KCON LA 2025: Three Nights To Remember!

All Photos: CJ ENM

Each year KCON LA takes over the Los Angeles Convention Center for three jampacked days of K-Pop, K-Culture, and fandom-filled fun. 2025 was no different. From August 1 to August 3, 2025, the streets of downtown Los Angeles were flooded with photocards, pickets, lines, and fans, eager to see their faves light up the Crypto.Com Arena stage at KCON’s M!COUNTDOWN stage.

It was a scurry of activity around the convention center between hours of lines (purportedly starting over 7 days before the first night of the show), badge pick-up, or meet and greets. Long convention days alongside three nights of back-to-back concerts made for a common mantra of the weekend, be it attendee or staff: “I am exhausted.” But when the lights dimmed and the confetti started flying, the crowd came alive, signs up, spirits up, cheering up. For who could miss another year of unforgettable K-Pop fun? 

This years’ line-up featured long familiar KCON faves and new fresh faces: from legendary ballad singer Roy Kim and a long-awaited MONSTA X post-enlistment reunion (though sadly, member I.M was not in attendance do the health issues), to the ever-present, ever-iconic fan-favorites ZEROBASEONE, NCT 127, HxW (SEVENTEEN’s sub-unit Hoshi and Woozi), or aespa. Rookies showed up and showed out too, not to be outdone by the greats, including freshly debuted Baby DONT Cry, vibrant and gangly (and, at one point, shirtless) NEWBEAT, and even Starship Entertainment’s latest boy-group IDID, who took the KCON M!COUNTDOWN stage with a stunner Dem Jointz-produced track prior to even debuting.

The best part of KCON? You can’t look away for even a moment–i-dle is a powerhouse, Kep1er performed their latest, heretofore unreleased track, P1Harmony are “Pretty Boy”s indeed (and wow, are their songs great). While IVE may have dropped their mic, all it did was prove that those powerhouse vocals are live! And, yes, the rumors are true, SHINee’s KEY announced a North American tour. Road to Kingdom winners CRAVITY danced-their-legs-off in Michael Jackson-inspired swag with a special wide-brim-hat-filled stage, and Lee Youngji effortlessly swapped between belty, rich vocals and her signature raps. NMIXX descended from the stairs serving looks and their signature “mixx-pop” (which I love dearly).

And even if your eyes were on the stage, the stands weren’t quiet either. I for one was jumpscared by ZEROBASEONE’s special MC Sung Hanbin approximately six feet to my right during a talking segment. Well done, Hanbin, my soul left my body. On the third night, I found myself dancing approximately 10 feet in front of CRAVITY’s Allen, who had popped in to watch KEY’s set from the back of the pit. Nowhere was safe. But that’s the charm of KCON, isn’t it? One second you’re nabbing K-Beauty freebies on the con floor, the next moment IS:SUE gives you a high-five.

Amidst the dozens of the stages, interactions, crowd reactions, here are our top knockout moments to remember from KCON 2025:

The Collab Stages

Each KCON provides the opportunity for artists to mix and match in ways reserved only for end-of-year stages or, that’s right. KCON. Be it silly interactions at the encore stage of the concert (who else shed a third-generation-K-Pop-loving tear when MONSTA X bowed with Jackson Wang) or refined, full collaboration stages, KCON delivers in full. And this year, the name of the game was ZEROBASEONE, who twisted, tutted, and belted their heart out along fellow giants of Korean music alongside collaborators like Roy Kim (who joined Taerae for a moving rendition of Coldplay’s“Everglow”) or i-dle’s YUQI,  pair dancing with Zhang Hao to the very sultry “Troublemaker.”

My favorite collab stages? Roy Kim and Choi Hojong’s moving dance-voice cover of “When Spring Comes” which featured Roy Kim’s honey-smooth vocals alongside Choi Hojong’s lyrical, interpretive dance. It was a refreshing addition to the KCON lineup, and a beautiful one, celebrating beauty in both song and dance.

