The 2017 KPOP World Festival took place on September 29 in Changwon, Korea. This year’s event featured performances by BTS, NCT 127, Twice, Monsta X, Astro, and Ailee — but the highlight of the event was the finals of the global K-pop cover competition.
Representative teams from 71 countries participated in the competition this year, starting with the preliminary round. North America held competitions in Mexico, Canada, and the U.S., specifically in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco. KPOP-TV hosted the preliminaries at San Francisco State University, where performance teams SoNE1 (Davis) and Seoullect (San Jose) won 1st and 2nd place. These teams went on to the national finals to decide who would represent the U.S. at the festival.
The honor ultimately went to Atlanta-based team I.V (Iridescent Vibes), a four-girl performance group who performed BLACKPINK’s “Boombayah” with plenty of fire and sass! They brought their charms to Changwon, competing against 13 other teams (both vocal and performance) on national television. We can’t imagine the stress, but they shined!
In the end, Indonesian duo Tiffani Afifa and Alphiandi, who performed “Inferiority Complex” by Block B’s Park Kyung and GFriend’s Eunha, won the grand prize, which was awarded to them by BTS themselves. Here’s a list of the other winners in the competition:
BEST PERFORMANCE — Immortals Army (India, performance), “피 땀 눈물 (Blood, Sweat & Tears)” by BTS
BEST VOCAL — Akif (Singapore, vocal), “눈,코,입 (Eyes, Nose, Lips)” by Taeyang
EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE — One Piece (Canada, performance), “Not Today” by BTS
EXCELLENT VOCAL — Sinem Kadioğlu (Turkey, vocal), “첫눈처럼 너에게 가겠다 (I Will Go to You Like the First Snow)” by Ailee (also a winner of the TWITTER POPULAR CHOICE AWARD)
AUDIENCE FAVORITE AWARD — KINGSMAN (Malaysia, performance), “하얗게 불태웠어 (White Night)” by UP10TION; Ana Lucia (Peru, vocal), “보여줄게 (I Will Show You)” by Ailee
Check out highlights from the San Francisco preliminaries and the World Festival:
KPOP-TV congratulates everyone who participated in this year’s competition! So many talented teams showed off their love of K-pop and performance, and we loved watching every minute. Check back here at 24hrkpop.com for information about next year’s competition and how you can participate. Who knows? You and your team may be the next to perform on national TV in South Korea! 화이팅!
Did you have a favorite performance from the festival or a team you wish made it? Let us know in the comments below!
