Ep. 148: Inside Minnesota’s Growing K-pop Scene

[00:00:00] Mall of America, it's home to world-class shopping, great dining, and amazing attractions and events. And these are our stories presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism. Hi Mall of America fans. Welcome to this episode of So Much More. I am Jill Renzel, your host for today's show, and I'm joined by Sierra George. She is our Experiential Events Manager. Sierra, welcome to So Much More. Thank you. We haven't had a chance to co-host together, so I'm super excited about this today. I'm pumped. I love it. You've been with Dan,

[00:00:27] but now we get a chance to co-host because we're going to talk all things K-pop. So if you are a big fan of K-pop or if you know someone, or if you don't know anything, you need to tune in because you're going to learn everything about K-pop and what we've done here at Mall of America and what's to come. So we are so excited to have joining with us today, Andrew Melendrez and Toby Vang. They're from Minnesota K-pop Connection, or MN K-pop Connection. It's a Minnesota-based community group

[00:00:53] bringing together fans through dance events and cultural celebrations. From the recent Random Dance Challenge here at Mall of America to the continued rise of K-pop events in the region, they're helping us grow a passionate local fan base. So you guys, welcome to the show. Thanks for having us. Thank you for having us. Okay. Let's just jump right in. I am so fascinated with this movement because we are seeing so many more events on our calendar. We're seeing tenants come forward, opening their doors here. So

[00:01:20] tell us about why you created the MN K-pop Connection. I don't know if you refer to it as Minnesota K-pop Connectionion, but tell us about your company, what you guys are doing and just this amazing movement of K-pop culture. Yeah. So we're Minnesota K-pop Connect and we started in 2022. We wanted a way to kind of connect the dance and K-pop community. So that kind of came together, Minnesota K-pop Connect. And it came after, you know, K-pop has always been around for us,

[00:01:47] even when I was growing up. And it wasn't really until I had the opportunity to see BTS in 2020, that we started to say, hey, wow, there's this awesome community of people who like to sing and dance and, you know, get along with the music. And so we wanted to bring that energy here to Minnesota. I mean, we're Minnesota residents and that's kind of how Minnesota K-pop Connect started. Yeah. Yeah. And so my amazing and beautiful wife is a huge K-pop fan and we got connected with Toby and

[00:02:15] we're watching him host these small events at other conventions, like anime conventions, which has a huge overlap audience. And he has like 12, 15 dancers. And then we go to the next one, he has like 20 and 30 dancers. And then my wife goes, you know, there's a big community here that needs this. And she goes, well, why don't we just make this a big thing? Like, why don't we make this an official business? And a company, it's not a business focused on making money. It's focused on growing our K-pop community. And it's just really blossomed. And now our events that we host really average

[00:02:44] 700, 800 people. And well, we have a large convention now every year that we do at the River Center and we're just so excited to watch everything boom and explode because we keep going out to LA for the big K-pop culture out there. We go to the East Coast for their K-pop events. We don't have anything here in the Midwest. And so just having that and growing that community right here has been a lot of fun. That is fantastic. So people that don't know what K-pop is, can you get a little bit more granular on how you define K-pop culture and entertainment? Yeah, I could jump in.

[00:03:14] So K-pop stands for Korean pop music. And for people that don't know, it's just music that derives from Korea. And they get really intricate with the dances and the music. And do you want to jump in? Yeah. And the choreography is really intricate. I think it's really defined by, you know, usually it's a group. There are some solo performances, but predominantly they're groups,

[00:03:42] they're K-pop groups, and they have really intricate choreography. The lyrics are always, for the most part, almost always clean as well. So it's always lots of family fun. And it's really just a community completely based on their fandom. So every K-pop group has their own fan base. So like for BTS, they have their army, right? We brought a K-pop group to town called Big Ocean. Their fans are called Pado. And so you kind of not only have to know the group, you also have to know

[00:04:09] which group you're in. And then for K-pop fans, everyone, since everyone has a group, you might also have a favorite in that group. That might be called your bias. So if somebody asks you what's your bias or who's your bias, they're asking you who your favorite person is in that group. That's fantastic. I just learned a lot. That's great. So Sierra, you have been our expert on K-pop events here at the mall. We've enjoyed this fandom. And so I would love for you to talk a little bit

