Author: Denise Coley
Disney Shanghai Resort is set to open June 16, 2016. Despite the many issues that have plagued park development and potential opening– a non-Disney theme park using Disney characters, budget issues, using land occupied by thousands of villagers, and vandals defacing several attractions– global diehard Disney fans are eagerly awaiting the new park’s grand opening. The estimated 5.5 billion-dollar theme park features two resorts, a town area, the main theme park, and several Disney-themed shops, restaurants, and events that also have a unique Chinese flair. For those attending the park opening (or even those who are visiting the new Disney…
Canadian I GOT7s were given a treat when it was announced that GOT7 would be headlining not one, but two nights of the convention. Fans began lining up early out of excitement. The first of the two sold out fan meetings began with excitement as fans realized JB, previously thought to not be attending because of a back injury, would be at the show. GOT7 began the show with ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’, ‘Stop, Stop It’ and ‘If You Do’. After that there were short introductions from each members and questions. JB was given the title of best fashion sense by…
Day6 made their first North American appearance at Toronto Kpop Con on the third and final day of the convention. This was a particularly special show for member YoungK who considers Toronto his home. Day6 began their fan meeting with ‘Blood’ and ‘Like That Sun’. The members were all smiles as they introduced themselves individually, with YoungK receiving the largest amount of cheers from the hometown crowd. The members were then asked questions fans wrote down on sticky notes. When asked what member they would like to trade with Jae showed his cheeky side, responding that he would like to…
Following behind VIXX’s successful fanmeeting, GFriend were the next to hold a concert at Toronto Kpop Con in Toronto. This was GFriend’s first performance in North America and hundreds of their Buddies came out to greet them. The show started with GFriend performing ‘Glass Bead’, their debut song. Songs were performed in order of era, starting with Season of Glass, Flower Bud and finishing with Snowflake. GFriend also performed a cover of S Club 7’s ‘Bring It All Back’ before a VCR showing them preparing for their trip. The girls then introduced themselves with member Umji speaking in English for…
For the second year in a row, Toronto Kpop Con took over Toronto bringing Canadian KPOP fans even closer to their idols. This year TKC’s featured fan meetings from VIXX, GFriend, Day6 and GOT7 over May 19th-21st. VIXX were TKC’s first performers during the convention. Before the show, VIXX fans lined up outside the theater and took part in several preshow events. Many fans took part in a flash mob while others wrote questions to be potentially asked during the fan meeting. Inside the theater, fans were buzzing with excitement, singing along to VIXX’s songs being played. VIXX started the…
On July 20, 2001, Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away was released in Japan, making the film 15-years old this year. Miyazaki’s masterpiece continues to influence people today due to its imaginative writing, detailed animation, and artful spirit knitted into the fiber of a coming-of-age yarn about ten-year-old Chihiro Ogino. In honor of the film’s upcoming anniversary, we imagine who would be cast if Hollywood made an unfortunate and unnecessary live-action remake of the film. Of course, we hope Hollywood doesn’t touch Spirited Away, but we know how things go. As a bonus, we also imagined who would be cast if the…
SHINee Shine During Fan Meet in Chicago On May 8, 2016, SHINee held a fan meet at Rosemont Theatre in Chicago. Telling by the crowd and the amount of aqua light sticks, the event was a rousing, raucous success to the point where members were in tears, especially Onew. Pre-Show Prior to the event, there were worries that SHINee wouldn’t have a crowd as tickets weren’t selling well. Third-party sites like StubHub and Vivid Seats had tickets (many overpriced) available for all sections. For a while there, it looked like there were going to be many empty seats. Fortunately, this…
Dami Im is a Korean-Australian singer and songwriter, who was born and raised in South Korea. When she was nine years of age, she and her family moved to Brisbane, Australia while her father stayed in Korea to support them. Dami started learning the piano at the age of five; taught herself how to sing by imitating professional singers and having her mother as an opera singer must have influenced her musically since an early age. Dami began studying at the Young Conservatorium of Music program at Griffith University from the age of eleven. She was a national finalist in…
What About A.CIAN? A.CIAN are a South Korean boyband, who debuted in October, 2012, under the company ISS Entertainment. Their name is a combination of ”Ace of Asian” and ”Magician”, A.CIAN can also mean ”Asian Musician”, which is meant to represent the best singers of the Asia continent. Their fandom name is called A.URA., their fans are the light that shines for them. Even though, they don’t have much success in South Korea, their song ”Ouch” gained some recognition both nationally and internationally. A.CIAN was originally formed with seven members, however, many of them have left, including their original leader.…
After Time Away, B.A.P Still “Best, Absolute, Perfect” in Chicago In 2014, B.A.P came to Star Plaza in Merrillville, Indiana for their Chicago leg of their Attack! world tour. Back then, they put on a great show that was lively and energetic. While it was expected they would come back in 2015, a lawsuit between them and their company– TS Entertainment– over poor treatment, pay, and contract issues put a halt to those hopes for a year while the two parties worked out their issues. During this time, some fans left the fandom while the faithful held their breath. This…
