NCT 127 and Stray Kids Join the Performance Lineup at KCON 2018 NY
K-pop fans living on the Eastern half of the United States continue to grow in anticipation as we get closer to KCON 2018 NY. Known as the biggest celebration for "All Things Hallyu," the upcoming venue already has three popular K-pop acts in its performing lineup: EXID, Heize, and Wanna One.
The aforementioned lineup is pretty good for a two-day festival. However, CJ E&M made it known two K-pop acts will be added to it: NCT 127 and Stray Kids.
Who are NCT 127 and Stray Kids?
NCT is a concept boy band formed out of the "Neo Culture Technology" movement created by SM Entertainment president Lee Soo-man. His idea was to have NCT be a K-pop act with an "unlimited number of members" to be "drafted out" to an "unlimited number of sub-groups." NCT 127 is one of those sub-groups. It's concept is to only use members born in Seoul, South Korea as the number "127" represents the longitude coordinate of the city. They currently consist of nine members: Taeil, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan.
NCT 127 made their debut back in 2016 with their debut with their self-titled extended play (EP) or mini-album. It featured "Fire Truck" and "Once Again" as their dual featured title tracks.
In 2017, NCT 127 mande two comebacks. The first was their second EP or mini-album titled Limitless featuring a song of the same name. It peaked at number one Billboard's World Albums Chart. And their third EP or mini-album was Cherry Bomb. It featured a song of the same name and "0 Mile" as dual featured title tracks. "Cherry Bomb" was recognized by both Billboard and Idolator as one of the best K-pop songs for 2017.
This year, NCT 127 joined their fellow sub-groups, NCT U and NCT Dream, to release NCT's first full-length studio album titled NCT 2018: Empathy. They contributed their latest song "Touch."
Stray Kids is the latest K-pop boy band formed under JYP Entertainment via their music competition reality show of the same name. They consist of nine members: Bang Chan, Woojin, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N.
Unlike other K-pop acts formed after their respective music competition reality shows (I.O.I. or Wanna One for example), Stray Kids technically released their first EP or mini-album in the midst of the competition with Mixtape. Their first release after the show was their second EP or mini-album I Am Not. "District 9" and "Grow Up" were its dual featured title tracks.
The biggest celebration of "All Things Hallyu" in North America
KCON USA is the largest North American convention dedicated to "All Things Hallyu." It originally launched back in 2012 with just around 10,000 fans attending. Since then, it has grown exponentially with almost 200,000 fans attending. As a matter of fact, it has grow so popular that it is now divided into two conventions. The first one takes place in New York City while the second one takes place in its original venue of Los Angeles.
KCON 2018 NY will take place in the Prudential Center on Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24, 2018. There will be more musical acts leading up to the event.