[00:04:36] about what you've experienced with our programming. Yeah. And so, you know, years before I even started here, it was an intern project. They kind of said, hey, event interns, what would you like to see here? And they're like, you know what? We have a huge K-pop fan base in Minnesota. We would love to highlight that and bring that to the mall. So it all started with an intern project and we partnered with a local dance company, MKDC, and they hosted the K-pop Midwest Festival here. And that really

[00:05:02] started our first start with K-pop at the mall. And it has just kind of escalated from there. And so I've been fortunate enough to kind of have my hand in everything with that. We had the debut performance of Cat's Eye, which was so exciting. That turnout was huge. And you can really see the dedication of that fan base there. And it is such a joyful, loving fan base. Everything is so light and positive. And so we constantly were like, how can we bring that back to the mall? And so when we heard about

[00:05:31] the K-pop dance challenges, we're like, we need to have that in our Huntington Bank rotunda. And so this is how we brought in Minnesota K-pop Connect. And we leaned into your expertise, hosted that K-pop dance challenge, and it was so much fun. So I had to laugh when Andrew was like, well, yeah, five to 800 people come to events. That's what we thought was going to be coming for Cat's Eye. We were a little underestimated. How many people did we have show up? Over 8,000 people showed up.

[00:05:58] Add another zero. It was bananas, but such a fun energy. The fans enjoyed it. And when you talk about the choreography, I think that really brings it to the next level because it is a very entertaining entertainment genre to watch as far as not only the music, but the choreography. It is fantastic. And there's usually not just two or three people in a group. It is usually five, six, seven, eight. There's quite a few people on the stage performing and it is electric. It's super fun.

[00:06:25] And with the K-pop dance challenge, can you tell people exactly what that is and what happens at those events? Yeah. So it's a K-pop random play. And what happens is there's a bunch of popular music that plays. And if you know the choreography, you jump in and it kind of looks like this flash mob of people. And this movement didn't really start until about 2010s. And then we saw this happening in LA in the big cities. And we really wanted to bring that here because there really wasn't that

[00:06:54] community for it yet. And so ever since then, we've had a lot of people chime in. It's a lot of fun. It's inclusive. It's low stress. You just jump in and you have fun with it. Yeah. And I think for me, and I have also the perspective of being a parent, I see these kids that are very introverted. Like, I mean, the second they walk off that dance floor, they're like this in their phones and they walk on this dance floor and they just light up. And you just watch them do this very intricate choreography. You have two, 300 kids dancing

[00:07:22] at once and they all know these intricate moves and we'll pay 300 songs in a three hour event and they will know 250 of the dances. So I think it just gives them something really positive to do. It gives us something really active to do. And I can't tell you how many times we've heard like from parents that bring their kids to our events go, my kid was so introverted. And now watching them do this, you watch them come out of their shell. And that's also what we did then with the random dance challenge. Is this what transpired here at the mall?

[00:07:49] Yes, exactly. And I love it because when you think like, oh, dancing in public in broad daylight is kind of like a scary situation. You wouldn't think like that people would just jump in and start dancing. But because it's such a like warm community and so fun that all ages, all levels of dance can just have fun, jump in, enjoy themselves. And it was great. Yeah. Fantastic. I love it. So we talked a little bit about retail. We have a brand new store opening

[00:08:16] K-pop Nara. You guys helped us put together some grand opening festivities back a few months ago before they opened. So let's talk a little bit about that new store. And I'm curious if you guys have been shopping there yet or if what are some of the fan favorite items? Yeah, we've already been. Me and my group, it's a lot of fun. And we're so happy to see that like these big stores are coming to the Mall of America. And it's the Mall of America, the biggest mall here

[00:08:41] in the United States. And so it's really cool. They have a bunch of like albums. They do events. We follow them pretty closely. And it's a lot of fun. The environment is fun. The atmosphere is great. It's really cool. So we're happy to see them here. That's great. And Sierra, that was round two of Cat's Eye that came through with that grand opening or I should say the preview. So talk a little bit about when they came back the second time. So we were so fortunate and it came about to exactly a year since they did their debut performance.

