Hello KCON-ers! For the first time in over two years, K-Pop fans were able to come together and be a part of the 2021 MAMA Viewing Party! This is the very first-time MAMA has ever been shown to an audience in the United States and we loved every minute of it! Not only were we able to watch MAMA with other fans, everyone's favorite KCON special guests were present as well! Let's take a look at our day! Recap Video Check in We loved being able to greet people at our check-in table IN PERSON after so long! Can you believe it's been 2 years? Our exclusive goodie bags were filled with fun Korean goodies! KAKAO FRIENDS RYAN Plushie Bibigo Got Chu Korean Hot Sauce Annie Chun's Organic Seaweed Snack AHC Essential Real Eye Cream For Face AHC Aqualuronic Serum 2021 MAMA Sticker 2021 MAMA Pin 2021 MAMA Tote Bag Free popcorns and sodas were provided as well! Surprise! No one saw that coming. No one missed the opportunity to take photos at our photo op! Selfies, group photos, solo poses. We loved them all! The lobby was full of fans waiting for the shows to start. We love seeing everyone interact! Did everyone feel a shift in the air when our Special Guests walked in? I know I did. Let's welcome--- KCON favorites Ellen & Brian never disappoint! They were so happy to meet everyone and take photos too! Did Reiner fan over the photo op? Of course he did. Our favorite MC Riley repped a colorful MAMA wardrobe! Look at all the colors and sparkles from all angles! I nominate Alex Reid for MAMA! She definitely looks like a star! Pink bear Eddie brightened up the room. Who else can slay such a cute outfit! Panel time! Cup Sleeve Fun with Reiner was a success! He was so nervous for his first in-person session but seeing everyone having fun was a huge joy. Reiner even held a fun pop quiz afterward. Were you one of the lucky winners? Don't forget to support Reiner for his first solo cup sleeve event on December 18th and 19th at Tealightful Cafe in San Diego! More information on his IG! Dance into K-Pop with Eddie was full of inside scoop during his time at Under Nineteen. Who else loved the tea Eddie spilled? Can't forget to thank our lovely Riley Tollett for being such an amazing MC! She really knows how to make the guests feel so comfortable. 2021 MNET Asian Music Awards MAMA here we come! No one in our staff was expecting fans to be so lively in the theaters! We loved it! We hope everyone had as much fun as we did! Hearing all your laughs, cheers, screams and occasional fainting really brightened our moods. We hope to be able to continuously bring joy to everyone at future events. Thank you to all our special guests and their own guests for taking the time to support our first MAMA event! Huge thanks to our photographer, videographer, sponsors, and staff for their hard work behind the scenes! Look forward to more fun people in the future! && The biggest thanks to ALL OF YOU for making this event a success! This was our first time hosting an event for MAMA and we were all so thankful for your support. K-Pop is all about the fans! So we couldn't have done this without you. Let's meet again soon KCON-ers! -KCON Staff
Hello KCON-ers! For the first time ever, MAMA held a public panel session at CGV Los Angeles. COUNTDOWN TO 2021 MAMA: The Future of K-pop Panel Session! The event was filled with special guests, panel speakers, and K-pop enthusiasts wanting to learn more about the future of K-pop. First, let's introduce our special guests! TikTok's favorite K-pop fan Reiner was one of our special guests to arrive at this event He definitely deserves a MAMA award for his enthusiastic videos! Dancers Eddie and Hope were also present today! Look how adorable they both are with the award! KCON favorites Ellen and Brian were stunning on the red carpet! Couple award goals! Can't say K-pop without K-pop star Alex Reid! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! KCON wouldn't be complete without our favorite MC Riley Tollett! Love the hair Riley! Next, let's welcome our panelists! First let's welcome Angela Killoren, the CEO of CJ ENM America! Next we had Jake Hong, the Director of US Music Business from CJ ENM! YeonJong Kim, the Head of global K-pop and K-content Partnership at Twitter also came to share great insight. Brooke Reese from Apple Music came and shared how K-pop has impacted streaming! Finally, Cynthia Littleton, a Business Editor of Variety came to enthusiastically moderate our panel. During the panel session, we had great topics that come up for discussion. From the impact of K-pop, overcoming language barriers, and hopefully bringing MAMA to the US. Of course, K-pop is all about the fans Members of the panel never forgot to mention how thankful they are for all the fans who continue to support K-pop around the world. We hope to further K-pop's reach by eventually bringing the biggest awards show to the US! By the end of the event, everyone was able to mingle and connect in the lobby. We love seeing K-pop bring together a community of executives, industry specialists, professors, and students who all share a passion for K-pop and the expansion of Korean culture! Thank you to everyone who came to support this event. We hope to one day bring the official MAMA show to the US. Until then, come join us on December 11th, 2021 at 2 pm to watch a replay of MAMA with special guests and fellow K-pop fans! This will be the first-ever in-person event since the pandemic! All information can be found below! Snacks, goodies, and being surrounded by K-pop enthusiasts. What's a better way to end the year? Click here to sign up and reserve a spot! We hope to see you there! -KCON Staff
KCON STUDIO: LIVE from the USA Week is back for KCON:TACT HI 5! 🎉🎉 KCON:TACT HI 5 kicks off in September and we're excited to announce our SUPER special programming for our KCONUSA fans! Get ready to join Lai Frances, Jeff Benjamin, JUN, Riley Tollett, and Tiffany Lui from Lovely St. Shop for an exciting week filled with some of your favorite KCONUSA programming! With new content, new programming, and new guests for you to enjoy, be sure to follow us on social and show our special guests some love by following their accounts too! Without further ado, let's go into our special guests and their program details further down below! SPECIAL GUESTS LAI FRANCES Lai Frances is a minted multimedia journalist with 5+ years of experience in editorial, video, radio and streaming contributions. In combining a rigorous academic experience with professional roles in digital media and pop culture spheres, she has exemplified a keen ability to coordinate social media activity, develop written and visual content, and utilize editorial skills at an expert level. Currently, Lai is a Social Media Producer at CNET by day and a Contributing Writer at MTV News, Teen Vogue, tmrw and PopCrush by night. Sometimes, you can find her hosting live talks with K-pop artists on BUILD Series. Most of Lai's projects revolve around pop culture, entertainment, music (K-pop/Top 40/Global), fashion (sneakers and streetwear) and more. Having a "glad to be here" attitude wherever she goes, Lai is always open to learn and grow with opportunities presented themselves. JEFF BENJAMIN Jeff Benjamin is an award-winning music journalist, curator and host based in New York City. He's covered K-pop for nearly a decade, acting as Billboard's K-Pop Columnist and TIDAL's K-Pop Editor while contributing writing and commentary about the scene in places like the New York Times, CNN, Rolling Stone and more. Recently, he's helped launch new products in the K-pop space including acting as an editor-at-large for Rolling Stone Korea and the new art magazine eLe magazine. JUN Jun is a violinist and artist on YouTube and is currently based in South Korea. He has made countless hits with his violin/dance covers on YouTube that have garnered millions of views and followers to this day. He is currently pursuing his solo career and plans to make more original content in the future. RILEY TOLLETT Riley T is a published portrait photographer who's lived in Seoul since 2015 and been a Kpop fan since 2009. As KCON's number one fan and supporter, she takes her job of convincing new people to like Kpop very seriously. She's done backup dancing for old school Kpop artists and voiceovers for concerts as big as Super Show, and her favorite part of doing photoshoots with artists is how creative you can get with your concepts when the models are so