[SINGAPORE] 5 Things that Went Down During Waterbomb Singapore

Ever gone clubbing at the beach amidst a typhoon? Sounds absolutely crazy, right? But that’s probably an experience that would come closest to what everyone experienced at Waterbomb Singapore at the end of August!

Waterbomb is a famous summer-festival-cum-concert that offers an exciting lineup of top K-pop, K-hip-hop, EDM Artists, and DJs, offering a thrilling combination of live performances, sexy outfits, and water guns going off everywhere. Originating from Korea in 2015, the festival has gained worldwide popularity, expanding to countries like Japan, Taiwan, USA, UAE, Thailand and Vietnam. It finally made its way to Singapore for the first time this year from August 24 – August 25, much to the delight of many local K-pop fans.

Summer festivals are common in Korea, with many top universities holding their summer festivals annually. However, Waterbomb eventually rose to fame as THE summer festival in 2018, when popular K-pop act Jessi made news for her revealing fashion at one of the events. Donning a black bikini and mesh dress, Jessi’s sexy outfit and toned body gained praise from many netizens. This was seen as a breakthrough for a more conservative society like Korea, and moving forward, artists were not afraid to be bold with their fashion choices for future summer festivals.

So, what went down in Singapore’s Waterbomb 2024? Here are 5 highlights from the festival in case you missed it!

1. A Spectacular Mix of Cute & Sexy

Kwon Eunbi, JESSI, and VIVIZ were amazing performers who got everyone to sing along and groove to the best of their songs. Eunbi performed her new single SABOTAGE, amidst her other hits like Door and Underwater. Her backup dancers looked particularly handsome, and every move she made on the stage was greatly emphasised by the dancers’ teamwork as well.

VIVIZ, consisting of SinB, Eunha and Umji, made their first-ever appearance as a group of three in Singapore at the festival. It was also their first Waterbomb event, which was amazing, considering how well they matched the vibe with their powerful choreography and steady vocals. The three ladies were having fun interacting with the audience during their stage, as they got even more drenched with every song. Among the songs performed were MANIAC, BOP BOP! and Untie!

During nighttime, JESSI had the festival goers in a frenzy with her powerful performances. She had been sick for the past few days and downing Pocari all the while. However, she brought the house down with her addictive songs like ZOOM, NUNU NANA, and Cold Blooded. She was constantly interacting with the audience and giving them what they wanted, treating them like friends.

2. Legends Arise

RAIN, otherwise known as Jung Jihoon, performed songs such as Rainism and It’s Raining. Other than his signature airy vocals, fans were also stunned by his sleek dance moves on the stage. Rain could be seen moonwalking and wriggling his way around the space.

As the headliner for Day 1 of Waterbomb, Jay Park showed everyone why they should have expected him to rein on the stage. As the last act, Jay Park had the responsibility of closing the show. He performed a lot of songs, including All I Wanna Do, Taxi Blurr and MOMMAE. Another unexpected surprise was when Jay Park invited a local home-grown artist ShiGGa Shay to perform with him on the stage.

When the man said “It is not a party without Jay Park!”, he really meant it!

3. The return of the Queens 2NE1

It just so happened that both Sandara Park (Dara) and CL came down to Waterbomb, performing on Day 1 and 2 respectively. So of course all the Blackjacks were anticipating that mini 2NE1 10-year reunion.

Day 1 of Waterbomb saw the ever-so-beautiful and youthful Dara, who prepared a new setlist for Singapore. She performed a series of songs, a mix of her songs as well as 2NE1 songs! To celebrate 2NE1’s comeback, she announced that she prepared a list of songs for the crowd! Everyone cheered as she sang and danced to some of 2NE1’s songs like Do You Love Me, Ugly, Falling in Love and I Am the Best!

Of course, Dara’s songs like Festival and Dara Dara had the festival goers dancing their heads off at the beach!

On Day 2 of Waterbomb, CL started off her 2NE1 mashup by announcing Dara’s presence (“Dara’s out here watching somewhere!”), much to the delight and extreme screaming of fans. It was later found out that Dara was indeed watching her bandmate’s performance in front of the VIP tent area.

Apart from her solo songs, CL also performed a 2NE1 mashup, which was iconic, to say the least. It included a mix of 2NE1’s most popular songs, Fire, I Don’t Care, and I Am the Best. Something within this author levitated when she heard CL belt the rap in the bridge for I Don’t Care live.

Missed Waterbomb? Don’t worry, 2NE1 will be kicking off their ‘Welcome Back’ tour in Seoul later this year, before expanding to other countries in 2025!

4. BamBam makes his backup dancers strip… Before proceeding to strip himself

Ahgases would know that BamBam is 100% crackhead energy. Let’s just say that all expectations of this were fully felt and exceeded through his performance at Waterbomb.

BamBam started his performance with Last Parade, the charismatic title song of his latest album, Bamesis. He continued with more performances from his 3rd mini album, such as Ball Like That, Thank You, Come Again, and Mi Ultimo Deseo. This was his first time performing these songs in Singapore since the album was only released about two weeks prior.

BamBam then took a break from his performances to interact with fans, and to introduce his dance crew. If fans have been following BamBam for long enough, they would have known of his fan’s relationship with his backup dancers, where he called out fans for focusing on his dancers instead of him in past concerts. This time, it seems that BamBam has accepted the inevitable by directing the attention to his male backup dancers instead of away from them. How, may we ask? By making them strip one by one.

At the end of the whole fiasco, with BamBam being the only guy left clothed, fans were screaming for him to also take his shirt off. Being Mr Fanservice himself, BamBam tore his shirt off in a swift motion, which sent the crowd into a frenzy. (This is a moment we are simply unable to put in words, you should have been there to see it.)

He then proceeded to perform the second part of his set, including songs from his first and second mini albums like Sour and Sweet, Ride or Die, and riBBon. BamBam then ended off with the iconic Hard Carry, which of course sent our Ahgase hearts to the moon.

5. Loco shows his love for SG fans with his “I ❤️ SG” T-shirt

This was our first time seeing Loco perform live, and let us say that this man has way more aegyo than we thought. After his third song, he announced that he had a “mini surprise” for his fans before donning the iconic tourist “I ❤️ SG” T-shirt that you see selling at Giordano every National Day. The man was a week early to celebrate Majulah Singapura.

He kept the shirt on while performing “INEEDYOURLOVE”, where he rallied fans to echo the iconic fan chant “I need your love!” while walking across the stage and forming hearts with fans who completed the other side.

Loco also taught Singaporeans how to have fun at concerts, which we thought was a lesson necessary. If there’s one thing about Singaporeans, it’s that we’re not very hype people. At standing pens, many just stand holding their phones up. Loco overcame this by teaching the crowd how to jump (yes, how to jump) to the beat of his songs. Thankfully, the crowd was able to apply this immediately.

Seeing Loco’s genuineness in connecting with his fans here and his great music, it definitely sent us down the rabbit hole of stanning. Objectively, he’s a great performer with intense stage charisma and who knows how to make the crowd have fun.

It was the first time that Waterbomb was held in Singapore, but everyone had a blast. Literally! It was a weekend full of fun, joy, and laughter. While it was tiring yet fun to have to dance to all the amazing songs, everyone had such a great time at the event!

Thank you VIU Singapore for the opportunity to attend the concert, and we certainly cannoy wait for the next one! 🙂

Written by: Anna & Aqilah
Photos by: Agnes & Cheryl

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