples like “Be Prepared”, “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Friends on the Other Side”. The colors shift dramatically to affect the mood – even they are bright and theatrical. Although both “Friends on the Other Side” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls” are more bouncy and theatrical because of the context in which they are presented (Faustian-esque deals with the main characters), “Be Prepared” sounds foreboding, yet still catchy because of Scar’s diction, confidence and bravado that keeps the song in line with the mood of his plan to take over as king. These songs exude pridefulness for their villains as almost a clear stance of who’s in charge and what their goal is: to become king of the Pride Lands, rule New Orleans and become Queen of the Sea. The villain’s motivations are as clean cut as their songs are memorable. On the other hand, Disney has had villain songs which don’t paint the villain songs as actually sounding all that villainous. For example, in “Mother Knows Best” and “Gaston”, the presentation through the instrumentation paint both villains as actually being somewhat within the right (at least in the point when they are presented). Mother Gothel in Tangled is seen as just a protective mother trying to keep Rapunzel safe while Gaston in Beauty and the Beast is seen as a courageous hunter that’s celebrated by the village townsfolk. Both songs also have the same bravado and pride as before, but this time, the angle is more protective and celebratory instead of being based on power. The villains are seen as needed and therefore respected, which masks their need for control.

            Another good set of examples would be “Mine, Mine, Mine” from Pocahontas and “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” from The Great Mouse Detective. The former focuses more on discovery of the new land of Virginia and the promise of gold and wealth. The presentation is loud, bombastic and confident as the main villain Gov. Ratcliffe dreams about all the gold he’ll hoard off the backs of his men. The latter, meanwhile, is more of a celebration and soliloquy from the main villain Ratigan as his henchmen marvel over his history and next big plan. Ratigan’s sudden shift to a harp backed soliloquy can be jarring, but it fits perfectly for his sense of grandeur and power. These villains may have villainous intentions, but they have such strong belief that their words can inspire awe or fear into the ones they preach to. Disney has perfected and refined the formula for making villain songs over the years, but with their villain songs being slowly drip fed to audiences over the years (even with their baffling attempts to redefine it like with “This Is The Thanks I Get?!” in their recent animated film Wish), villain songs have slowly fallen out of favor with fans and general audiences, and that’s where K-Pop Demon Hunters’ songwriting magic comes in.

Soda Pop: Surface Level Sweet

So, after all of that, what does that have to do with the Saja Boys? The key in understanding that is going back to the three tenets that I laid out earlier: color, presentation, and any spoken parts in the middle of the song. From when they are first introduced in the film, the Saja Boys’ presentation is loud, both physically and musically. Each of them wears bright pastel colors, and their first song “Soda Pop” is an upbeat, catchy bubblegum pop song. The lyrics (as well as choreographed dance they perform) is thinly veiled with romantic metaphors and symbolism (the term “snack” could be seen as both a sensual/sexual reference based on interpretation, for example). The last chorus and the ending of the song also explode in bright color that affects the surrounding area. This, in turn, cements to the audience in-universe that the Saja Boys are seen as symbols to be followed and idolized as a pop group. However, to the audience outside of universe, we’re explicitly shown (even way before this) that this group are demons in disguise and therefore cannot be trusted. Despite this, there’s still a sensational energy that the sound brings that just can’t help but make you dance along with it. It’s almost like a siren song that lulls you in with excitement instead of bravado. Even Baby Saja’s rap in the middle of the song (which I count as the spoken part from before) weaves in and out on beat with the song. “Soda Pop” does more than just establish itself as a driving force in the world of K-Pop Demon Hunters. The bright colors, upbeat music and invitation to be a part of the celebration make the song a strong impression as the first villain song for the Saja Boys. That’s right, I said first! The Saja Boys got one more villain song (which is surprising since most villain songs are standardly just a shorter reprise of the original song), but nope! The Saja Boys’ first outing was so good they got another one, and oh boy,

It delivered more than what I first expected. Your Idol: Playing Into the Devil's Hands

The gloves came off. All pretenses are down, and the Saja Boys are no longer playing into the “cutesy boy band” act. No. This time, they mean business, and man, did their next song Your Idol build up the hype. I don't think that many people were expecting there to be another villain song in this movie. Most of the time there’s only ever been one, and normally it would just do its business and then go on its way, to either to be remembered or forgotten by the pop cultural zeitgeist.

Your Idol comes as the penultimate song as the movie, and I knew that when I listened to this song back after I first heard it and heard the Dies Irae get mentioned, I loved it even more. For those who don’t know (or would just like a fun music trivia fact), Dies Irae is a famous hymn that’s used in music to evoke a sense of judgement or doom. It’s become very popular in using musical themes that equate to death or a general sense of darkness. You can actually hear it behind the “Pray for me now” lyric in the opening of Your Idol, but I think even that fun fact immediately sets the presentation for the song. This is a song of worship, but worship of control and mortal dominion. There’s also a sense of scale and power that builds in the choir-like chanting and harmonies that build along with the main melody of the song itself. The color also ramps up to show that raw, almost primal nature that the song demands. The bright hot pink is now mixed with a striking purple gradient that evokes the demon fire that envelops the performance. Even Baby Saja’s rap from “Soda Pop” gets a more serious sounding upgrade that shows that his control can now be exchanged for power because of the fans. I don't think I've ever seen an example of a movie being able to weaponize the extent of the audience both in and out of the movie itself. There's still an impact of using those classic elements from the Disney movies that I mentioned before but being able to use both sides of the villain song coin in order to not only establish but evolve the mood and tone of the villains is honestly astounding. To me, that’s why I think the Saja Boys are more impressive than HUNTR/X in terms of their musical storytelling. With songs like “Golden” and “What It Sounds Like”, there can always be an upwards musical progression for the good guys. It’s what we as the audience expect, but for a villain song? Most villain songs would have to slink off and become more dramatic or somber in order to express the extent of their betrayal, but in the case with the Saja Boys? Pure. Musical. Dominance.

They knew their goal, and they could execute it well, and instead of being the snake in the grass that bit and then slithered away, this one sunk its fangs into all of us and has yet to let go.

In the end, I think that’s pretty damn compelling, don’t you?

Production as Narrative

The state of villain songs has certainly fallen from the place where it once was. Like I mentioned before, there’s been attempts at trying to revitalize the magic from before, but most of the time, it just barely misses the mark. However, with the example of the Saja Boys, and the steady popularity and success of K-Pop Demon Hunters, I would be excited to see if songs like these could make a resurgence in popular media again. If not, that would be okay. We still have the greats of the Disney Renaissance, but if they do, I think Disney has already given us the best advice we can follow if/when villain songs return.

Be prepared.