KBS Gayo Daechukje 2021: Air date, how to watch, lineup and all about K-pop festival
With fans eagerly looking forward to the year-end festivals, channels are finally dropping information about the 2021 Gayo festivals. Since the mid-20th century, we have had South Korea hosting several iconic year-end music shows with the help of major broadcasting channels. SBS, MBC and KBS are the three networks that broadcast the major annual festivals where popular artists are invited to perform and celebrate the end of the year and usher in the new one. Fans also love the interactions between their different favorite artists as they get together for special collaborative stages like Stray Kids, The Boyz and TXT.
The KBS Song Festival aka the KBS Gayo Daechukje of 2021 is already being talked about for its choice of MCs — idol actors from groups like SF9 and Astro — and an explosive performance lineup of veterans and popular rookies like Red Velvet and aespa plus special stages. And while the 2020 edition was relatively sombre due to the pandemic, the year-end music show is once again allowing a live audience and hosting a hybrid concert in 2021. The in-person concert will also be broadcast online for international fans. Organizers have announced the theme as ‘WITH’ and will feature stages that will cheer and support those who are going through a difficult time because of the pandemic.
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KBS Gayo Daechukje MC: ‘Visual explosion’ from SF9 Rowoon, AOA Seolhyun, Astro Eunwoo
After KBS, MBC and SBS announce their hosts for year-end song festivals
Airdate and time
KBS Gayo Daechukje 2021 will air on December 17 at 8.30 pm KST (6.30 am ET). The duration is 185 minutes.
Where to watch
The KBS Song Festival 2021 will be broadcast on KBS’ channel. For international fans, it will also be live-streamed on KBS World TV’s YouTube channel.
Watch it here:
Hosts
This year’s hosts have caused much buzz for their visuals. We have idol actors SF9’s Rowoon, AOA’s Seolhyun and Astro’s Eunwoo MCing the music festival. While this is Rowoon’s first time as an MC for a year-end festival, he has been a special host for other music shows. Seolhyun has already made a name as an MC. On the other hand, this is Eunwoo’s second time in a row, hosting the KBS Gayo Daechukje.
Performance lineup
KBS has announced a part of their performance lineup.
Red Velvet
Oh My Girl
Kang Daniel
The Boyz
Stray Kids
Itzy
TXT
Enhypen
Aespa
Lee Mujin
SEVENTEEN
Sunmi
NU'EST
ASTRO
Brave Girls
NCT U
SF9
Kim Wooseok
STAYC
IVE
Special collaborative stages
TXT and Enhypen: They will perform 8 legendary K-pop songs from the likes of first-gen group H.O.T to third-gen group BTS.
Lim Young Woong and dance crew Hook led by Aiki: Their stage is titled ‘We’re Hero Lim Young Woong’.
Seventeen's DK and Seungkwan: Duet stage with a theme of warm comfort.
Members of Red Velvet, Oh My Girl, Brave Girls, Itzy, STAYC and IVE: A total of 9 members will perform Girls' Generation's 'Way To Go' with a theme of positivity and strength.
Since collabs between K-pop groups are relatively rare compared to other music industries, fans love any bit of interaction that they can get, whether it is a track or a special stage. Last year, there were several surprising collaborations like the special rap stage with members of NCT 127, Monsta X and Stray Kids. We also got a special maknae (youngest) stage with the youngest members of Oh My Girl, (G)I-DLE, IZ*ONE and Itzy, as well as a special sisters stage with IZ*ONE’s Chaeyeon and Itzy’s Chaeryeong. Veteran artists like JYP and Sunmi also got together for a special retro stage while we got iconic collab stages from the likes Jessi and GOT7’s Jackson.