KPop Demon Hunters star Ejae claims Leonardo DiCaprio 'put her off' during BAFTAs performance and says she remains 'haunted' by missing a high note in front of A-listers

KPop Demon Hunters star Ejae has claimed Leonardo DiCaprio 'put her off' during her BAFTAs performance and said she is still 'haunted' after missing the high note. 

The singer, 34, has become a global superstar after her song Golden, which she performed with Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna, soared to the top of the charts after featuring in the hit Netflix film.

But for her first ever performance in the UK, Ejae was 'so nervous' as she performed in front of Hollywood A-listers at the BAFTAs her voice 'cracked' on the high note. 

'The BAFTAs haunt me. 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,' Ejae told Sunday Times STYLE magazine.

Right before she sang 'born to be', a high note in the song, she looked at the award-winning star, 51. 'That's what put me off. He made me so nervous', she said.

'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.' 

She insisted The Brit Awards a week later were less intimidating, Ejae added: 'Because it was performing to fans, kids being like 'Rumi, you got this!' I never knew that sentence would be so heartwarming and helpful. 

Despite the mistake at the BAFTAs several fans praised Ejae for continuing the performance. 

They wrote: 'Just like the movie, her voice cracked at first but ended up pulling those incredible notes; The crowd looked like they were asleep, except for a few people, it’s such a catchy song I don’t understand how you can’t enjoy it;

'Wait the cracking voice is actually genius. it's like in the movie but then she overcomes it and hits the rest of notes; Love that they aren't lip syncing. We need to encourage reality and not filters.'

The singer was dropped by SM when she was just 23, and after she began meeting with producers, she penned the song Hello, which was picked up by the South Korean singer Hani.

In 2019, her song Psycho was picked up by Red Velvet and topped the Billboard world digital song chart, and months later she was invited to pen the music for KPop Demon Hunters.

The song's main track Golden went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song, and a sequel to the film is currently in the works.

Ejae proudly took the stage to accept the Oscar, which she shared with her co-writers Ido, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Mark Sonnenblick, Teddy and 24.

In floods of tears, she shared: 'Growing up, people made fun of me for liking KPop, but now everyone is singing our song and all the Korean lyrics and I'm so proud.'

After thanking a variety of people, both in her personal life and those involved with the movie, she asked: 'Is there anyone else?'

Lee then approached the microphone and began to thank someone, but before the audience could find out whom, the play-off music drowned out his voice.

Social media erupted with outrage, as one viewer fumed: Alright f*** the Oscars for cutting off Best Original Song for Golden. Absolute disrespect and disgraceful to the creatives behind the biggest song of the year.'

'It's so messed that they didn't let them finish,' another opined as a third exclaimed: 'Did them so dirty!' and a fourth regarded the cut-off as 'ridiculous'.

'DAMN! They played off KPop Demon Hunters crazy,' marvelled a viewer, while another wrote: 'That was rough and so unnecessary. Zero chill.'

'EJAE makin history as first K-pop Oscar win and they cut her off with the music mid-emotion?? Academy wild for that disrespect,' raged a viewer.

'Cutting off a historic moment like this is pure disrespect. The Academy needs to do better. EJAE deserved her moment,' argued another.

'When someone makes history, the least you can do is let them finish their speech. That moment belongs to them, not the countdown music,' insisted still another.

The culture of K-pop is one of South Korea's most lucrative soft power exports and has drawn a massive audience of young people internationally.

But in some extreme cases, stars can undergo training for ten years before they can make their debut in the industry.

Bullying, abuse and exploitation are said to be commonplace, with youngsters subjected to gruelling training regimes and daily weigh-ins, as well as being pressured into plastic surgery and made to sign contracts that mean their every move is controlled.