Tickets went on sale yesterday for KCON LA 2018 and I will be honest. I don’t know half of the groups that will be performing. Rather than complaining about KCON not bringing bigger name groups or SM artists, I decided to get to know the artists that were announced. I know I can’t be the only one that feels this way, so let’s learn about them! Oh, and if they performed at KCON NY 2018 (Wanna One, Pentagon, Golden Child, and Fromis_9) then you can find the information on that post.

Roy Kim

Roy Kim began his singing career after winning Mnet’s talent competition series Superstar K4 in 2012. He officially debuted with his first studio album, Love Love Love, in 2013. Following the album’s success, Roy Kim earned “Best New Male Artist” from the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards and “New Rising Star Award in Disk Album” from the 2014 Golden Disk Award. Since his debut, Roy Kim has 3 studio albums, 1 EP album and 10 singles, scoring two number-one singles on the Gaon Music Chart. In February 2018, his latest single Only Then took number 2 spot on Billboard’s Korea K-Pop 100 Chart.

Ailee

Ailee is a Korean-American singer and songwriter.  After being recognized for her singing on Singer and Trainee, she acted in drama series Dream High 2. Ailee received the “Best New Artist Award” at the Melon Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards and the Seoul Music Awards. She has currently released one studio album, four EP albums, and thirteen singles. Ailee was featured in the popular drama series Goblin’s OST I will Go to You Like the First Snow in 2017, winning her “Best OST” award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards.

TWICE

TWICE is a K-Pop girl group produced by JYP Entertainment through the reality program [SIXTEEN]. Debuted in October with the 1st EP [THE STORY BEGINS] and achieved bigger fame in 2016 with the 2nd EP [PAGE TWO] that featured CHEER UP. The group has since won several big awards with TWICE’s own music style ‘color pop’ and continued to release the unique bright, energetic and catchy songs: TT, KNOCK KNOCK, SIGNAL, LIKEY, Heart Shaker, and What Is Love and Dance The Night Away.

Nu’EST W

NU’EST W is a sub-unit of NU’EST, a five-member boy group formed by Pledis Entertainment in 2012. NU’EST W consists of four members from NU’EST: JR, Aron, Baekho, and Ren. NU’EST member Minhyun is currently not promoting in the sub-unit as he is promoting as a member of Wanna One after participating in Produce 101 Season 2. The character “W” The character “W” in NU’EST W stands for ‘Waiting’. It hopes to deliver both a gratefulness to fans who have waited for NU’EST long and a message to wait until complete NU’EST activity starts. NU’EST W released their debut EP W, Here with the title track Where You At in October 2017. The song earned the group their first music show win on M Countdown, 5 years after their debut.

IN2IT

IN2IT is a seven-member boy group formed by MMO Entertainment in 2017. The members have previously participated in Mnet’s survival show Boys24 in 2016. The members debuted with their first mini album Carpe Diem, which signifies the shift from boy to man, released in October 2017. The group made their debut on M COUNTDOWN  performing title song Amazing. The song has charted 5^th place on the M COUNTDOWN Chart on November 9. After announcing their fandom name “IN2U” on November 11, IN2IT held 4 concerts in December, attended “2018 Taipei High City” New Year’s Eve Countdown, and made their first Asian Tour in February 2018. In April 2018, the group made a comeback with new single Snapshot.

Davichi

Davichi debuted as a pop-ballad duo in 2008 with the release of their first studio album, Amaranth. The album brought them almost immediate acclaim, winning the “Best New Artist” trophy at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, the Seoul Music Awards, and the Golden Disk Awards. They released their second studio album Mystic Ballad with the title track Just the Two of Us in March 2013. To celebrate their 10-year anniversary, Davichi released their third album &10 with lead single Days Without You in January 2018. Besides the three full-length studio albums, the duo has also released six extended plays, twelve soundtrack appearances, nine collaborations, eight singles and eight promotional singles.

Seventeen

Seventeen is a 13-member boy group who debuted under Pledis Entertainment in 2015.  The group is known as the “self-producing” idol group as the members are deeply involved in the composition and production of their discography and choreography. Seventeen debuted on May 26 with a live showcase and was the first male Kpop group to debut with a one-hour live showcase on a major broadcasting channel. Their debut EP 17 Carat became the longest-charting K-pop album of the year in the US and was the only rookie album to appear on Billboard‘s “10 Best K-pop Albums of 2015” chart. In February 2018, Seventeen released a special album Director’s Cut with the title track Thanks which topped iTunes charts in 29 countries. Time Magazine named Seventeen one of the best K-pop groups during this promotion period.

