HallyuPopFest brought the biggest names in K-Pop, including Exo member Chen, to London last weekend.
The music extravaganza was launched in Singapore in 2018 and has had another edition in 2019 before finally going global in 2022 with the goal of bringing together high-profile Korean music artists to the UK.
In an exclusive interview with BANG Showbiz, solo artist Sam Kim described the feeling of performing next to many of K-pop’s most iconic stars as “intimidating”, but he was delighted to have his friend Chen around to support him before his set.
He said: “I came here, saw all these idol groups and people that I only had seen on TV, so I was like ‘Oh my gosh, that’s them, that’s SF9, this is crazy!’
“Also, it’s all a little bit lonely. Luckily, I’m close with Exo’s Chen, so he’s been kind of taking care of me, you know? He’s really sweet.”
Kim, whose last full album ‘Sun and Moon’ was released in 2018, says new music from him would hopefully be coming along, but that in the meanwhile “you might be able to see my name in other artists’ credits soon”.
P1Harmony also shared the feeling of excitement over being part of the line-up, with leader Keeho adding: “I feel like this is what makes K-pop so charming and loveable, there are so many different groups with different colours and unique people. It’s amazing that were able to show all of that at the same time, so were so glad to be a part of this”.
For the first time performing in London, P1Harmony were especially keen on showing “our youthful and free spirit”, as put by rapper Soul.
CIX’s third anniversary is coming up in late July, and leader BX expressed their happiness over finally being able to interact with fans after the pandemic, saying “we couldn’t see our FIX for a long time, so we’re just very happy to be here with you all”.
While enjoying the city, Seunghun said their goal was to do some shopping, swimming and “playing football with UK kids!”.
The festival ran for two days on July 9 and 10 at the OVO Arena Wembley, where fans were able to enjoy performances by girl groups Everglow, Weeekly and Kep1er; boy bands P1Harmony, Oneus, Astro, Cravity, CIX and SF9; soloists Sam Kim, Paul Kim and Hwasa; and the festival headliners Chen and Kai – from iconic group Exo.