If you’ve visited Netflix at all in the past couple months, you’ve undoubtedly picked up on the movie making waves among film fanatics: KPop Demon Hunters. In 91 days, it gained over 236 million views on Netflix, earning it the title of most watched Netflix film ever. And while much can be said about Sony’s anime-adjacent animation choices and the film’s hard-hitting themes of self-acceptance, it quickly gained international recognition for, above all, its songs.
While it’s not unusual for songs from a hit musical to ascend the global music charts, it is a little unusual for our school to claim a role in its fame. A key writer behind 7 songs in KDH, Chadwick alumnus Mark Sonnenblick ’08, gave the Mainsheet a unique chance to learn about his path to becoming a songwriter.
Sonnenblick credits much of the early development of his songwriting passion to Chadwick and to present-day orchestra teacher and Pep Band leader Mr. Babcock.
“[Mr. Babcock] used to have a combo that played at sports games and fundraising events. I started playing with him and friends in that band and wanting to also start a band of my own,” Sonnenblick said. He took the idea and ran with it, playing at Rockfest for a few years. Theater teacher Ms. Agnew-Place also inspired his love for theater and musicals in particular, directing him in several throughout Middle and Upper School.
As a senior, Sonnenblick wrote his first musical, with then-English teacher (now Assistant Head of School for Teaching and Learning) Ms. Nordlund. He worked with a large group of fellow seniors to present in the newly-constructed Laverty Center for the Performing Arts. From there, it was up, up, up.
After graduating from Chadwick and from Yale University four years later, Sonnenblick entered the world of professional songwriting. He first made a name for himself with theater productions like Theater Camp and Spirited, then became involved with his latest project–KPop Demon Hunters–in 2023 through a connection to producer Ian Eisendrath.
“[Eisendrath] was working on this animated movie KPop Demon Hunters. They had been working with these KPop hit makers—some of the best writers and producers in the world—to put together this movie centered around this K-pop group HUNTR/X. And the more that Ian was working with the directors, they realized they wanted these songs to really be storytelling in the movie.”
Sonnenblick’s involvement with the film lasted around two years and involved countless drafts of the songs the internet has come to know and love. In large part, he found enjoyment in getting to know a new kind of music. Recounting his beginnings with the project, Sonnenblick shared, “I knew a little bit about K-pop, but it was just sort of the baseline, like BTS and BLACKPINK. Coming into this, I was excited to support the vision of people who knew and cared about this world so much. So I worked with the filmmakers and these other writers and producers to craft songs that straddle two worlds. Hopefully they would sound like real pop songs–because Huntr/x are the biggest pop stars in the world—while also, over the course of two or three minutes, advancing the story the entire time.”
This balance, Sonnenblick emphasized, was the biggest challenge. “How much of a pop song should it be? How much of a musical theater song should it be? Working with brilliant writers like Ejae, who knows pop so well and is literally singing Rumi [the film’s protagonist], meant that we pushed each other to find a balance we both loved. Then we would get notes from Ian and [the directors] Maggie and Chris, at which point the songs only got better and better. The challenge was absolutely the reason the soundtrack is what it is.”
Some songs went through dozens of drafts over the course of years, revised to match new story or character points as the movie evolved. But each draft brought the crew closer together.
“It would have been easy to replace some of the lyrics with more dialogue, or shorten the song, or have the song be less ambitious than what it had the potential to do. We were lucky that everyone—directors to producers to executives—was committed to prioritizing the music. They pushed us to get the song to a place that worked with their vision while also giving us space as writers to tell the story in the music.”
His favorite songs? “Of course I never would have predicted the breakthrough, but I loved ‘Golden’ from the minute that we wrote it,” he said. “I’m also really proud of ‘What It Sounds Like,’ not only the writing but of everyone—the incredible animation and filmmaking through that entire sequence. I cried! It’s a musical!”
Ultimately, seeing the movie’s success made all his hard work worth it. And as he progresses through his musical career, Sonnenblick can’t wait to turn the future golden.
