Kevin Woo, the singing voice behind Mystery Saja from KPop Demon Hunters, attended the film’s sing-along theatre experience, in August in New York, with Arden Cho and Rei Ami. Photos: @kevinwoo_official, @netflix/Instagram
The ex-member of boy group U-Kiss is now a songwriter pursuing a solo music career and also appears in Anderson .Paak’s 2024 film K-Pops!
Halloween is here, spooky vibes are afoot, and every other person you see is dressed as a character from KPop Demon Hunters. The Netflix animated movie became a mega-hit this summer, and the craze shows little sign of abating. The film’s soundtrack, which includes original songs from the fictional K-pop bands Huntr/x and Saja Boys, has gone viral too. The demon-hunting girl group’s single “Golden”, and the demonic boy band’s soul-snatching track “Your Idol” topped the US Spotify chart in July, beating out K-pop powerhouses BTS and Blackpink. “Golden” also topped the US Billboard Hot 100, Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. US charts.
Thanks to such record-breaking success, the vocalists behind Huntr/x and Saja Boys have blown up. Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, the singing voices of Rumi, Mira and Zoey respectively, recently made a cameo on Saturday Night Live and were presenters at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. Meanwhile, the crooners behind the Saja Boys – Andrew Choi (Jinu Saja), Samuil Lee (Romance Saja), Kevin Woo (Mystery Saja), Neckwav (Abby Saja) and Danny Chung (Baby Saja) – are all over social media. Woo, the only bona fide K-pop idol of the bunch, recently released a viral cover of Saja Boys’ “Soda Pop” and signed with United Talent Agency.
So what else do we know about Kevin Woo? Read on to find out more.
Kevin Woo comes from a family of creatives
Kevin Woo hails from California but moved to Seoul when he was a teenager. Photo: @kevinwoo_official/Instagram
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Kevin Woo, 33, hails from Danville, California, where he grew up in a family of creatives. His father played the piano and guitar, his uncle was an opera singer, and his mother had been a model in South Korea, per Cosmopolitan. With the help of his mother’s industry connections, he auditioned for a K-pop company and moved to Seoul at the age of 15. Woo’s sister Deanna is also his manager.
He was a K-pop idol before Demon Hunters
Woo debuted in a K-pop group called Xing but rose to fame in another boy group, U-Kiss. Currently, the star is focusing on his own music and aspires to get into writing, filmmaking and idol management. Discussing his progression to songwriting as a solo artist, Woo told Notes on K-pop, “Compared to K-pop, I feel like I have more freedom.” He was also keen to stress, however, that he is “definitely not sick of” the genre. His Broadway debut, in late 2022, was in the musical KPop, and he also appears in Anderson .Paak’s 2024 film K-Pops!, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.
He’s friends with Lisa from Blackpink
Kevin Woo (left) and Blackpink’s Lisa (right) are good friends. Photo: @itsleonardlim/Instagram
Woo is known to be close friends with Lisa from Blackpink. During an appearance on The K-Factor With Beomhan, he referred to The White Lotus star as “my girl”, revealing that they are “really good friends” who “always hang out”.