[00:09:10] They did a surprise pop-up. So K-pop Nara had some like merch for sale, kind of teasing their store opening. And it honestly was kind of a surprise to us too, because we didn't really learn a couple days beforehand that like, could they come? Couldn't they come? And they were able to come, surprise the guests. They said hi and everything. And it was great. I mean, I love a good surprise. And especially when I can see the fan base who love them so dearly, see them in real life for the first time. You can't beat that. Yeah.

[00:09:39] So have you had some fun fan moments or memorable stories that you guys have from some of these events that you'd like to share? Yeah, I could go really quick. Really quick adding on to that Cat's Eye thing. I actually had the opportunity to meet them later that day. I think they went to Minneapolis Target. So that was really cool. I got a signed album. So it was really cool for them to come back to Minnesota and kind of do that full circle moment of them coming back to the mall at first. But yeah, just going to the concerts,

[00:10:05] it's really fun. We recently just went to twice at the Grand Casino and it was packed. We're so happy to see that the love that Minnesota has for these groups is just absolutely unreal. And hopefully it brings more people back because, you know, we love to see these things and it kind of brings the community together and, you know, we're really active and it's a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. I think that to me is the big piece of seeing people come here. And that's why we're grateful to have MOA because it's hard. Like K-pop is not known in the Midwest.

[00:10:35] They know to go to LA. They know to go to New York. K-pop NARA has stores in LA and New York. So we were really excited when K-pop NARA decided to launch a store here because it meant that we are more so on the map because of the K-pop community has more of that awareness. We've, as an organization, have started bringing more K-pop groups to Minnesota. We're hosting another K-pop group in June at another theater. And I think K-pop NARA and people seeing like, MOA is a huge attraction for them too. Anytime we bring a K-pop group, the first thing they go is,

[00:11:04] can we go to the Mall of America? And we go, yeah, absolutely. And so we get a chance to walk them around too. So I think that is these partnerships that we're building, the movement that's happening, we're seeing it increase. And I think we'll just continue to see bigger and bigger acts come to Minnesota. And it means our fans don't have to travel as far to go see these groups. Absolutely. So we do have one coming to the mall here in the near future. So if people mark your calendars for May 16th, Ampersum won. So if you guys can talk a little bit about their claim to fame

[00:11:32] and what fans can expect when they come here to Mall of America. Yeah, they're an up and coming boy group. I know that. They're getting some traction, some popularity. They just did their world tour and we're so happy to see that they've decided to make a stop here at the mall. I mean, for it to be free, just like Cat's Eye. You guys know, I mean, that was packed. We were there that day and you couldn't even see if you were, you had to be pretty far back to see if you weren't lined up early. So we're super excited to see

[00:11:59] the Ampersum one will be here to give people even more taste of what K-pop is and what's to come for the scene here. Yeah. And thanks for bringing them. I mean, I think that's something that if... K-pop really runs. I mean, everything from they have dance academies where these are kids in Korea that are leaving their homes at 13, 14 years old, going to these academies, trying out against hundreds of other kids, and then they get put into a group. That group is then put on a path to then go do tours and concerts.

[00:12:27] And they usually start in Europe and in Asia. And then the US is kind of like, okay, we believe in you enough. We're going to bring you to the US market. So I think MOA could be one of those places where they're like, okay, you know you've made it in the US when you get your MOA stop, right? And I think that's such a cool vibe and that'll help us with the partnerships that we continue to build and the community we have. And then eventually you get to Cat's Eye level or BTS level or TWICE level where you're playing the full stadiums and arenas.

[00:12:54] So. Okay, Sierra. So how are you preparing for the upcoming crowd on May 16th? We are. We are very excited. Definitely getting in a loop with our security team. That's always top of mind. Make sure that everyone's safe, the guests and also the artists. One thing that we really kind of lean into is with like a ticket system so that people for on the floor, they'll have a ticket. And so when, if they, you know, camp outside the night before getting all excited, they know what they're coming into. So they're like, you know what? I can watch from the upper levels,

[00:13:21] but people that do have a ticket can then safely watch on the first level. So we're kind of thinking through all those different logistics. We want the best experience for those fans. They want to, you know, see their favorite people and also experience it as well. So we kind of have to think, how can we create a like safe and logical environment, then also make it the best time for them? Because I went to these concerts when I was growing up and they become like my favorite core memories. And so being able to do that for guests these days, it's just like a full circle moment.

