Competitors dazzle at Koreatown karaoke and K-pop dance contest

A woman performs at a karaoke competition in a mall.

Staff Writer

Published July 21, 2023 Updated July 26, 2023 8:12 AM PT

I should have known something was up when I saw a guy walk down the parking lot of Koreatown Plaza with a glittery red suit.

See, I was there to judge a street karaoke and K-Pop dance competition co-organized by The Times and Radio Korea. I had expected an easygoing Sunday afternoon, some fun with karaoke lovers who were confident but could not quite hit that note.

But when Youngju Kim got onstage in his red suit and started singing (and thrusting his hips to) “A Nest” by Korean trot artist Nam Jin, I knew I was in for a different kind of afternoon. Nearly every singer wowed the shoppers who stopped to watch at the three-story mall.

A crowd at a mall watching a performer onstage.

“I’ll sing like I’m about to die on the stage,” said Kim, a 30-year-old Gardena resident who works in the shipping industry. Kim, who did not tell his boss about his plans to perform, had bought the suit just a couple days before.

Another performer belted out “Amazing You” by Han Dong Geun, hitting high notes without breaking a sweat. One man even brought supporters, who held signs in Korean that said, “Let’s go” and “A handsome guy” to cheer him on.

I asked my fellow judges multiple times: Who am I to judge all those talented performers?

A man in a baseball cap sings karaoke onstage.

The winner of the competition came down to a tough choice between Ju-ri Kwon, who belted out “If I Leave” by Sumi Jo, and Jay Yeo, who sang Lim Young Woong’s trot song “Elevator, Not Stairs.” Yeo won the competition with his kkeokk-ki, where a note is embellished by fluctuating between surrounding pitches.

Yeo, a 43-year-old reporter for a Korean-language broadcasting outlet, said his wife told him to apply.

His wife said he sang trot too loud in their home. Why don’t you sing outside? she said.

“So I went outside and sang,” Yeo said.

An all-girl dance crew gets an award onstage.

For the record:

8:12 a.m. July 26, 2023In an earlier version of this story, a photo caption said it was showing Shero accept second prize in the dance competition. The photo shows Project: KND accepting the award.

In the K-Pop dance competition, 14 crews from across Southern California performed choreography from popular music videos. There was Kim again, dancing to NewJeans’ “Hype Boy.”

One crew danced in blindfolds. One dancer performed with a rose in his mouth. The difference in quality among the crews was minuscule, with first, second and third places all separated by just one point.

The winner was Hush Crew, whose members dressed in suits and performed to aespa’s “Next Level.” Angel Padilla, a 25-year-old recruiter at a tech company, wore heels as he danced.

“Male dancing in heels should be normalized,” he said.

The crew is fairly new, starting in 2019 in Boston and moving to L.A. a couple years ago. But it has already garnered appearances on big Korean media outlets such as MBC.

“This year, we have definitely taken the time to grow,” Padilla said. “I am very proud of how far we have come.”

An overhead shot of a dance crew dressed in black Nike outfits performing onstage.

Even with the intensity of the competition, I could see how much fun people were having.

Grandmas were dancing and begging the judges to let them sing too. (Unfortunately, spots were all full by then.) People roared as performers hit that high note. Every dance performance was met by loud cheers and hooting from the crowd.

As the competitions came to a close, I was stuck by what Yeo said as he accepted his first place prize, a round-trip ticket to Seoul and $700.

“I’m thrilled,” Yeo said. “It’s the first time I’ve received a prize for something I like to do.”