talented. You can find her photography in Kpop albums, magazines, KCON lineup announcements, and you are ALWAYS welcome to tweet at DSP asking them to hire her to take photos for KARD. TIFFANY LUI Tiffany Lui, owner of Lovely St. Shop creates one of a kind K-pop inspired stationery & home goods. Some of her most recent creations include decorated top loaders and beaded keychains. She has been a long time K-pop fan attending multiple concerts and events. She has also partnered with several businesses to host cup sleeve events & loved being able to connect with other fans. She's so excited to be given this opportunity to meet other fans and K-pop lovers. EVENT INFO To celebrate a new season of KCON:TACT we'll be having more content for you to enjoy through our LIVE from the USA Countdown Week! We're bringing some of our beloved KCON USA programs to the virtual world. What is KCON STUDIO - LIVE FROM THE USA? A week full of interactions with special guests via Zoom! We just announced our special guests who will be joining us for this amazing countdown week to KCON:TACT HI 5! This countdown week will consist of 3 programs that will take place via Twitter Spaces and Zoom during Sept 9-13. Schedule Thursday, Sept 9 6:00 PM PDT Twitter Spaces - KCON:TACT HI 5 Opening Ceremony Friday, Sept 10 6:00 PM PDT Zoom/YT - Meet & Greet w/ JUN Monday, Sept 13 6:00 PM PDT Zoom/YT - KCON STYLE POLCO How do I join KCON STUDIO - LIVE FROM THE USA? Fill out the form for which session you'd like a chance to join! Below you will find a link to the forms for each session. Please note that due to limited capacity, participants will be selected at random and notified via email if they have been selected to join. Each individual may only submit one form for each session. Forms will close on Tuesday, Sept 7, 1PM PDT. When will I find out if I have been selected to participate in a session? You will receive an email no later than Wednesday, Sept 8, 7PM PDT if you have been selected to participate in a session. Do I need to pay to join? No! Just fill out a form for the session you are interested in, for a chance to participate. Are minors able to view? Yes. In each form, there is a link to a consent form that ALL participants must download, sign, and date. If you are unable to access the form on the link, please find it below as well: https://bit.ly/387F3wD PROGRAMS Continuing on from the successful Twitter Spaces sessions from KCON:TACT 4 U, let's kick off KCON:TACT HI 5 with our Opening Ceremony session for Day 1 of LIVE from the USA week! Veteran K-Pop writers Lai Frances and Jeff Benjamin are back for the 2nd time to welcome KCON-ers back to another season of KCON:TACT while also talking about this season’s lineup artists! JOIN us on Twitter Spaces on 9/9! Bringing back one the most popular panel program of KCONUSA, we’re excited to have JUN for the first time on LIVE from
KCON:TACT 3 is happening in two days! Get ready to watch your favorite artists as well as our special guests. Keep reading to find out more! Schedule Sunday, March 21 7:00 PM PDT Stray Kids - 'Back Door' Dance Tutorial (Explanation & Mirrored) | Ellen and Brian Monday, March 22 7:00 PM PDT Eddy's Concert Makeup Tips + GRWM Tuesday, March 23 7:00 PM PDT Korean snacks that make you go *chef's kiss* Wednesday, March 24 7:00 PM PDT LOONA Glass Painting Timelapse by Susie Kelly If you missed out on Ellen and Brian's ITZY 'Not Shy' dance workshop during our countdown week, here's another chance! Learn the chorus choreography for 'Back Door' by Stray Kids with Ellen and Brian's mirrored and detailed explanation! Eddy shares his tips and tricks for your next concert look! Learn how to feel comfortable with your skin makeup while enjoying a concert to the fullest. Looking for your next go to snack? Reiner Acuario tries out some new and popular Korean snacks! Make sure to tune in and see what Reiner's favorites are! Curious about the viral trend of glass painting? Visual artist, Susie Kelly, shows us how to make your very own glass painting at home! Don't miss out on KCON:TACT 3! To watch the live premieres, you'll need to join with a membership! Check out more information on how to join HERE! Hope to see you all there! -KCON Staff
