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The Search for WJSN’s Signature Song is On!

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Just in case you haven’t seen it yet, the first challenge of the second season of Queendom 2 had the competing groups perform their “signature song”. Hyolyn selected SISTAR’s Touch My Body, Brave Girls opted to mix Chi Mat Ba Ram with (obviously) Rollin’, Kep1er didn’t seem to have a choice but to perform Wa Da Da, Viviz, aka GFriend Lite chose a remix of Time for the Moon Night and Rough, and Loona was supposed to have PTT as their entry, which they, unfortunately, missed because they all contracted COVID in the day of competition. 

But for WJSN, the task presented them with a bit of a challenge. The group seemed lost as to which song they will perform, as they felt that despite having really good songs, they don’t have that single breakout hit that exploded and made them household names. Even for casual viewers, it was a bit heartbreaking to see the Cosmic Girls facing their first “challenge” in the competition. But then, does the group not really have a signature song? Let’s review their lead releases and see if they indeed are challenged when it comes to picking the single song that represents them. 

“Mo Mo Mo” (모모모)

For a debut track, Mo Mo Mo suffices. But then, considering a number of factors, you can say it is a bit underwhelming. These factors include:

  • That WJSN is the dongsaeng group to SISTAR. As in THE SISTAR, the group that has only known single digits in the charts, from the debut track Push Push that peaked at #9 to the farewell song Lonely that topped the charts. As in the group of Hyorin, their competition in Queendom 2. In hindsight, that record was only established because it can’t be denied that Every. Single. SISTAR. Track. Rocks. That is an indisputable fact and Mo Mo Mo, unfortunately, doesn’t hold a candle against even a SISTAR b-side track. 
  • In relation to the first point, WJSN is produced by Starship Entertainment, which has a track record of producing S-tier groups. Until WJSN debuted, the other group Starship created aside from SISTAR was Monsta X, which debuted with Trespass, a song that a lot of boy group trainees still perform for evaluations up to this day. Well, there was Boyfriend, but every company is allowed one huge fail, right? 
  • The song itself is not outstanding. It is cloyingly sweet, even with the inclusion of Exy’s rap verses. The visuals were maximized in the music video, but the dancing skills of the Chinese line and the abilities of the vocal line were underutilized. Considering that the year also saw the debut of Blackpink, the girls really needed to pull out all the stops for them to get some attention. And this song didn’t do them factors. 
  • The creepy music video had the group holding a welcome party where they invited an astronaut who turned out to be Lee Kwangsoo.  As in Running Man Lee Kwangsoo. The girls, who were at most in their late teens or early 20s, had to gush over Kwangsoo when his identity was revealed. That was weird. But all 12 were super pretty though.

Finally, it has to be said that this rather cutesy concept is not something the group will likely hold on to or establish as their image for the rest of their career. So, as much as Mo Mo Mo indeed suffices as a debut track*, it’s not strong enough to be a signature song. 

*Sidenote: A lot of debut tracks have gone on to be important items in some groups’ discographies. Into the New World by Girls’ Generation, Push Push by SISTAR, Mollayo by Apink, Hot Issue by 4Minute, Fire by 2NE1, Boombayah by BlackPink, Latata by G-IDLE… need we say more? The point is, there are strong debut songs and there are those that aren’t.  Mo Mo Mo isn’t. 

“Catch Me” (캐치미)

After Mo Mo Mo comes Catch Me, which is practically a 180-degree turn from their saccharinely sweet image in their debut track. This time, the girls donned short black outfits that looked like they were going on an intense workout routine but ended up filming a sexy music video. It felt weird to see the girls performing choreography that can be described as “racy” so early in their careers, with a lot of booty popping and floorwork reminiscent of Hyoryn’s solo dance moves. 

Maybe we can change this to growing pains, but admittedly, the song didn’t do much to advance the group’s popularity. They may have shown their range in terms of pulling off totally different concepts, but upon first listen (and first viewing of the music video), many did hope for better songs and better fitting concepts for the group. 

“Secret” (비밀이야)

Finally! Without a doubt what should have been the group’s debut song had they wanted to present themselves with a bang! Released later in the same year as Mo Mo Mo and Catch Me, the song was the first of the group as 13, with the then-recent inclusion of Yeonjung who just finished her contract with Produce 101 project group I.O.I. People also noted that this was their first release that had a music video that more or less adhered to their supposed image of cosmic girls, as it features the girls in a somehow mystical wilderness with a falling star (or comet?) falling with the newest member inside. Well, unless you count Lee Kwangsoo in an astronaut costume as “cosmic”, the music video to Secret was really the most mystical and cosmic as the group can get in their careers that then has only spanned six months.