The other knockout collaboration stage has to go to ZEROBASEONE’s Hanbin and Lee Youngji, who together tutted to Billie Eilish’s “You Should See Me in a Crown.” The choreography was mesmerizing, showcasing a form of dance not usually highlighted in K-Pop, beyond borrowing bits and pieces of hand movements for point choreos. The tutting display mesmerized, with bold hand movements and great camerawork – another page in KCON’s bold legacy of clever, unique collaborations. 

And who could forget KCON’s staple cover stages. JO1’s striking cover of SEVENTEEN’s “Fear” was tight, precise, and perfect for the J-Pop group’s clever choreography style and slick formations. izna’s cover of IZONE’s “Fiesta” brought summer fun and vibrancy. 

Let’s Talk SOLOs!

While groups might deliver their own charms, KCON’s solo stages brought equivalent energy. HWASA served “Maria” in dance, energy, and sunglasses, and YUQI’s middle-finger pop-rock solos did the same (also in sunglasses). NCT’s Mark brazenly performed his own, newly released solos “1999,” “Righteous,” and duet “82 Pressin’” with fellow member Haechan. KEY’s “Gasoline,” performed with the brightest red hair you have ever seen? Divine. Rising artist So Soobin’sopener stage was particularly lovely, with divine acoustic vocal ballads and practiced ease.

The Jackson Wang Party a.k.a. Third Gen is Back!

This KCON offered a real feast for those of us with a soft spot for third generation K-Pop, those groups that debuted from about 2012-2019: MONSTA X reunited in North America for the first time in three years; SEVENTEEN’s Hoshi and Woozi went stupid dummy in the club like an idiot with their last North American performance before military enlistment, Jackson Wang brought insane energy, HWASA surprised fans with a MAMAMOO medley, and NCT 127, of course, introduced us to some new thangs. It was a celebration of third generation K-Pop, and a wonderful one for those of us with a soft spot for 2018.

And for those who are fonder of different K-Pop generations, there was plenty of that too. Fifth generation up-and-comers ALL DAY PROJECT or ifeye and heavy-hitters like RIIZE and MEOVV enraptured the audience. “Bag Bad Back” has yet to leave my brain. Fourth generation K-Pop got shotouts through P1HARMONY, CRAVITY, aespa, Kep1er, IVE, NOWZ, and the list goes on. Reaching even further back, KEY, ever the pro second generation diva, and izna, with a hip-shaking cover of Brown Eyed Girls’ “Abracadabra” both brought things back to 2010.

Everywhere You Look, K-Pop Demon Hunters

Everyone’s favorite animated hit K-Pop Demon Hunters was clearly the film of the summer. With cosplayers wandering the convention to stages, KCON clearly seized the moment to lean into the hype. CRAVITY’s M!COUNTDOWN intro stage offered a tongue-and-cheek nod to the fictional Saja Boys, all enormous hats and sharp, near demonic poise. izna’strio cover of “Golden” was just that: blindingly brilliant, with clear vocals and radiant beauty, fiction and non-fiction collided.

The Iconic Dreamstage

At the end of the day (and the end of the night) KCON LA is not KCON LA without the admired Dreamstage, a collaborative stage between fans and artists to perform together on the M!COUNTDOWN stage. Every year fans submit dance cover videos to KCON for the chance to be selected to perform on the M!COUNTDOWN stage with their favorite artists. The Dreamstage finalist auditions occur during the convention, with one hundred semifinalists performing in cohorts. This year’s Dreamstage winners shared the stage with NCT 127, MONSTA X, or HxW. As the final selections are read off over the microphone , the lucky finalists scramble to their feet to head off to rehearsals and prepare for the big night.

As the confetti rains down on the M!COUNTDOWN Stage, the Dreamstage KCONers hit pose after pose for their very own ending fairy. It’s emblematic of the spirit of KCON, uniting fans and artists alike in a shared love for K-Pop and K-Culture: “Let’s KCON!”