American Pop Punk Band State Champs Creates Lightsticks For Their Upcoming Tour

Lightsticks have been a staple in K-Pop since BIGBANG‘s G-Dragon thought of the concept and designed the first K-Pop lightstick shortly after the group’s debut.

BIGBANG’s “Bang Bong” lightstick | *YG Entertainment*

G-Dragon stated that the concept was based on wanting BIGBANG to be able to easily identify their fans in a crowd, as multiple K-Pop groups often come together for festivals and award show performances.

The concept of the K-Pop lightstick has undoubtedly blossomed over the years as designs become more complex and high-tech. Certain lightsticks can now connect via Bluetooth to a phone app to sync with other lightsticks to create a beautiful “ocean” and dynamic performance for the group.

BTS’s ARMY Bomb Ver. 3 | BANGTANTV/YouTube

Lightsticks are often expensive and were described by Billboard as a “revenue-generating staple of the K-pop merchandising machine.“

So far, this concept has remained unique to K-Pop, but with the enormous growth in the K-Pop industry and thus a rise in interest and fans of the genre worldwide, it was only a matter of time before artists adopted the idea outside of K-Pop.

Recently, an American pop punk band, State Champs, announced on Twitter that they had designed their own lightsticks for their upcoming tour, Kings Of The New Age.

The band shared a photo of the lightsticks in production ahead of their tour, which kicks off in November.

Light sticks for the Kings Of The New Age tour are in production 😍 https://t.co/iO1xVTXppx pic.twitter.com/My7kDEPQYP

— State Champs 👑 (@State_Champs) September 16, 2022

The band is no stranger to K-Pop. Their bassist and backing vocalist Ryan Scott Graham shared he was a fan of ATEEZ earlier this year, causing ATINYs to organize a State Champs listening party on a Twitter Space, which Ryan himself joined.

I told the world I liked @ATEEZofficial and now I’m in a live chat with the Atiny showing them our band. 🤯🤯🤯 thank you for giving us a chance! pic.twitter.com/jqWZTPX4Ep

— State Champs 👑 (@State_Champs) March 16, 2022

While in the space, he mentioned that he would love for State Champs to collaborate with one of ATEEZ’s rappers, specifically naming members Hongjoong and Mingi.

(Top row, left to right) ATEEZ’s Mingi, Jongho, Yeosang, Yunho, and San (Bottom row, left to right) Wooyoung, Seonghwa, and Hongjoong | *@ATEEZofficial/Twitter*

Fans of both State Champs and K-Pop reacted to the lightsticks with excitement, ready for the genre crossover. One fan even hilariously named the K-Pop/Pop Punk crossover “kpop punk.”