While the past weekend’s KCON festival offered K-pop fans the rare opportunity to see their favorite artists in person through three days of convention and concerts, ZEROBASEONE took full advantage of the Los Angeles audience by surprise announcing a new album on the fest’s final day on Sunday (July 28).
After the nine-member boy band performed the singles “Feel the POP” and “In Bloom” at the Crypto.com Arena, a mysterious video appeared across the KCON marquee with the phrases “Cinema Paradise” and “August 2024” below it. The guys quickly confirmed that the tease was a “comeback spoiler” to the audience.
Cinema Paradise will be ZB1’s fourth K-pop release since debuting just over a year ago on July 10, 2023, with their Youth in the Shade EP. See the comeback spoiler “film” below:
ZEROBASEONE wasn’t the only artist to utilize KCON LA to tease new music.
Not long after ZB1 made the surprise album announcement, next KCON performer Jeon Somi revealed at the end of her set that she would be returning to the K-pop scene with “a “fun summer song.” The soloist shared the melody and lyrics from the upcoming track, telling the audience to sing along with the call-and-response lines: “Come and get your ice cream… / Too cold!”
Somi’s agency, THEBLACKLABEL, quickly confirmed that the singer’s new single “Ice Cream” would drop on Aug. 2 and shared the following photos.
Elsewhere during KCON, Billboard 200–charting boy band P1Harmony hyped up fans when leader Keeho shared the group’s “comeback is coming faster than you think” during the “red carpet” ceremony on Saturday, July 27.
Plus, the Japanese girl group ME:I (created on Produce 101 Japan The Girls, a local version of a K-pop singing competition developed by KCON organizer CJ E&M) shared a live performance of their new single “Hi-Five” ahead of its official release on Aug. 28. Previously, the 11-member outfit peaked at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 so far with their debut single “Click” in April.
The music video to “Hi-Five” dropped a few hours after making its live debut to KCON-ers in attendance.
KCON reports that a combined 5.9 million fans showed up in person and online from more than 170 countries across the three days of this year’s festivities, which is in line with the 5.9 million viewers from 176 regions from last year’s fest. With the bonus of surprise announcements and new song reveals this year, the upcoming KCON Germany 2024 in September should also boast millions of fans tuning in.