Many opined that it was rather unfortunate that it had to take Yeonjung’s inclusion to WJSN for Starship to get its act together and really push the group with both a solid song and concept. Why didn’t they do this from the start so that the group has an easier time building a fanbase, as it wasn’t really sure whether Mo Mo Mo and Catch Me did the group any favors. While it goes without saying that Yeonjung definitely did her part as a former I.O.I member to raise WJSN’s profile, many were also concerned that the group would be too dependent on the amount of fame the new member would bring to the group. 

Considering that WJSN already had a strong line-up even before the late entry of I.O.I’s former main vocal, people felt that the group got the chopped liver treatment during the recent sequence of events. Moreover, they also feared that Yeonjung’s recognized vocal talents may cause the other main vocalists to give way and make space for the new maknae. Which unfortunately did happen in the next few releases as many noted the obvious decrease in the number of lines for one of the group’s main vocalists,  Dawon.    

Otherwise, this song is everything you’d imagine a WJSN song to be. Definitely a great gateway song for those who want to join Ujung.         

“I Wish” (너에게 닿기를)

I Wish is light and fun, WJSN style.  This was one of those WJSN where it feels like Yeonjung was just in every verse. Which of course, works for fans of the I.O.I alum but a rather sad plight of things for fans of members like Change Xiao who only had to repeat the line “tell me why” and its variation “just tell me why” in every chorus and Dawon who went from the main vocalist to someone who only sang for 11 seconds the entire song. Still, it is a good song though, because the message of love and admiration isn’t as saccharine-ly worded as expected in most innocent girl group concept songs. 

Although not too intense in the cosmic treatment, the music video still employs a bit of the mystical and cosmic elements the group has started to own since they released the Secret music video. We have the girls finding their way through a maze and in some scenes, dancing in a field of pink grass under a rainbow. That still counts for something in the cosmic world, eh? 

“Happy” (해피)

Another light and fun track, many did appreciate Happy because it’s a song about… happiness, obviously. The song itself sounds quite refreshing as it’s super bright. But then, please do not be deceived by the overly bright rendition of the girls as the high energy does not hinder Yeonjung from doing the vocal runs that would be hard for other groups to copy. This reminds me of Queendom’s Episode 2 when Kep1er apparently set their sights on covering Happy, which made me wonder how they would arrange it in such a way that would omit Yeonjung’s vocal calisthenics. Because seriously, who in Kep1er can do it?  

The music video had the girls play cheerleaders in some scenes and highly competitive dodgeball players. Serious fun ensues. Both the song and the music video veer away from cosmic references, but it’s okay since they’ve established the strength of their concept inspired by their group’s name. So, this one’s a win as well.    

“Dreams Come True” (꿈꾸는 마음으로)

Disclaimer: This song is the author’s personal favorite, so expect inevitable bias ahead. 

Any song that starts with a drumroll and leads to a bass guitar that sounds like the opening credits of an anime will forever be a superior song. And that’s what Dreams Come True is. Since it conjures images of anime characters that are basically superheroes and or people whose concerns are very out of this world, then yes, the song is pretty much faithful to the group’s cosmic concept. The song’s lyrics are also big on things like dreams, trust, and destiny (that the singer and the subject of the song will realize their seemingly challenged love). The chorus goes:

Trust, trust me

Hold tight to this moment, give me more courage

With a dreaming heart

I’ll go into your embrace that I dreamed about

I make the impossible, possible

Trust in me Trust in you

Whatever it takes, we will meet

I’ll find you, I’ll run to you

I’m stronger because of you

And with the heavy drum accompaniment, it really sounds like a song only WJSN, with the group’s concept, can justify. 

As for the music video, the overly filtered footage with the planets or other celestial bodies shown, the girl’s faces shown in rapid succession at the start of the video (again, very anime-inspired), Bona in a bed floating in the clouds, Eunseo seeing a shooting star (or was that a comet?) flashing across the sky as she looks up from texting on her phone, Mei Qi holding and releasing balls of light, Dayoung (and later, Soobin) running as soon as she saw a cosmic alert message on her phone and tripping, as everyone fathered to a helipad amidst a lightning storm, then Bona falling off from her floating bed to unite the girls who have gathered in a field this time (maybe they teleported from the helipad to the field?), then everybody holding hands as they send the same cosmic image, which may represent their reunion, to the sky. Then, Bona wakes up, realizing it was just a dream, but no! Her phone shows that cosmic storm image again. So maybe everything did happen. But yes, the entire music video hammered the entire cosmic concept to its viewers, that is if we’re not yet convinced that they are the Cosmic Girls.  