Hello KCON-ers! For the first time in over two years, K-Pop fans were able to come together and be a part of the 2021 MAMA Viewing Party! This is the very first-time MAMA has ever been shown to an audience in the United States and we loved every minute of it! Not only were we able to watch MAMA with other fans, everyone's favorite KCON special guests were present as well! Let's take a look at our day! Recap Video Check in We loved being able to greet people at our check-in table IN PERSON after so long! Can you believe it's been 2 years? Our exclusive goodie bags were filled with fun Korean goodies! KAKAO FRIENDS RYAN Plushie Bibigo Got Chu Korean Hot Sauce Annie Chun's Organic Seaweed Snack AHC Essential Real Eye Cream For Face AHC Aqualuronic Serum 2021 MAMA Sticker 2021 MAMA Pin 2021 MAMA Tote Bag Free popcorns and sodas were provided as well! Surprise! No one saw that coming. No one missed the opportunity to take photos at our photo op! Selfies, group photos, solo poses. We loved them all! The lobby was full of fans waiting for the shows to start. We love seeing everyone interact! Did everyone feel a shift in the air when our Special Guests walked in? I know I did. Let's welcome--- KCON favorites Ellen & Brian never disappoint! They were so happy to meet everyone and take photos too! Did Reiner fan over the photo op? Of course he did. Our favorite MC Riley repped a colorful MAMA wardrobe! Look at all the colors and sparkles from all angles! I nominate Alex Reid for MAMA! She definitely looks like a star! Pink bear Eddie brightened up the room. Who else can slay such a cute outfit! Panel time! Cup Sleeve Fun with Reiner was a success! He was so nervous for his first in-person session but seeing everyone having fun was a huge joy. Reiner even held a fun pop quiz afterward. Were you one of the lucky winners? Don't forget to support Reiner for his first solo cup sleeve event on December 18th and 19th at Tealightful Cafe in San Diego! More information on his IG! Dance into K-Pop with Eddie was full of inside scoop during his time at Under Nineteen. Who else loved the tea Eddie spilled? Can't forget to thank our lovely Riley Tollett for being such an amazing MC! She really knows how to make the guests feel so comfortable. 2021 MNET Asian Music Awards MAMA here we come! No one in our staff was expecting fans to be so lively in the theaters! We loved it! We hope everyone had as much fun as we did! Hearing all your laughs, cheers, screams and occasional fainting really brightened our moods. We hope to be able to continuously bring joy to everyone at future events. Thank you to all our special guests and their own guests for taking the time to support our first MAMA event! Huge thanks to our photographer, videographer, sponsors, and staff for their hard work behind the scenes! Look forward to more fun people in the future! && The biggest thanks to ALL OF YOU for making this event a success! This was our first time hosting an event for MAMA and we were all so thankful for your support. K-Pop is all about the fans! So we couldn't have done this without you. Let's meet again soon KCON-ers! -KCON Staff 
Hello KCON-ers! For the first time ever, MAMA held a public panel session at CGV Los Angeles. COUNTDOWN TO 2021 MAMA: The Future of K-pop Panel Session! The event was filled with special guests, panel speakers, and K-pop enthusiasts wanting to learn more about the future of K-pop. First, let's introduce our special guests! TikTok's favorite K-pop fan Reiner was one of our special guests to arrive at this event He definitely deserves a MAMA award for his enthusiastic videos! Dancers Eddie and Hope were also present today! Look how adorable they both are with the award! KCON favorites Ellen and Brian were stunning on the red carpet! Couple award goals! Can't say K-pop without K-pop star Alex Reid! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! KCON wouldn't be complete without our favorite MC Riley Tollett! Love the hair Riley! Next, let's welcome our panelists! First let's welcome Angela Killoren, the CEO of CJ ENM America! Next we had Jake Hong, the Director of US Music Business from CJ ENM! YeonJong Kim, the Head of global K-pop and K-content Partnership at Twitter also came to share great insight. Brooke Reese from Apple Music came and shared how K-pop has impacted streaming! Finally, Cynthia Littleton, a Business Editor of Variety came to enthusiastically moderate our panel. During the panel session, we had great topics that come up for discussion. From the impact of K-pop, overcoming language barriers, and hopefully bringing MAMA to the US. Of course, K-pop is all about the fans Members of the panel never forgot to mention how thankful they are for all the fans who continue to support K-pop around the world. We hope to further K-pop's reach by eventually bringing the biggest awards show to the US! By the end of the event, everyone was able to mingle and connect in the lobby. We love seeing K-pop bring together a community of executives, industry specialists, professors, and students who all share a passion for K-pop and the expansion of Korean culture! Thank you to everyone who came to support this event. We hope to one day bring the official MAMA show to the US. Until then, come join us on December 11th, 2021 at 2 pm to watch a replay of MAMA with special guests and fellow K-pop fans! This will be the first-ever in-person event since the pandemic! All information can be found below! Snacks, goodies, and being surrounded by K-pop enthusiasts. What's a better way to end the year? Click here to sign up and reserve a spot! We hope to see you there! -KCON Staff 
KCON STUDIO: LIVE from the USA Week is back for KCON:TACT HI 5! 🎉🎉 KCON:TACT HI 5 kicks off in September and we're excited to announce our SUPER special programming for our KCONUSA fans! Get ready to join Lai Frances, Jeff Benjamin, JUN, Riley Tollett, and Tiffany Lui from Lovely St. Shop for an exciting week filled with some of your favorite KCONUSA programming! With new content, new programming, and new guests for you to enjoy, be sure to follow us on social and show our special guests some love by following their accounts too! Without further ado, let's go into our special guests and their program details further down below! SPECIAL GUESTS LAI FRANCES Lai Frances is a minted multimedia journalist with 5+ years of experience in editorial, video, radio and streaming contributions. In combining a rigorous academic experience with professional roles in digital media and pop culture spheres, she has exemplified a keen ability to coordinate social media activity, develop written and visual content, and utilize editorial skills at an expert level. Currently, Lai is a Social Media Producer at CNET by day and a Contributing Writer at MTV News, Teen Vogue, tmrw and PopCrush by night. Sometimes, you can find her hosting live talks with K-pop artists on BUILD Series. Most of Lai's projects revolve around pop culture, entertainment, music (K-pop/Top 40/Global), fashion (sneakers and streetwear) and more. Having a "glad to be here" attitude wherever she goes, Lai is always open to learn and grow with opportunities presented themselves. JEFF BENJAMIN Jeff Benjamin is an award-winning music journalist, curator and host based in New York City. He's covered K-pop for nearly a decade, acting as Billboard's K-Pop Columnist and TIDAL's K-Pop Editor while contributing writing and commentary about the scene in places like the New York Times, CNN, Rolling Stone and more. Recently, he's helped launch new products in the K-pop space including acting as an editor-at-large for Rolling Stone Korea and the new art magazine eLe magazine. JUN Jun is a violinist and artist on YouTube and is currently based in South Korea. He has made countless hits with his violin/dance covers on YouTube that have garnered millions of views and followers to this day. He is currently pursuing his solo career and plans to make more original content in the future. RILEY TOLLETT Riley T is a published portrait photographer who's lived in Seoul since 2015 and been a Kpop fan since 2009. As KCON's number one fan and supporter, she takes her job of convincing new people to like Kpop very seriously. She's done backup dancing for old school Kpop artists and voiceovers for concerts as big as Super Show, and her favorite part of doing photoshoots with artists is how creative you can get with your concepts when the models are so