Last night KCON USA announced that both KNK and UP10TION will be joining the ranks of artists performing at KCON 2017 NY. I honestly don’t know how they keep announcing artist I’ve been dying to see but they do and I’M FREAKING LOVING IT!
KCON 2017 NY also revealed more information about the convention itself last night, including the date for ticket sales. The concerts and convention will take place on June 23 and 24 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ while tickets for this amazing weekend will go on sale Friday, May 19.
Always finding new ways to expand, this third installment of KCON NY will triple in size, in terms of number of booths, merchants, workshops and panels. New York will also feature their first ever Beauty Block which, believe me, is something you’re definitely gonna want to check out! A hit when it debuted in LA last year, this special section of the convention – dedicated to the immensely popular world of Korean beauty products – will be coming to the New York metro area for the first time; which means if you’ve always wanted to check out all of the amazing products you see popping up in your favorite dramas, now you can! KCON is also bringing their ever-popular Dance Workshop to New York. This is a chance for fans to come together to dance to their favorite K-Pop songs with professional choreographers. All. Day. Long. Admission to the convention itself will be $20 for both days.
But about these new artist announcements…
OH. MY. GIDDY FLIPPING AUNT!
If you have no idea why I’m flipping out at the moment, allow me to introduce these two groups to you…
KNK is a five-member boy group who debuted under YNB Entertainment in 2016. The group consists of Youjin, Seungjun, Inseong, Jihun, and Heejun. They held their debut showcase on February 29, 2016 and officially released their debut single album titled Knock on March 3, 2016. Their title track, “Knock,” popped up out of nowhere, catching me completely off guard and about 2 seconds into the song’s MV, I was hooked. In May 2016, the group released their first EP, titled Awake, which was just as fantastic as its predecessor and only served to fuel my love of this group. In November 2016, KNK made another comeback with their second EP, titled Remain. KNK was included on Billboard’s “10 Best New K-Pop Groups in 2016” list at the end of 2016, because they’re just that fabulous.
UP10TION is a ten-member boy group formed by TOP Media in 2015. The members are Jinhoo, Kuhn, Kogyeol, Wei, Bitto, Wooshin, Sunyoul, Gyujin, Hwanhee, and Xiao. In September 2015, UP10TION released their debut mini album, Top Secret, with title song “So, Dangerous.” The group made its official music program debut through Mnet’s M! Countdown on September 10, 2015. The “So, Dangerous” music video was ranked 9th place in Billboard’s “Most Viewed K-pop Videos in America” for the month of September 2015. UP10TION has released a total of five EP albums. In November 2016, they released their 5th mini album, BURST, with title track “White Night.” UP10TION released their 1st single album, ID, in Japan in March 2017. The single album came in first place at the Weekly Album Sales Chart of Billboard Japan. With the sales at over a hundred thousand albums, UP10TION was chosen as the ‘Gold Disc’ of March in Japan. The group is expected to be making a comeback soon in 2017 and I can’t wait! *squee*
KNK and UP10TION join CNBLUE, TWICE, GFRIEND, HIGHLIGHT, and SF9 as performing artists for the two-night concert series. Tickets for the concerts go on sale May 12 for combo packages and May 15 for single packages. More details on tickets to the convention and to the concerts, including seating tiers and sections, can be found at www.kconusa.com. Of course you can also find the latest KCON news there as well. You can also follow @KCONUSA on Twitter, where additional artist line-up and other information are being announced and join the conversation with #KCON17NY. You’re also more than welcome to squee over all of these amazing artist announcements with me here and on all of my social media. Because you all know, sometimes squealing alone just isn’t enough!