At KCON Day 2, Past and Present K-Pop Collides
Hosted by MC Rain, KCON brought together a new generation of K-Pop with the industry heavyweights.
XG performing “I Am the Best” at KCON 2023. CJ ENM Global PR
It might have been an audacious move for XG, a seven member Japanese girl group, to open KCON with a cover of 2NE1’s “I”m the Best”, but XG hasn’t come this far playing things safe.
Though the girls are Japanese who do not sing in Korean, XG is widely loved in K-Pop fandoms. They’ve been invited to perform on variety shows like Music Bank, and their aesthetics speak to how global the work of K-Pop has become. They are renegades, too, known for their ability to freestyle, which they displayed in the opening of “I’m the Best” which sampled their latest single “TGIF”.
Last year when 2NE1 made a surprise appearance during CL’s Coachella set to perform “I’m the Best”, their arrival was akin to party crashers. For years, K-Pop has been excluded from festivals and mainstream music. So when the group reunited, styled almost identically to their early 2010 selves, they weren’t just reclaiming their space as a group, but as outsiders of the music industry.
XG’s use of “I Am the Best”, similarly, felt punk. Though they did not train in the traditional K-Pop system, the girls are making a case for more diverse Asian voices in music. Like 2NE1, their appearance at KCON wasn’t originally planned. XG was originally slated to perform at the show’s convention and in the pre-show. But after FIFTY FIFTY canceled their appearance, XG held one of the most popular performances at Head in the Clouds New York – and KCON paid attention. XG might have entered the show as outsiders, but by the time the group performed “GRL GNG” they laid the case for how they could be one of the biggest groups in music – period. They are fearless, unpredictable performers, able to project confidence, maturity, and even some danger.
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“We’re so grateful for the love and support we’ve received,” the girls said in an interview with Jojo Wright onstage in KCON’s K-Pop Village. “It’s been a magical year and, of course, we’re going to keep working hard.”
Following XG’s performance was xikers who chose another incredibly challenging song to cover: BTS’ “Fire”. But the group met the task handily. Their performance displayed why xikers’ rap line members, Minjae, Sumin and Yechan, are so respected. The group’s performance won over several new fans and included, of course, a lot of pyrotechnics. Later, when xikers returned to perform “House of Tricky”, they took some of the biggest swings of the night with hugely athletic choreography and heavy-hitting rap bars.
xikers performing “Fire”. CJ ENM Global PR
And then, the headliners, ATEEZ appeared to perform “WONDERLAND”, an epic b-side from the group’s “ZERO: FEVER EPILOGUE” album. Their performance wasn’t just shocking in their ability to build a scene of a medieval battle with only referential costumes and prop swords, but in what strong performers they are. ATEEZ would prove later that not only are they incredible dancers, but also insanely skillful athletes. “WONDERLAND”, though, was the first taste of how much work the boys have put into becoming superstars in K-Pop.
KCON’s Saturday night MC, Rain, certainly knows how difficult it is to be one of the biggest idols in the industry. His appearance was a true steal for the festival: The singer has not performed stateside since the mid-2000s, and at 42, he is one of the most long-standing and important performers in history. The last time he appeared in America, he was considered the ambassador of Asia. Today, he is a legend.
Rain performed three songs last night, including one of his biggest hits “Rainism”. Wearing only a jacket and leather pants, Rain reminded us that he is still one of the most talented and gifted dancers in K-Pop. His performance of “Rainism” also included a new dance break, where Rain burned the floor as if he were decades younger. By the second song, “Domestic”, the jacket was gone, which jolted a somewhat quiet crowd into a frenzy. “Sorry,” he said shyly, “I’m half-naked.”
RAIN performing “Rainism”. CJ ENM Global PR
Many K-Pop fans who attended last night’s show were either too young to remember Rain at his peak or too mad about the recent Ciipher news, which Rain’s company manges. to appreciate the set. But this skepticism is nothing new for Rain: Since before his debut in 2002, Rain has been underestimated, and he’s worked for years to prove his worth as an entertainer. His set’s success came from that same resilient spirit: He worked so damn hard that the arena was in a frenzy by the time he finished. Yet Rain’s inability to receive more from the public reflects a failure in K-Pop to not preserve legacy acts in the same way Western music does. His performance deserved more love, but Rain also deserves a reappraisal from critics, too. There would be no K-Pop today without acts like him.
“Through this time you’ll be able to feel K-Pop’s global influence, and the power of KCON at the center of the wave,” Rain said in his opening speech. This night, he said, would bring together both old and new generations of K-Pop. And he was right: There is no better example of K-Pop’s past and present than last night in the Crypto.com Arena.
ZEROBASEONE making their North American debut. CJ ENM Global PR
The biggest example of K-Pop’s new generation came from the most anticipated act of the night: ZEROBASEONE, who recently debuted from the massive competition show “Boys Planet”. From the members’ viral pre-debut videos to the popular TikToks show clips that circulated weekly, “Boys Planet'' catapulted the group into superstardom immediately upon debut. Not only was KCON their first Stateside appearance – mere weeks after debut – but also their biggest stage yet. Yet ZB1 more than proved why they are going to be a huge disruption in K-Pop. They are a sensation with one hell of a debut single (“In Bloom”) and some of this generation’s most talented vocalists and dancers.
Most heartwarming – and surprising – was ZB1’s Dream Stage which featured dozens of fans who won a dance competition earlier in the day to dance on stage with the boys. The group performed “Here I Am”, a true shock for me as it was one of the biggest songs in “Boys Planet” that is not featured on ZB1’s album. Here, rookies and fans shared the stage, proving that only a few years – or weeks – separated talent from debut.
ATEEZ performing “Bouncy”. CJ ENM Global PR
By the time ATEEZ appeared to perform “Bouncy” for their headlining slot, it was clear that they were the leaders of the night. ATEEZ has received their fame the old fashioned way: by chipping away at new fans year by year. With each comeback, they’ve grown as performers, and they are unmatched as dancers. “Bouncy” proves this: the choreography is the most challenging of any current group and seeing it live is the equivalent of witnessing an earthquake.
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There is also the group’s ability to act which makes them electrifying to watch on stage. Notice the way San uses his choreography to emphasize the sexuality of “Bouncy” or how Wooyoung acts a ringleader of chaos when he says his iconic lines, “Slow it down/ Make it bouncy” and slaps his hands together. They aren’t just performing, ATEEZ is also telling us a story.
ATEEZ was also given the honor to perform KCON’s “Hi My First” stage, where groups look back at their first song. For ATEEZ that is their debut single “Pirate King”, a track that only slightly signified how provocative the group would become today. Infusing it with newfound confidence today, “Pirate King” felt fierce.
Yet perhaps no comeback has signified the sharpest turn of ATEEZ’s career than “Guerilla”, which explodes with power and masochism. “Guerilla” rips apart the old playbook for ATEEZ and culminates all of their weirdest moments into something truly memorable and shocking. It’s a force to witness live, and as ATEEZ tore into it on their final stage, they brought ATINY to the edge of collapse and back again. At it’s best K-Pop feels transgressive and last night’s performance showed there is no better group than ATEEZ to push the genre to new heights.
