No drama at KPopDramaFest finale
After four stagings, KPopDramaFest came to a close on Saturday, January 27, at the HEART/NSTA Trust Portmore Academy in St Catherine.
“KPopDramaFest 2024 was fantastic. We had just a slight late start, but it ended up being back on time. I think it went well for the finale and I’m happy I decided to do [this] the last one from last year. The outcome was great and the vibe was wonderful,” Krystal Grant, event organiser, told the Jamaica Observer’s Splash.
Last year Grant announced that she would be stepping away from the event; however, due to the popularity and demand from local K-pop fans, she opted to do one more before retiring the brand permanently.
She cited the amount of personal effort on her part in putting together an event of its size as her reason for making 2024 the finale.
“This is the last KPopDramaFest. I was reminded why I wanted it to be the last one last year — the planning behind KPopDramaFest. To pull something off like this people normally have a team, but I prefer to be a one-woman show, because your results are because of you. So whatever you put in you’re going to get out. I like when I put in, and I’m the only one that can be accused of doing this and that,” she said.
There is some respite for K-pop lovers as Grant pledges to continue hosting smaller events to serve what is a growing niche within the Asian popular culture entertainment scene.
“We do have other events planned. We have sleepovers. We have drama events. We have river outings and such. So we have smaller events. That’s what we’re trying to do, smaller-scale events, but the big ones like KPopDramaFest we’re going to take a rest on.”
Grant notes her highlight as the very first staging.
“For me, it was the first one because it was during COVID season. It was just 50 of us. It was the first time we were all meeting, and we were like, ‘OMG, there’s more of us in the island,’ ” she said.
K-pop fanatics came out in their droves from across the island to soak in as much of their hobby as possible, with plenty of Korean popular music, food, and media on hand to the very end.