[00:13:49] And I am so happy to do it. Yeah. I know we have pictures from when I started an events here, then Sierra was a fan and we can like point her out in the crowd. I'm working. She's a fan. It does. It comes full circle. So it's fantastic. So you talk about tickets. So we've always done wristbands for events. How is that changing the way that we plan events? I mean, as far as are people going to get tickets in advance, they just follow an information on our website. If they're planning to come on May 16th,

[00:14:17] what does that look like and how should they prepare? Yes. So it's currently sold out. So if you are interested, please still come. You can watch on the upper levels, but if you did get a ticket, it also has a meet and greet component to it. So there's kind of different levels that you can come and you can meet the artist and there's like different levels. They call them high touch points, which is new for us. I know in the K-pop community, that's very popular. And so they have like the high touch and it kind of goes through different tiers. And so it's been really helpful with kind of

[00:14:44] organizing the crowd in that aspect. And so you don't necessarily maybe have a huge line outside at 3 a.m. like how I did trying to see One Direction back in the day. And so that's why I kind of like how you can manage their expectations of know what they're getting into. And so instead of having the wristbands, you know, they can purchase their ticket, they know what they're getting, and then they can kind of enjoy their day that way. So I'm so excited. I love this evolution because when I did certain events, there was a lot of pop artists that would

[00:15:11] come through here. And when you said, Andrew, about being a platform to really make it in the U.S. when you can perform at Mall of America, that just like made my heart smile because I just, I loved that when I started an event because it was a platform for artists to be able to get exposure, to meet and greet their fans. And a lot of times it was on their way up, but now it's interesting because you're trying to get a gauge of how many fans are going to connect with these artists. And we've learned very quickly that these K-pop artists drive thousands of fans. So we are

[00:15:38] prepared for those big crowds, but it is, it's just so much fun to see because it's high energy. It's a great family-friendly entertainment option for us to offer for really everyone to enjoy. So I'm so excited to see these guys coming. Now, in addition to Mall of America events, you guys are hosting events throughout the marketplace. We have something big coming up in June at the River Center. So do you guys want to talk about that and how fans can get more information and I believe it's a free event. So talk a little bit about that.

[00:16:07] Yeah. So we're going to have the K-pop Summer Bash. It's our annual summer event at the St. Paul River Center and it's completely free. You come out, it's family-friendly. We're going to have vendors, activities, games, K-pop random dance. That's our main thing and performances. So you'll get a kind of get a taste of the local culture here before getting ready for say your first show or K-pop mini con. So yeah. Yeah. So we have four to six seasonal events is what we kind of call them, Summer Bash. We have a

[00:16:34] Halloween. We have a holiday bash. And we really want to make these, they're always going to be free. I mean, that's really our design is that that's what grows our K-pop community. We've had some fortunate to be on Fox and WCCO recently and we've seen this whole new crew of people come in, like this younger generation of kids that are eight, nine, 10 years old that have never been exposed to K-pop. They probably watch K-pop demon hunters and are starting to fall in love with the genre a little bit more. And then it's fun because even those that were kind of pre-teens when we started

[00:17:04] this a few years ago, they came to these events. They would just do the random dance challenge. Maybe they knew a few songs. Now some of them are in these dance crews and dance groups that are doing this like professionally, but they are organized, right? And so you're seeing them, this evolution of growth, even within those that come to our events. And we also started out, I think our predominant audience was predominantly Asian when we started. I think the last time we looked at our

[00:17:29] numbers, it was like only 35% of our audience now is Asian. 65% are others that want to come and just be a part of this movement. And it's also so much fun to watch that growth too. Thank you for mentioning K-pop demon hunters because now that song is like cycling in my head, but it definitely helped propel this cultural movement, right? I mean, as far as the music, the videos, as far as a lot of awards. So there's a lot of components playing into this, which I think is really making it magical.