Crush

Crush debuted in 2012 with the release of single Red Dress. He released a single titled Sometimes in April 2014 and his first album, Crush On You, in June 2014. This R&B artist hailing from Amoeba Culture has boosted his experience with producing gigs for Korean rappers LOCO, Gray, Zico. In 2014, he collaborated with Zion.T to release the single Just which became another hit. As a solo artist, Crush had an immensely successful 2014 with the sensual Hug Me and melancholic Sofa followed by the release of two EPs, Interlude and Wonderlust, in 2016. In 2018, Crush released a new single titled Bittersweet.

 

Dynamic Duo

Dynamic Duo is a Korean hip-hop duo composed of Choiza and Gaeko. The duo officially debuted as Dynamic Duo in 2004 with their runaway hit album Taxi Driver. In 2006, they founded what is now one of the hottest labels in Korean hip-hop, Amoeba Culture. Their second full-length album Double Dynamite earned them “Best Hip Hop Album of the Year” at the 2007 Korean Music Awards. Dynamic Duo has released a total of 8 studio-length albums with numerous charted hits. They took home “Best Rap/Hip Hop” award at the 2017 Melon Music Awards and “Best Collaboration” at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards with Nosedive featuring EXO’s Chen. On February 7, 2018, they released their latest single Bongjeseon.

Momoland

Momoland is a girl group formed by MLD Entertainment through Mnet’s survival program Finding Momoland in 2016. The group debuted with the EP Welcome to Momoland in November 2016. In April 2017, they released first digital single Wonderful Love and when the album released, MOMOLAND added to new members completing the current 9-member line-up. On August 22, 2017, they released their second EP Freeze! with title track “Freeze.” The group saw a breakthrough after making a comeback with their third EP, Great!, which included the title track Boom Boom in January 3, 2018. The week after, they performed the song and immediately took the win on Mnet’s M COUNTDOWN. The single jumped to No. 4 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales, becoming the third-best-selling K-pop song in America in last week of January. On May 23, 2018, the group announced to be making their comeback on June 26, 2018.

ChungHa

CHUNG HA rose to prominence through Mnet’s reality girl group survival show Produce 101.  She was chosen as one of the top 11 contestants to debut in project girl group called I.O.I. CHUNG HA became the main member of I.O.I’s unit group after the fame of I.O.I’s title track Dream Girls. She is an accomplished choreographer, having arranged the choreography for the title song Whatta Man. When I.O.I disbanded, CHUNG HA became one of South Korea’s most popular vocalists with the release of her first EP.  The talented singer and dancer has also gone on to work on collaboration tracks with other Korean artists. In January 2018, she released her second EP Offset with an electropop song called Roller Coaster. CHUNG HA was chosen as one of the “10 Best New K-Pop Acts in 2017” on Billboard and is expected to broaden her activities in the following months.

 

Imfact

Imfact debuted on January 27, 2016, with their single album Lollipop under Star Empire Entertainment. The album contains four tracks with the title track being Lollipop, and it was produced by the members. Imfact announced their 2017 project entitled IMFACTORY to their fans on a launching show on January 7. IMFACTORY was a mix of “IMFACT Factory and Story” The project consisted of monthly releases, mini fan meetings, and mini-concerts. The group began their first monthly “In The Club” released on January 25 at 12 a.m. KST.

DreamCatcher

is a seven-member girl group under Happyface Entertainment. They originally debuted on September 2014, under the name MINX with the single Why Did You Come To My Home. In July 2015, Minx released their first EP, titled Love Shake with the same name for the lead single. The single was a remake of the song Love Shake from label mate Dal Shabet’s Bang Bang album. In November 2016, Happy Face Entertainment revealed that Minx would re-debut under the name Dreamcatcher with Minx members JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, and Dami, along with two new members Handong and Gahyeon in 2017. The group re-debuted with the release of their first single album Nightmare and its title track Chase Me, on January 13, 2017. On January 19, they made an official debut stage at M Countdown. Dreamcatcher released their first EP under their new name titled Prequel on July 27. The album contained six tracks, including the lead single Fly High. 

WOW! I think this is the first time KCON has brought so many artists to LA. There is also an R&B singer coming named Mia, but I couldn’t find any information about her. Who are you looking forward to seeing in LA? Let me know in the comments below! I hope to see everyone there!