SANTOS BRAVOS
SANTOS BRAVOS

LOS ANGELES — Santos Bravos, HYBE's first Latin pop group, delivered one of the standout performances of KCON LA 2026's opening weekend, joining fellow HYBE act &TEAM for a joint tribute to BTS that organizers billed as "two worlds connected by K-Soul," while also earning individual praise for a vocally demanding solo set on the festival's Artist Stage.

This year's KCON festival officially opened Friday, Aug. 14, at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena, running under the overarching theme "K-Soul City," a play on the South Korean capital. Festival producer CJ ENM expanded this year's convention across K-pop, K-beauty, K-food and K-story programming, including the debut of the Olive Young Festa K-Beauty Playground, featuring 55 different Korean cosmetics brands, alongside the festival's traditional music-focused lineup.

The standout collaborative moment of the weekend came during KCON's evening M Countdown concert, held Aug. 14 at Crypto.com Arena, where Santos Bravos and &TEAM joined forces for a three-song tribute to BTS. Santos Bravos opened the special stage with a performance of "Hooligan," a high-energy track from BTS' 2026 album "Arirang," before &TEAM took over with its own performance of "2.0," another cut from the same record, which spent three consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart. The two groups then reunited on stage for an energetic joint rendition of "Permission to Dance," bringing together all 14 members of both acts for the collaboration's finale.

The pairing marked the latest chapter in an ongoing creative relationship between the two HYBE-affiliated groups. Santos Bravos, formed by HYBE Latin America and based in Mexico City, and &TEAM, managed by Japan's YX Labels, had previously collaborated earlier this year on a remix of Santos Bravos' track "Kawasaki," which incorporated Japanese-language verses into the original song. That earlier collaboration had generated significant anticipation among fans for a live joint performance, anticipation that KCON organizers directly capitalized on in booking Friday's special stage.

Billboard highlighted the collaboration as a reflection of how HYBE's broader "multi-home, multi-genre" business strategy operates across different regional markets and musical genres, noting that Santos Bravos, emerging from HYBE Latin America, and &TEAM, operating under HYBE's Japanese label structure, came together specifically to perform songs by BTS, the group whose global success helped make the formation of both newer acts possible in the first place.

Beyond the collaborative BTS tribute, Santos Bravos also delivered a well-received solo performance during a mid-afternoon set on KCON's Artist Stage. According to Billboard's recap of the festival's standout moments, the group chose to perform "FE," one of the most vocally challenging songs from their debut EP, "Dual," released in March. Billboard's coverage described the track as a slow-burning, Spanish-language ballad whose vocal demands intensify with each chorus, and credited the performance as one of the festival's best individual moments. "Of all the songs HYBE Latin America's first global group could have brought out in their KCON LA debut, they picked one of their most vocally challenging — and nailed it," Billboard wrote, specifically highlighting group members Kauê Penna and Kenneth Lavíll for delivering what the outlet described as impassioned harmonies that "set the standard for the weekend."

Santos Bravos consists of five members — Alejandro Aramburú, Drew Venegas, Gabi Bermúdez, Kauê Penna and Kenneth Lavíll — drawn from across Latin America and beyond, with members hailing from Peru, the United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Mexico. The group was formed in 2025 through a self-titled reality competition series produced by HYBE Latin America, which premiered across multiple platforms including YouTube, Spotify, Vix and Exa TV. The series, which drew 16 competing artists from countries including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, culminated in the selection of the five current members following an intensive creative development process.

HYBE Latin America CEO Isaac Lee has previously described the Santos Bravos project as an extension of HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk's broader vision for balancing local cultural identity with global artistic ambition, aimed at positioning Latin American music for continued international growth. Bang himself has characterized the group's mission in similarly expansive terms, previously stating that the goal behind Santos Bravos was "not just to create a group, but to guide young Latin artists through a real transformation — artistically and personally," and describing the project as centered on "authenticity, emotion, and connection."

Santos Bravos released its debut single, "0%," on Oct. 21, 2025, followed by its first extended play, "Dual," on March 13, 2026. The group made its official live debut with a free concert at Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional, marking the culmination of the reality competition series that led to the group's formation.

KCON LA's opening weekend also featured extensive programming beyond the Santos Bravos and &TEAM collaboration. HYBE America kicked off festivities Wednesday, ahead of the festival's official opening, with an industry party themed around "K-Pop's Biggest Weekend," featuring a red carpet, photo booths and appearances from members of HYBE's broader artist roster, including &TEAM, Santos Bravos and the label's pre-debut girl group SAINT SATINE, alongside actors Eric Nam and Ji-young Yoo, both connected to the upcoming Paramount and HYBE America film "K-Pop: The Debut," slated for a February 2027 theatrical release.

Friday's evening M Countdown concert brought together an extensive lineup of performers beyond the BTS tribute, including NCT 127, TREASURE, KickFlip, ONE PACT, and the duo from20 & HELLO GLOOM, reflecting the scale and scope of this year's festival lineup.

Fan reaction to the Santos Bravos and &TEAM collaboration was immediate and enthusiastic across social media platforms, with performance clips highlighting the groups' tight choreography and confident live vocal delivery circulating widely among fans both inside Crypto.com Arena and following the festival online. Rather than simply recreating BTS' original performances note-for-note, both acts incorporated elements of their own established performance styles into the tribute, giving the covers what multiple outlets described as a distinct identity while still preserving the spirit of the source material.

The collaboration and Santos Bravos' broader KCON LA showing come as the group continues building its profile within HYBE's expanding global artist portfolio, following its formation through a competitive reality series model the company has increasingly applied across different regional markets in recent years, including a parallel effort with Telemundo to develop a regional Mexican band through the competition series "Pase a la Fama."

As KCON LA 2026 continued through the remainder of the weekend, Santos Bravos' dual appearances — both in the collaborative BTS tribute and its own solo Artist Stage set — positioned the group as one of the breakout storylines of the festival's opening days, reinforcing HYBE's broader strategy of cultivating artists across multiple regional markets and musical genres under a shared global umbrella.

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