Top Songs for March 2016 March 2016 is now history, and now it’s time to look forward to April and beyond. March had a few interesting songs that stood out in the steady stream of releases. In no particular ranking, here are some of March’s standouts. Dasoni “Only You” | March 3 While they’re penned as SoljiHani for “Only You,” people will still call this EXID sub-unit by the name they were originally given. Solji and Hani have rich vocals that are among two of the most recognizable in the current industry. The pair combine well to create a song…
Teen Top recently finished up their U.S Red Point tour and we were able to sit down for a short interview with the boys at the Dallas date of their tour. The group was very excited to be performing in Dallas for the first time. Q: How did you come up with the fanclub name? Chunji: We asked all of our fans to send in name suggestions and out of everything sent in we all like Angels the most. Q: What kind of music do you listen to in your free time? CAP: I like Jazz…
A-Daily is a Korean girl group that made its debut in December of 2014 as the first girl group formed under D.K Entertainment. The quartet are said to be named as ‘A-Daily’ to indicate that the members will thrive to spend each day in the best way as they can. The A-Daily members consist of Sena, Ziu, Jay and Young Bi. A-Daily have so far released two mini albums, with ‘If You Don’t Tell Me,’ ‘Spotlight’ as their promotional singles. A-Daily members have not achieved any notable breakthrough in their pop career as of yet, however we think there is…
Hit Point, the creators behind the hit game Neko Atsume, teamed up with Sega Toys for a new app game that could potentially gain the following its predecessor has. Spoon Pets, released March 16, 2016, features cute, hamster-esque critters instead of adorable, smiley kitties. Besides hamsters, players can collect puppies, kittens, birds, and sheep. The pets are really cute and have that recognizable chibi-charm that many Japanese characters have. While playing, thoughts of Hamtaro come to mind because the characters have similar cuteness. The game functions the same way as Neko Atsume: Players place toys and food in the yard…
Asian and Asian American Festival Events: A State-by-State Guide Here is a state-by-state guide featuring upcoming confirmed and tentatively scheduled Asian-interest festivals and events for the remainder of 2016. Press CTRL+F to search for your state. Upcoming events that are known to be happening like K-Con have not been listed yet as dates or months haven’t been cemented yet. Kcrush America would like to thank the organizations and sponsors who put together these events for their time during phone calls, email, and social media correspondence to determine if these events are confirmed or potentially upcoming. Alabama Date Time Event Location…
TEEN TOP 틴탑 are headed on their Red Point tour very soon! KPOPLive.TV have released special deals on tickets! These promotions are exclusively available at www.kpoptickets.com starting 8PM EST March 17 and you MUST use the corresponding promo code. ****BUY 3 AND GET 1 FREE Use the promo code ‘4TEENTOP’ when checking out to get 25% discount on the purchase of 4 tickets or more Available only for the specific ticket grades (Not Available for P1 Valid for the tickets for the same venue Not applicable for the tickets previously purchased Seats will be assigned randomly for the group to…
One of the reasons fans stan B.A.P is due to their charitable spirits and aim to make Earth a better place. B.A.P’s leader, Bang Yongguk, has even been nominated for the Shorty Awards two years in a row thanks to his activism. On several occasions, Yongguk points out how he and B.A.P support different charitable organizations including UNICEF, One Love Disabled Infant Care, World Vision, and Save the Children. With the Live on Earth 2016: Awake tour about to get underway, the excited BABY fandom is doing what they can to prepare for B.A.P in the United States. Besides buying,…
Spring and summer will be bringing many K-Pop concerts to the United States. There will be plenty to look forward to with AOMG, B.A.P, TEENTOP, K-Con, and GOT7 upcoming. It’s exciting to go to concerts and prepare for them, but it’s also stressful! For those who find concert prep stressful or you’re new to whole thing, here are some tips to help you prepare for the wave of K-concerts or any other concert you wish to attend now and in the future. Preparations Your favorite group just announced their tour and they’re coming to your city: Everyone rejoice! What do…
It can be extremely hard for a trainee of any company to reach debut and stay popular enough that disbandment isn’t always a possibility. It seems like many companies have fallen into a pattern of letting the fans decide who makes it into a group. Many have called these sorts of competitions cruel; YG’s ‘Mix & Match’ made iKON, then known as Team B, consider a complete line up change despite losing to WINNER (Team A) in ‘Win: Who is Next?’ previously. Fans get attached to people they may never see a stage again after an elimination from one of…
Seoul Station is one of those locations that can’t be missed when you’re visiting Korea. It serves as a gateway, located at the center of Seoul. Many tourist sites, hotels, shopping areas can be found nearby and the station’s location is not far from City hall, Myeong-dong, Namdaemun and other tourist-attracting regions in Seoul. On site, you would easily notice that there are two stations very close to each other; the older Seoul station which is no longer in service and the new one which is currently actively on operation with a daily average of 100,000 passengers. The former Seoul…