American Mother and Daughter Explore K-Humanity Through “KPop Demon Hunters”... Becoming K-Pop Fans Together

The story of 50-year-old Brittany Quigley, her 25-year-old daughter Emma Quigley, and her sister Sierra Larson, encountered at the “KCON LA 2025” event in Los Angeles, USA, illustrates just how widely K-Humanity culture has spread. Quigley recalled first exposure to K-Pop in 2017 when her daughter was in high school. “My daughter played K-Pop for me and said, ‘Mom, listen to this.’ I couldn’t understand the lyrics at all, but the music kept echoing in my head,” she explained, describing her eight years as a K-Pop fan. Interestingly, Quigley has now become an even more enthusiastic K-Pop fan than her daughter. “Now I’m the die-hard fan who likes K-Pop more than my daughter,” she said. Though this family lives in Idaho in the northwestern United States, about 12 hours away by car from LA, they flew down together to attend KCON. They planned to spend all three days there until the final day of KCON on the 3rd. Quigley first learned about the event last year when she saw a KCON poster online and “immediately booked tickets as soon as I saw it.” Their favorite group is P1Harmony, which they have followed for three to four years. They also enjoy various other K-Pop groups such as ENHYPEN, ZEROBASEONE, ATEEZ, and THE BOYZ, and they have a special affection for BTS. Quigley enthusiastically filmed videos in front of the promotional booth where P1Harmony performed, unable to hide her excitement as she said, “I saw them almost right in front of me—they’re truly amazing. It’s amazing to get to see them this close.” The fact that P1Harmony’s members use a lot of English also won over the family. “It’s great that P1Harmony uses a lot of English, so we can understand them right away without subtitles,” she explained. Meanwhile, on the evening of that day, KCON’s main event, the “M Countdown” concert, featured a lineup that gave a comprehensive view of the K-Pop scene, including groups from Babydoncry to NCT127, IVE, ZEROBASEONE, and P1Harmony. K-Pop fans filling the concert venue, which has around 20,000 seats, responded with enthusiastic cheers while holding lightsticks of their favorite groups. At the concert’s opening ceremony, actor Lee Byung-hun from “Squid Game” made a surprise appearance, drawing huge applause. He recently provided voice acting for the character “Gwima” in Netflix’s animated series “KPop Demon Hunters,” and on that day he appeared on stage delivering a monologue just like his character. He then announced the start of the concert by saying, “The world is deeply in love with K-Culture, and KCON is at its center.” Since its first edition in 2012 hosted by CJ ENM in Irvine near LA, KCON has become a “holy land” for K-Pop fans in the United States. 140,000 people attended in 2023, and 125,000 visited last year. As K-Humanity culture continues to spread globally, K-beauty is also gaining popularity. Cosmetics distributor CJ Olive Young is set to open its first store in the U.S. next year, and the exhibition booths at KCON that day were also crowded with many visitors.