talented. You can find her photography in Kpop albums, magazines, KCON lineup announcements, and you are ALWAYS welcome to tweet at DSP asking them to hire her to take photos for KARD. TIFFANY LUI Tiffany Lui, owner of Lovely St. Shop creates one of a kind K-pop inspired stationery & home goods. Some of her most recent creations include decorated top loaders and beaded keychains. She has been a long time K-pop fan attending multiple concerts and events. She has also partnered with several businesses to host cup sleeve events & loved being able to connect with other fans. She's so excited to be given this opportunity to meet other fans and K-pop lovers. EVENT INFO To celebrate a new season of KCON:TACT we'll be having more content for you to enjoy through our LIVE from the USA Countdown Week! We're bringing some of our beloved KCON USA programs to the virtual world. What is KCON STUDIO - LIVE FROM THE USA? A week full of interactions with special guests via Zoom! We just announced our special guests who will be joining us for this amazing countdown week to KCON:TACT HI 5! This countdown week will consist of 3 programs that will take place via Twitter Spaces and Zoom during Sept 9-13. Schedule Thursday, Sept 9 6:00 PM PDT Twitter Spaces - KCON:TACT HI 5 Opening Ceremony Friday, Sept 10 6:00 PM PDT Zoom/YT - Meet & Greet w/ JUN Monday, Sept 13 6:00 PM PDT Zoom/YT - KCON STYLE POLCO How do I join KCON STUDIO - LIVE FROM THE USA? Fill out the form for which session you'd like a chance to join! Below you will find a link to the forms for each session. Please note that due to limited capacity, participants will be selected at random and notified via email if they have been selected to join. Each individual may only submit one form for each session. Forms will close on Tuesday, Sept 7, 1PM PDT. When will I find out if I have been selected to participate in a session? You will receive an email no later than Wednesday, Sept 8, 7PM PDT if you have been selected to participate in a session. Do I need to pay to join? No! Just fill out a form for the session you are interested in, for a chance to participate. Are minors able to view? Yes. In each form, there is a link to a consent form that ALL participants must download, sign, and date. If you are unable to access the form on the link, please find it below as well: https://bit.ly/387F3wD PROGRAMS Continuing on from the successful Twitter Spaces sessions from KCON:TACT 4 U, let's kick off KCON:TACT HI 5 with our Opening Ceremony session for Day 1 of LIVE from the USA week! Veteran K-Pop writers Lai Frances and Jeff Benjamin are back for the 2nd time to welcome KCON-ers back to another season of KCON:TACT while also talking about this season’s lineup artists! JOIN us on Twitter Spaces on 9/9! Bringing back one the most popular panel program of KCONUSA, we’re excited to have JUN for the first time on LIVE from 
KCON:TACT 3 is happening in two days! Get ready to watch your favorite artists as well as our special guests. Keep reading to find out more! Schedule Sunday, March 21 7:00 PM PDT Stray Kids - 'Back Door' Dance Tutorial (Explanation & Mirrored) | Ellen and Brian Monday, March 22 7:00 PM PDT Eddy's Concert Makeup Tips + GRWM Tuesday, March 23 7:00 PM PDT Korean snacks that make you go *chef's kiss* Wednesday, March 24 7:00 PM PDT LOONA Glass Painting Timelapse by Susie Kelly If you missed out on Ellen and Brian's ITZY 'Not Shy' dance workshop during our countdown week, here's another chance! Learn the chorus choreography for 'Back Door' by Stray Kids with Ellen and Brian's mirrored and detailed explanation! Eddy shares his tips and tricks for your next concert look! Learn how to feel comfortable with your skin makeup while enjoying a concert to the fullest. Looking for your next go to snack? Reiner Acuario tries out some new and popular Korean snacks! Make sure to tune in and see what Reiner's favorites are! Curious about the viral trend of glass painting? Visual artist, Susie Kelly, shows us how to make your very own glass painting at home! Don't miss out on KCON:TACT 3! To watch the live premieres, you'll need to join with a membership! Check out more information on how to join HERE! Hope to see you all there! -KCON Staff