[00:17:57] Yeah. And I actually forgot to mention. So we will actually have a couple of the K-pop demon hunter guys, the Saja boys will be at our annual convention, which is the one K-pop paid event we do here per year. That's our K-pop mini con, and that'll be at the River Center at the end of August. And that is the one we're going to keep bringing in larger K-pop groups as well. Okay. So you have June, August, October, December, lots of things happening. So how do

[00:18:25] people find out about all these events? Yeah. You can follow us on all social media platforms, TikTok, Instagram, X, and then K-pop connect. And then you can follow K-pop mini con there. We'll have all event updates, new announcements, guest appearances, everything there on social media. So, and the website too. Don't forget to check out the website. Are you seeing a lot of brands follow this movement? Are they jumping in and how are they creatively connecting with this audience? Because obviously we have found the opportunity,

[00:18:54] we're unique in that nature because we have the event spaces, we're hosting the entertainment. What are you seeing from other brands and how they're leaning into this movement? Well, I think K-pop as a whole can really accelerate any brand. So for example, there's a K-pop Adidas track jacket that just came out and it is selling out like crazy everywhere. You'll see K-pop, if it touches something in terms of a brand, you will see that brand start to accelerate, right?

[00:19:23] And so we've been fortunate that we have great partnerships with local groups like Even Duck here in the mall and they come to all of our events and they even bring K-pop merchandise into their machines, right? And so I think it's really a brand accelerator more than anything else because students or kids are paying attention to the fashion that these K-pop artists are wearing, right? And so if they even put on any piece of that garb, you're going to see it. I even think Jin from BTS wore a University of Minnesota sweater. Oh, that's correct.

[00:19:52] And that sweater sold out like that, right? And now they still can't keep it in stock. So you can see that. Any other collabs right now, whether it's with the artists, the brands, in addition to just that, the wave of K-pop brands opening in retail, but are there any fun collabs that you guys are seeing? I mean, you know, there's the BTS or no, the K-pop Demon Hunter's Happy Meal. That's one instance of a fun collaboration. You know, it's a thing that kind of calls to the fans,

[00:20:18] but it's also something new that you can try. And a lot of noodle companies, they do like K-pop Demon Hunters. There's a BTS on some of them. Jin has his own brand of noodles from BTS. And so the future of retail and K-pop, I mean, it's the comment helps, you know, circulate with the fans. So if you had a crystal ball and could wish for anyone to come to Minnesota next, somebody big that's made it or somebody, you know, that you guys are watching, who would that be?

[00:20:47] I think his answer would be different from mine. Why don't you go first? Oh, I mean, you know, we'd love to see a lot of big groups. My favorite is the Seraphim. They're under the same company as BTS, but we would obviously love to see BTS. There's a huge fan base here. The Chicago trip is coming up soon and people are like, well, we should just get them to come to Minnesota too. So you definitely BTS for sure. Mine would be BTS. My wife and I are huge BTS fans. We're going to the New York show and we're just,

[00:21:14] I think that, that for us, they are the biggest group still, right? Until somebody unseats them, they're the biggest. So I think when they come and they'll probably have to play US Bank, we'll, we're going to keep striving until we get that partnership. Or Mall of America. Or Mall of America. Let's do this. Party on it, guys. Don't worry. We'll get them here. That will be a huge ticketed event. I love it. How about you, Sierra, who's on your wishlist? And I mean, you mentioned BTS. I mean, they are the biggest of the big. Honestly, I've just, I've enjoyed Cat's Eye so much. And, you know, from the first time that they were here and seeing their

[00:21:43] evolution from a year later of how much they've grown, having them back again and even seeing the extent of how they've grown since they've been here. I mean, they've been partnering with Gap and having so many kind of collabs. I want to see them back here. It's just been a great time. Yeah. Yeah. That is great. So for those that are watching and listening that have not yet experienced K-pop, how do you encourage them to get started or how to, to check things out and experience it for the first time?

[00:22:09] Yeah. I think just turn it on. There's a lot of playlists, a lot of videos that can get you kind of through the door, like an introduction. And you just kind of figure out what you like from there. I think for me, it was just, you find a group or song, you hear it play and you go, oh, that song is so good. Like, what is it? And somebody tells you and you go, wow, I don't know. I like this kind of music. And you just kind of go down this rabbit hole of that. So I believe anybody just, if you're interested in a little bit, even the slightest, just jump right into it.

[00:22:36] You know, my starter kit would be starting with K-pop demon hunters because the songs are so catchy. It is such a good storyline. And I think it just kind of gets you into that mode of, and that's honestly where so many of these people are starting from that of, they didn't even know K-pop existed. And then they watch this and like, oh, this K-pop's a thing. And then you're going to hear a song on the radio because we do hear more and more even music collabs between US artists and Korean artists that are coming together. You're going to hear something that resonates with you.

