K-pop girl group izna summons the Honmoon at KCON LA 2025

It’s not easy to summon the Honmoon, but someone’s gotta do it. Last weekend, in Los Angeles, many K-pop groups (and their fandoms) tried. While it may be the biggest names in the business—including aespa, NCT 127, Monsta X, and Seventeen’s Hoshi X Woozi—who draw the biggest crowds to the Mnet Stage at Crypto.com Arena (AKA the Staples Center), the best moments at KCON LA can come in getting to know an idol group or artist at the beginning of their story.

izna, a seven-member girl group managed by WAKEONE Entertainment with music produced by The Black Label, is far from a nugu group. Members Mai (冨岡まい), Bang Jeemin (방지민), Yoon Jiyoon (윤지윤), Koko (奈良井 瑚々), Ryu Sarang (유사랑), Choi Jungeun (최정은), and Jeong Saebi (정세비) won the second season of Mnet competition survival show I-LAND (the first season resulted in the formation of ENHYPEN) in 2024. Therefore, when they debuted in November at the industry’s MAMA Awards, they already had a passionate fanbase, known as naya. (The fandom’s name, “나야” in Korean, translates to “It’s me.”)

However, U.S.-based fans were meant to meet izna’s members sooner. The group was scheduled to attend last year’s KCON event in Los Angeles, only to have to pull out due to unexpected visa issues—an increasingly common issue for K-pop acts scheduled to appear in the United States. izna’s presence was still felt at the annual event last year, with a convention floor booth introducing the seven members, and items such as the I-LAND 2 practice uniforms on display. The only thing missing was the most important thing: the members themselves.

A year later, izna finally made it to KCON LA. “It is my first visit to the United States,” Mai, who at 20 is izna’s eldest member and grew up in Kanagawa, Japan, tells JoySauce excitedly. “I saw the (palm) trees…on the street, and thought, ‘Wow, this is something that I've only seen before in the movies.’” izna’s young members, who range from age 17-20, all hail from different parts of South Korea and Japan. Like Mai, 18-year-old dancer Koko is from Japan. The Osaka native moved to South Korea in high school to pursue her dream of becoming an idol. Eighteen-year-old “all-arounder” Jungeun hails from South Korean transportation hub Incheon, while 17-year-old maknae (the group’s youngest) Saebi is from Seoul.

Twenty-year-olds Jeemin, and Jiyoon (who is currently on hiatus from the group), and 18-year-old Sarang are all from Busan, South Korea’s second-biggest city. “We have a very specific satoori (regional dialect) in Busan,” Sarang says, recalling sharing their dialect with other members while the group filmed a reality show in the port city she calls home. “I showed them how specific things are pronounced in Busan, and was also able to show them the beaches.”

Los Angeles is far from home for all of the group members, who were nervous to perform on the American arena stage, but they found courage in one another—a process they began during their time on I-LAND. “We are not performing on our own,” Jeemin says when asked what she has taken away from her time on the competition show. “We're not trying to stand out on our own. It is about the mutual trust that we have to really base ourselves on. So the mutual trust that leads to the spectacular teamwork that actually is a core contributor for our best performance on stage. I feel that shared energy, or that shared trust, is the core aspect that I’ve learned deeply in my heart.”

izna had several chances to demonstrate that camaraderie on stage at KCON LA. Standout performances from the weekend included on-trend onomatopoeic dance track “Beep” and energetic electropop single “Sign,” and a cover of “Fiesta” by IZ*ONE on the Mnet Countdown Stage. On the smaller Artist Stage, izna performed “Timebomb” and “SASS,” a song written for the Korean dance survival show World of Street Woman Fighter. Koko, who started dancing when she was 3 years old, says fierce rock banger “SASS” was the track she was most excited to perform for fans, especially as it was izna’s first time singing for an original soundtrack, which allowed for a “new approach.”