P.S. This has been the last WJSN with the three Chinese members included. Chengxiao, Meiqi, and Xuanyi have been pursuing individual activities in China since. 

“Save Me, Save You” (부탁해)

https://twitter.com/ggcropps/status/1519764451054006273?s=20&t=tZNYjNRXeVyL_l86T82Y7A

Sexy-ish schoolgirl? A few songs after the anomalous release that was Catch Me, which had the then-rookies in rather risque outfits, the girls returned with another song that had a music video that can make any viewer wonder, “Why do I feel like the video is suggesting things to me?” 

Anyway, back to the song. By now, the group has practically cornered the market for singing songs about distant lovers who believe in destiny and wonder about the day when they will finally be reunited. Intersperse that with lines about dreams and the future, that is your template for a WJSN song. And there’s something about the song’s arrangement and instrumentation that can make any long-time follower of k-pop, in general, recognize this as a typical track from the girls.

The sexy vibes are mostly pushed by the music video that calls to mind Harry Potter in a not-so-innocent setting. You have the girls attend what looks like a school of magic where you can see them perform some magical things with flowers and butterflies. Nothing weird about that, right? Well, maybe there’s one where they transform from wearing their uniforms to black and white ensembles with fishnet socks (yes, socks, not stockings) while dancing in some antique study hall. 

So the storyline is not particularly risque, so what gives this music video some serious sexy vibes? Along with the live performances, it is the choreography that is the culprit! Lots of moves where the girls touch each other and clapping in weird areas just give the song this uniquely strange and sexy vibe. And when you have the girls in those black and white outfits doing the weird clapping move, it does make you think. 

Then, you have a section of the video where everything is burning, including a scene where everybody leaves an auditorium except Bona who stays while the chairs in the rows before her are burning. And Seola is also left by herself in a classroom while crying a single silver tear. Altogether a weird music video. But hey we can’t really be mad at the song, as this gave the girls their first music show win two years after their debut.  

“La La Love”

This was one confusing WJSN release that went by and did not really gain any traction or buzz for some reason. The song is okay, the music video is okay, and both didn’t really bring anything new to the table. The music video starts with Luda typing something, then the girls dancing and doing things in a carnival, like dancing in the carnival, watching a horse (I don’t know why they didn’t feature an elephant instead), Yeorum making cotton candy, Dawon reading a newspaper (beats me as to why she is doing that in a carnival), Eunseo, Bona, and Exy riding those huge circus loops, and some members inspecting light bulbs and empty birdcages. They also have a scene where they are all seated around a table, playing Uno (or some game with really colorful cards) and in some scenes, a member standing on top of the table, which may lead the viewer to believe these ladies had a bit too much to drink. 

But after a two-song absence (with Dreams Come True and Save Me Save You not charting which is just pure injustice), La La Love brought WJSN back to the Gaon Singles Charts. I guess the song has its charms, after all.    

“Boogie Up”

This is the Cosmic Girls doing an impression of SISTAR. By the time Boogie Up was released, it has been two years since the Queens of Summer surrendered their tiaras, so it may be that WJSN felt that the field is open for aspirants to the position. Boogie Up conjures sunny feelings that songs like Shake It, Touch My Body, and I Swear successfully accomplished with SISTAR, and so it makes sense that the new queens of Starship would also be on point in this. Besides, Boogie Up is the lead single of the group’s EP titled For the Summer, so if there’s still any doubt that the group wanted some of that summer music chart action, then those should have already been quashed. 

The music video is also pretty much SISTAR in 2019. Filmed in Okinawa, the girls were shown lounging in the pool, lounging on the beach, going to buildings with English signs; the only thing missing is for the group to leave their “jobs” and ride in a convertible with the top down and this would have been another SISTAR video. But of course, since there are ten people, they couldn’t possibly fit in a convertible, so they instead had a party in a club where they were the only ones in attendance, very reminiscent of the Girls Generation Party music video. But instead of drinks, the cosmic girls partied with glow sticks. Still pretty wholesome, eh?

