Streaming and gaming won big at the Grammys on Sunday night. The Netflix animated movie KPop Demon Hunters won for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
While the indie video game, Sword of the Sea, won for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media.
From animation soundtracks beating studio blockbusters to indie game composers outperforming AAA giants like Helldivers 2, this year’s Grammys felt less like a traditional music awards show, and more like a snapshot of where culture is actually headed.
KPop Demon Hunters Wins Best Song Written for Visual Media
KPop Demon Hunters follows Rina, Mira, and Jae, members of a globally popular K-pop girl group who secretly live double lives as demon hunters protecting Seoul from supernatural threats.
While the world knows them as chart-topping idols selling out arenas, they operate in the shadows after concerts, using ancient weapons, magical abilities, and teamwork to battle demons feeding on human emotion and chaos.
Accepting the Grammy on stage, the film’s songwriting team, led by Mark Sonnenblick, who is also the lead composer, thanked Netflix and fans worldwide.
“This story was about how music can literally save lives, and we’re grateful people felt that,” he said.
Sword of the Sea Beats Helldivers 2 for Best Score Soundtrack Video Games & Interactive Media
Sword of the Sea stars Kael, a wandering swordsman who washes ashore in a vast, otherworldly realm after a mysterious shipwreck. With no memory of how he arrived there, Kael sets out across the endless sea on a magical blade that doubles as a surfboard-like vessel, gliding across waves, ruins, and submerged landscapes as he searches for answers about his past and the fate of the world around him.
The game is set in a drowned civilisation, where ancient cities lie beneath shifting tides and forgotten temples rise briefly above the water before sinking again.
As Kael explores, he uncovers remnants of a lost society that once controlled the ocean’s balance and learns that something has gone terribly wrong. His journey becomes one of restoration, as he works to awaken ancient forces capable of healing the sea and preventing the world from collapsing into permanent ruin.
The game composers and developers didn’t make the event.
Emmanuel Umahi
