B-Sides: KCON NY 2018 Day 2

We’re back with the artists from day 2 of KCON NY! Most of the artists who performed this year had the opportunity to perform not only title tracks, but their B-side specials as well. This week we take a look at what groups chose to perform (or alternatively, some of their best if they didn’t).

“Crush” - Golden Child

Golden Child opened the show with their cute charms that definitely won over the crowd on top of their impressive talents. Though Golden Child is still fairly new to the K-Pop scene, the group showed their musical versatility with the performance of “Crush” off their second mini-album 奇跡 (기적). “Crush” sounds very different from the group’s title tracks, as it carries a much heavier rock influence with a continuing guitar riff in the melody.

“Pinocchio” - fromis_9 

fromis_9 is very new to the scene, so not many in attendance were familiar with the girls. Despite that, they prepared a great performance showcasing their multiple talents. I was somewhat disappointed that the girls didn’t have the opportunity to perform “Pinocchio,” which is a track I was personally familiar with before seeing them perform. “Pinocchio” has a lot of different musical influences in the track and definitely carries its own character that makes it more than just a typical cutesy song.

“Velvet (LE Solo)” - EXID 

Fans were treated to a special stage of “Velvet” from EXID’s LE halfway through the show. “Velvet” is a sensual and addictive song that fits LE very well, even though she is not a designated singer. EXID is known for having a good repertoire of B-sides, and “Velvet” is definitely one of the tracks that fits into that category. Although the performance didn’t include the other members, it was nice to see LE on stage with such a catchy song.  

“Whiplash” - NCT 127

NCT 127 absolutely lit the stage on fire—even before their full group hit the stage. Taeyong, Mark, and Jaehyun came out after LE to perform a special stage of “Whiplash,” one of their catchy unit tracks off of the Cherry Bomb mini-album. When Taeyong and Mark team up for a performance, you know it’s going to be so lit the stage may catch on fire before they even start, and there’s no doubt that these three delivered on that promise. “Whiplash” is a traditional hip-hop and pop infused song that is bound to get stuck in your head, and the performance of it was out of this world.

“Kangaroo” - Wanna One

Wanna One came out with unit releases in the latest mini-album 1÷x=1 (UNDIVIDED), with each of these units performing a bit of their song at the beginning of their group stage. “Kangaroo” is a cute and bouncy song produced by Block B’s ZICO and performed by Daniel, Jaehwan, and Jihoon. The track definitely sounds ZICO-esque, and it is performed so well by the trio that for a moment I actually thought ZICO was on the track himself. While the sound is very different from what we’re used to with Wanna One, it’s still a great, fun track.