Hours before doors would open, thousands of K-pop fans lined up in downtown Los Angeles, stretching long city blocks in the warm August sun. In pleated skirts and platform shoes, toting the clear bags that have become arena staples, they danced and traded homemade stickers, banners, bracelets and photocards. Inside was their paradise: an IRL space to commune over their URL passions.
If anything, the 2023 LA KCON was a microcosm of K-pop’s macro influence on the music industry as a whole.
