At K-Pop Festival, Korean Stars Align With Their Superfans
Much of KCON is devoted to efforts at fan education
and inclusion, especially during the daytime part of the festival — a dance floor was set up so fans could recreate the moves from their favorite K-pop videos en masse, and at the myriad sponsor tents, teenage fans sang and danced along to hits like BTS’s "Blood Sweat & Tears." Merchandise booths offered cheap ways to show loyalty: posters, stickers, enamel pins, bracelets with stars’ names spelled out in glittery letters.
This was the case even in the most choreographed moments — on the red carpet, where the pop stars dutifully took turns facing each part of the room, so different swaths of screaming fans could get great shots;
and during the show, where groups like Twice and NCT 127 interrupted their tightly structured sets for fan interactions (also preplanned, but still effective).
The K-pop world has developed its own lingo: "hi-touch," a way for artists
and fans to connect quickly, a sort of extended high-five; "bias," the member of a K-pop group that you favor; and so on.
By JON CARAMANICAJUNE 25, 2017
NEWARK — That K-pop — the pop music scene that dominates South Korea and, increasingly, the rest of the
world — has not yet had a chart-topping, cross-cultural "Despacito" moment in this country is vexing.
K-pop continues to embody all of this potential, as was clear on Saturday, the second day of KCON, an annual festival — this was its third year here, and it will come to Los Angeles for the sixth time in August —
that tries to make a global phenomenon feel like an intimate subculture, and underscores why that strategy is a savvy one.
K-pop skews young as a genre — one reason is that South Korea mandates military service for its men, a law that extends even to pop idols.
