Behind ‘K-POP SUPERFEST’ & ‘JOY RUCKUS CLUB 4’
Photo Courtesy: Joy Ruckus Club.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
With 14 stages worldwide, 250 performers, and two fully-loaded K-POP SUPERFEST stages, Joy Ruckus Club 4 and LiveXLive put on a 10-day pay-per-view concert festival from August 27, 2021 to September 05, 2021. This concert festival was a great way to celebrate Asian musicians, and end off the summer just right!
EVERLAST KOREA is proud to present an exclusive interview with Kublai Kwon, the Founder of Joy Ruckus Club, who will give readers an insight on the behind-the-scenes work of putting on Joy Ruckus Club 4 and K-POP SUPERFEST!
‘JOY RUCKUS CLUB 4’: THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Video Courtesy: Joy Ruckus Club.
EVERLAST KOREA: What is the meaning behind Joy Ruckus Club?
Kublai Kwon: Joy Ruckus Club is a play on "Joy Luck Club", the iconic Asian American novel. Hopefully the JRC Festival, is a "new" form of the novel, and is a "joy" for the Asian community as we create a "ruckus" or positive change towards empowerment.
EVERLAST KOREA: What were some of the difficulties trying to coordinate such a big event?
Kublai Kwon: Getting support from financiers to include acts that aren't within K-Pop. Getting financing in general was a challenge.
EVERLAST KOREA: What were some of the rewards putting together such a big event?
Kublai Kwon: Serving the Asian arts community when no one else is, and amplifying the Asian arts community at a point in time when Asian arts could have contracted and gotten smaller.
EVERLAST KOREA: What made you decide to use LiveXLive as the live streaming platform for Joy Ruckus Club 4?
Kublai Kwon: This platform has already thrown K-Pop shows, and expressed interest in further exploring K-Pop shows.
EVERLAST KOREA: What is the significance of being able to coordinate and put on a big event that highlights Asian artists and musicians from all over the world?
Kublai Kwon: It's very unifying to throw a festival with international scope - we are using the internet to connect very distant and disconnected regions, and this is empowering.
EVERLAST KOREA: Do you believe the viewers of these concerts are able to discover new artists they may never have heard of? It seems like this would be a great way for viewers to become interested in artists they never may have come across until the viewing of these concerts.
Kublai Kwon: Yes, there are many young new artists performing. So it's for certain that many of the top stars of tomorrow have already been included in the JRC lineups. JRC is as much about cultivating the next generation of artists as it is showcasing the current stars.
EVERLAST KOREA: Can fans and followers of Joy Ruckus Club look forward to in-person concerts post-pandemic?
Kublai Kwon: Yes, absolutely! But as of now, we don't know when concerts and festivals will really be back in a stable way.
‘K-POP SUPERFEST’: K-POP IS DAEBAK
Video Courtesy: Joy Ruckus Club.
EVERLAST KOREA: What is the meaning behind the title “New Beginnings” for this K-POP SUPERFEST event?
Kublai Kwon: In this new world that we live in, in this pandemic society we are learning to get used to, it is truly a new beginning in many fields, especially in the world of live performances.
EVERLAST KOREA: What was the main concept and theme of this year’s second K-POP SUPERFEST event?
Kublai Kwon: In this pandemic world we live in, K-Pop can thrive and further gain a larger audience in the virtual space.
EVERLAST KOREA: This was Joy Ruckus Club’s biggest K-POP SUPERFEST to date. What did it feel like to finally see the festival go live and the artists’ perform live?
Kublai Kwon: It felt great! With August marking our first year since the founding of JRC, it is amazing to see the growth of the festival, from 2 stages to 14 stages, and from 40 artists to 250 artists. We have booked 500 artists in the space of a year, including 42 K-Pop acts, and we have done 6 festivals as well.
EVERLAST KOREA: What was it like to work with many different K-Pop artists and idol groups during these past two K-POP SUPERFEST's?
Kublai Kwon: It's not always easy to work with K-Pop acts. Besides the language barrier, these acts are also worldwide superstars who demand a lot and respond only a little.
EVERLAST KOREA: There were many partnering companies that were part of this K-POP SUPERFEST event. What has KOCCA, Music Spray, SBS, and Pison Content, just to name a few, helped you learn about the Korean Entertainment Industry?
Kublai Kwon: K-Pop is a huge industry in Korea. It's as important to Korea as Samsung. More and more companies are drawn to work within the K-Pop business because of the overwhelming potential. As K-Pop continues to grow, there will be more and more companies joining the fold.
EVERLAST KOREA: What can K-Pop fans look forward to in the future from Joy Ruckus Club?
Kublai Kwon: There will be more JRC’s and more K-Pop festivals from us, so stay tuned!
CREDITS
We want to give a big thank you to Joy Ruckus Club for allowing EVERLAST KOREA to cover their events activities. And of course a big thank you to Kublai Kwon for allowing EVERLAST KOREA to conduct an exclusive interview. Joy Ruckus Club is a humanitarian-oriented and virtual concert series, founded by Asian Americans, and led by artists of Asian descent from all over the world.
SOURCES
All photos and videos are credited to Joy Ruckus Club.
