My Very 1st K-Pop Experience

I've been aware of K-Pop since my adolescent years, and while I dabbled into listening to some K-Pop in college (thanks high speed internet and file sharing), I was never swayed to see a K-Pop show. Thanks to my daughters' obsession with K-Pop Demon Hunters and a wealth of TV performances from both Korean music shows and American late night appearances, I finally decided to take the plunge in 2026, so I bought tickets to see NMIXX in April with my eldest for her birthday, but NMIXX will now be our 2nd K-Pop show.

Via a mix of FOMO and dropping ticket prices (2 sold out nights became 4 to combat scalpers), my eldest and I headed to a K-Pop show 3 months earlier than expected, to see Twice, one of the biggest K-Pop groups of all time. Twice is so beloved that they have the nickname, "The Nation's Girl Group" in South Korea, but South Korea only counts for about 30% of their fanbase. Twice is also the only actual K-Pop group that exists in the K-Pop Demon Hunters universe (2nd to Huntr/x of course), and they contributed 2 songs to the soundtrack, their hit "Strategy", and a version of "Takedown" for the film's end credits.

The Twice fandom is called "Once" and Once is as intense as any other K-Pop fandom that you've heard about. I saw grown men wearing Twice jerseys with their favorite member's name on the back. I saw a group of girls wearing (homemade?) matching outfits from the Twice "This is For" music video. While I didn't see this myself, apparently 3 girls in the pit dressed up like Huntr/x from head to toe. Prior to the show, I thought I was a Once since I love watching their variety show appearances, but I'm clearly not dedicated enough to be a Once.

In fact, since going to the show was such a last minute decision, we were one of the few fans that didn't have a Twice light stick aka the Twice Candybong. All K-Pop groups have a signature light stick, but Twice's light stick may be the most iconic of them all. In Asia, Once started bringing inflatable candybongs to the Twice shows, and they've been making their way to the stage. These inflatable candybongs aren't official Twice merch, so they're not being sold at the venue, and I have no idea where these fans are getting them from. I haven't seen one at any of the North America shows, so it may be an Asia only thing.

For the show itself, it was all that we were hoping for: hits songs, smoke machines, lasers, backup dancers, confetti and lots of screaming fans. No one in our section broke down in tears, which was a relief, since I'm not sure how to explain that to a 6 year old. Actually, my biggest fear is that the screaming and the music would be so loud for my daughter and that she wouldn't want to go see another K-Pop show. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

This was easily the fanciest production I've seen for a show. Prior to seeing Twice, I'm guessing Jay-Z and Kanye's Watch the Throne Tour would be the next biggest production and that didn't have costume changes or backup dancers. I guess the Flaming Lips with Wayne Coyne's hamster ball is a pretty big production, but it was still not on the level of this.

My daughter and I had a great time, and as a bonus, she got to see Twice perform "Takedown" live. Twice has been touring with a band and the band definitely gives the songs a jolt of energy. Unfortunately, Dahyun had to sit on a chair for the majority of the show because she sprained her ankle on tour, but the other 8 girls were in sync throughout the night. When this tour wraps up, who knows when we'll see Twice in the States again, so I'm glad we were able to go, and it makes me excited for future shows that we go to in the future. (She's hoping for Stray Kids at some point because she's a STAY.)

While my daughter doesn't know about the NMIXX tickets, I'm sure she'll be excited when she finds out about them in April. And yes, I'll make sure she has an NMIXX light stick for that show.