[00:23:03] Then you're going to have your own bias. You're going to figure out what group you really like. And the groups are very different. Like, I didn't realize this, but they will tell you that a straight kids fan is very different from a cat's eye fan. Now there's a lot of overlap, but they still have their own like little quirks that they identify with as their own groups. And then I think it's, it's go to an event, try an event. A K-pop concert is under like anything you've ever seen. This is the only time we went to a concert once and the fans are lined up for hours in

[00:23:32] advance. They spend their own time and money making little packets where they give to other fans in line for no other reason than just a shared love for the artists. And it's such an inclusive community. They don't, they don't care anything about you or what you believe or anything like that. They just want to be there, celebrate that artist and be there together as fans. And it is such a like, we come home from a K-pop concert and we have our own little like tote bag of like gifts that other fans have given us. So it's unlike anything I've ever seen. Yeah. So when you talk about little packets, is that similar to the, I saw information about

[00:24:02] photo card trading. Is that a big thing? And obviously we see that in sports and other collectibles and things like that, but talk a little bit about the trading cards. Yeah. So photo card trading, it mainly comes from like artists release, like K-pop and Aro, they'll do like an album release and you'll get a photo card and people kind of have this thing where, you know, they collect their favorite members or their favorite groups and they'll trade it with other people. You know, when you get an album, it's random and there's a big pool of that. And so,

[00:24:30] you know, people want to, they're hunting, you know, it's kind of like these sports cards fans, Pokemon fans are looking for that one card that they just don't have yet. And that's a big component of the culture as well. But then going back to the question about the concert, it's people give freebies like wristbands, you know, even candy, sometimes makeup products, you know, people just like to give these out for fun to show their appreciation for the groups. Like we came from

[00:24:57] twice and we, like Drew was saying, we literally had a bag full of just trinkets, you know, of the day. And it's, it's so fun. It's, it's so fun. We recommend going to any show if you can. And we have photo card training at all of our events. And the cool part about this, we always so much, we always thought we focused so much on the dance, right? And the dances that are happening, but there's a lot of people that are huge K-pop fans that don't dance. I don't dance, you know? So the photo card training is another way to build another community and our photo card

[00:25:24] trading tables are packed and they will sit there for the six full hours of the event and just build community talking about each of their favorite artists on these little photo cards. But yes, very similar to baseball cards. It's also a major reason why people buy albums that I was like, who listens to CDs anymore, right? Like, cause these albums have CDs or vinyls and I go, nobody has CD players. And they're like, we're not buying it for the CD. Like that's the thing they probably care least about. They care about the poster, they care about the photo cards, they care about the other merchandise or exclusive items inside.

[00:25:52] That is very interesting because I was curious when I was seeing K-pop Nara with all of the photo albums and things like that, that makes more sense now. I love that. So do you have your photo cards, Sierra? Are you collecting them? Oh, I do. When Cat's Eye was here, their album that they had like an exclusive one with Barnes and Noble and it kind of came in like a box. And so they had, like you were saying, the posters, the trading cards, they had like a little Polaroid picture that was kind of an exclusive moment. And oh yeah, they're, they're at my desk. I have them. They're my prized possession.

[00:26:22] I see a new merchandise opportunity for us. We might have to look into this. We'll just think of it. I like it. In our back pocket. I like it. Well, you guys, this was a super fun conversation and I hope all of our viewers and listeners are taking away some really fun facts about K-pop culture because it is here. It is here to stay and we are excited to lean into it at Mall of America. So mark your calendars again, May 16th, we'll have Amperin One. They will be here performing in the Rotunda. We're super excited to have them here. And also on June 20th, if you guys want to stop by the River Center, the Summer Bash is going

[00:26:51] to be happening in St. Paul. So we're super excited about that, but follow these guys. Again, it's MNKpopConnect. Follow these guys, Andrew and Toby. Thank you so much for joining us. Sierra, thank you for co-hosting. What a pleasure. And to all of our fans, be sure to rate us on your favorite podcasts because we love when you tune in and listen to us and we'll see you next time on So Much More. Thanks for listening to So Much More, a Mall of America podcast. Subscribe wherever you find

[00:27:18] your favorite podcasts. This show is presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism.