Coachella attendees who turned out to watch Katseye perform got a “Golden” treat when the singers behind Huntr/x — Ejae (Rumi), Audrey Nuna (Mira), and Rei Ami (Zoey) — made a surprise appearance.
Fresh off winning the Oscar for best original song, the “KPop Demon Hunters” stars joined Katseye (Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, Sophia Laforteza and Yoonchae Jeung) on the Sahara stage to perform “Golden.”
Katseye kicked off the festival’s opening night and are set to perform both weekends. Among the songs they performed were “Internet Girl,” “Pinky Up” and “Mean Girls.” The group climbed the ranks as K-pop trainees on the 2023 reality competition series “Dream Academy.” They became breakout performers following the Netflix docuseries “Popstar Academy: Katseye” along with their aptly-titled first single “Debut.” Earilier this year, they landed a Grammy nomination for best new artist. Their song “Gabriela” was nominated for best pop duo/group performance.
The group has released two EPs, 2024’s “SIS (Soft Is Strong)” and last year’s “Beautiful Chaos,” as well as a handful of singles. “Gnarly,” which was co-written by Alice Longyu Gao, became their first song to hit the Billboard Hot 100 last year. They followed with “Gabriela,” “Gameboy” and “Internet Girl,” the latter of which debuted at No. 29 on the charts.
Aside from the Oscar, “Golden” scooped up a string of awards including the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for best original song. It also won the Grammy Award for best song written for visual media.
“Golden” was written by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, IDO, 24 and Teddy Park, and became a massive hit since debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 2025. It scored eight non-consecutive weeks atop that chart, becoming the longest-leading hit on the tally by an animated act.
Speaking with Variety about the song’s success, Ami described the feeling as “vindicating,” adding that there’s finally “validation. It’s long overdue,” she said. “We worked our asses off. We’ve had the door shut in our faces. We were told we were too little, too much.”
Sabrina Carpenter is Friday night’s headliner. Justin Bieber will take to the stage on Saturday night. He’s set to perform at 11:25 p.m. on the festival’s hump night. It’s expected that he will likely play the two “Swag” albums in their 25-song entirety, based on the warmup shows he has done at the Roxy and Troubadour.
