Kcon attracts K-pop fans to the center of LA for festival and concerts

K-pop fans of all ages are coming to the Los Angeles Convention Center for KCON this weekend, the annual three-day festival that celebrates Korean music and culture.

The festival consists of activities all day, including a supplier market of various Korean beauty and food brands, several stages that present Rookie acts and meet and greet sessions. Fans then migrate to the Crypto.com arena for the M Countdown every evening, the most important concert event in which several K pop artists and groups occur.

Kcon, run by the Korean media giant CJ andM, is held in different countries, where the Los Angeles edition serves as the flagship event. The convention, presented by CJ’s Korean beauty product brand Olive Young, will take place until Sunday.

On Friday, fans wore white, pink and green olive young baked from a large pop-up room that promoted the upcoming American store of the beauty store and some of the best brands it carries. They stopped at different cabins in the congress hall to pick up free samples of products, ranging from skin care to the popular spicy bulld roof sauce, as well as coupons for a free cake slice from the bakery chain Tous Les Les Les and tastings of the Bibigo of the food brand. Often the samples had to be obtained via a first step, such as downloading the app from a brand or running a lottery wheel or playing games.

The artists also challenged rules. In the X podium, artists sang soo bin and played challenges to win prizes for members of the public. In the dance podium sponsored by Jollibee, the NewBeat group competed against a Jollibee mascot to correctly match their dance movements with fast music instructions.

For attendees such as Prescilla Cobieye, the many things have made for a clear experience. “It is quite different from your typical kind of concert,” said Cobieye, 18,. “You could see different cabins with a lot of different sponsorship and things like that, and you could even see the idols coming in … you can’t get that during a regular KPOP concert.”

Cobieye is a fan of NCT127 and Zerobaseon, specifically, and attended a Meet and Greet for the last band. The Meet and Greets enable fans to see their favorite artists more up close on a smaller stage in the congress center. “It was something, it was really packaged,” said Cobieye.

Many families also navigated Kcon together such as Karsen Lechner, who attended the convention with her daughter in honor of her dear 16. “She was almost in the Barricade in Artist Stage for most of the day,” Lechter said. The fear of the artists, Lee Young Ji and Izna performed on that stage on Friday.
Kcon contains a mix of established and newer acts throughout the weekend.

A buzzing subject that was much discussed among KCON participants: “Kpop Demon Hunters”, the animation film that bowed on Netflix with countless K pop stars in the Voice Cast in June. The success of the film, produced by Sony Music Animation, on the worldwide platform of Netflix is seen as a sign of K-Pop’s lasting force and a validation of the Fandom that is millions of fans who live far beyond the borders of South Korea.

Park Chan UK, VP from Live Entertainment for CJ andM, said that KCon is striving to put together different genres and artificial types. Fans will see new idol groups, but also solo artists for example. “The main goal of K Con, the primary goal, is to introduce and bid Variety By a translator.

Of course the M -crafting is a crucial draw for fans. Melanie Pouthavong, a 19-year-old fan, traveled from Seattle to attend with her friend Kcon. Just attending that concert makes the whole experience worthwhile for Pouthavong: “I know we have seen many groups here, but that concert is just like the big event. So I would just like to be there.”

The Friday evening’s concert included the acts such as NCT127, ZerobaseOne, P1harmony, Baby Dont Cry, Lee Young Ji, Nowz, is: Sue and IVE. There was also recognition of the Korean film and TV, due to the special performances by actors Lee Byung-Hun (“Squid Game”, “Kpop Demon Hunters” and Park Chan Wook’s emerging “no other choice”) and Yim Siwan (“Squid Game”).

“K-pop, K-movies, K-drama, K-Beauty, K-Food. We always fall deeper in love with K-culture and in the middle of it is KCon,” said Lee in his comments that opened the concert. “Since 2012, since 2012, KCON has been connected to artists and fans all over the world.”

Yim, who started as a K-pop singer before switching to acting, acknowledged his K-pop roots when he later appeared during the show. “Maybe that’s why the stage still gives me butterflies,” he said. He shouted the many versions of the Night, including the Izna’s representation of the song “Golden” of the Netflix film “Kpop Demon Hunters” that took place shortly after Yim’s speech.

NCT127, whose versions were recorded during the concert, closed it with the song “Fact Check”. They were accompanied by fans who had previously participated to dance next to the group.
For K-pop fans, the genre remains a way to be open about someone’s favorite artists. “I would say that it is very reassuring to be in a community where you can just express your love for music and only your interests in general. And there is no shame here,” Pouthavong said.