“As You Wish” (이루리)

Finally, another song for WJSN to really stamp their trademark on. Both the song and the music video are quite earnest and are not as flashy as their other songs that adhere more to their cosmic concept. The lyrics are about wanting to be that person who makes the dreams and wishes of your loved ones come true. The music video is quite interesting too, as it has the girls working in some facility where they are operating phones and reading letters, which we may interpret as an office that receives people’s wishes, as we see a little girl sending one of those wishing sky lanterns at the start of the video. Of course, we also see the girls dance in the office and have coffee breaks in cable cars. Finally, towards the end of the video, the girls rush outside to watch a display of fireworks.  

As the song was released before 2019 ended, the song did give strong holiday vibes. True enough, when the new year of 2020 rang, Koreans listened to the song, making it chart at the top of Melon’s 5-minute realtime chart (it eventually settled at #4 and Bugs in January 2020. It also reached number 4 on Genie and number 2 on FLO on the same day. This has continued for the past two New Years, with the song topping the MelOn, Bugs, and Genie real-time charts in January 2021 and the MelOn, Bugs, and Genie real-time charts. It goes without saying that this is definitely WJSN’s signature song, so it is a bit worrying that the girls up to now still do not feel like they have a signature song.   

“Butterfly”

While most of the songs WJSN has released stick to the cosmic concept save for a few stray tracks like Happy, Chase Me, and Boogie Up, this one belongs to the latter. Butterfly, which is included in the group’s ninth (9th! You read that right!) EP, Neverland, has the group go the ethereal fairytale route. Lots of free-flowing fabric, lots of arm flailing movements, and obviously, lots of butterflies in the music video. The song is solid, and the music video is great, but definitely, not a contender for WJSN signature song for the simple reason that it doesn’t really support a concept the group has invested in / may have plans to invest in. Nevertheless, it is a solid item in the group’s discography. 

“Unnatural”

Here’s another strong contender for WJSN signature song. The latest WJSN release has the group entering their sophisticated and elegant era.  The song is in a key only extremely talented people can execute and it seems their stylists for the music video were given million-dollar budgets for the girls to look that polished. And yes, for anyone who still needs convincing that the group’s vocal line is one of the most talented in k-pop, please look for the video of the group performing the song with a live band. That they make it look so easy is just the icing on the cake. 

So, to answer the girls’ concern about what their signature song is, I shall offer my suggestions:

  1. As You Wish
  2. Secret 
  3. Dreams Come True
  4. Unnatural
  5. Save Me, Save You

As they did perform As You Wish for the challenge in Queendom, I am very pleased. And I hope the girls go easy on their insecurities and be kinder to themselves as it’s a sure thing that they will face more challenges in the course of the competition. 

Featured Image: WSJN Official Twitter

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Queendom Season 2 Lineup: Which Kpop Girl Group Will Reign?

Queendom season 2 is here!

After three years, Mnet’s girl group competition—Queendom—is back with a new set of groups who will try to follow MAMAMOO’s footsteps. After much anticipation, Mnet released the Queendom Season 2 lineup last February 21 and of course, there’s a lot of fun prior to the show in guessing how the results will be. Based on the six Kpop girl group contestants, who will emerge on top?

Thus, we shall go through the six participating groups in alphabetical order. You can’t really go wrong with an alphabetically-arranged list to dispel any explanations of bias, eh?

Here’s the full Queendom Season 2 lineup:

Brave Girls

The pros: Yes, they need the boost that the show Queendom 2 will bring so that they can further stretch the 15 minutes of fame the viral video brought them. Their discography is something most of the rest of the girls (definitely with the exception of Hyolyn and her SISTAR connection – a definite gold standard in girl group discographies) can only dream of. I mean, High Heels? Deepened? Yoo-hoo? Those were ABSOLUTE BANGERS. The songs only girl groups can dream of as being part of their musical history. Well, come to think of it, they are the BRAVE GIRLS, the first girl group under the label of THE BRAVE BROTHERS, only legendary k-pop producers responsible for the breathtaking discographies of iconic groups such as After School. T-ara, and 4Minute, to name a few. So, when it comes to songs the group can use to battle with the other contestants, they don’t and won’t have problems with that.

Discography – check. Performance factor – check. Who can ever doubt the skills of these girls who have danced on top of chairs and performed that stingray move super seriously (like don’t they find that  Name recall – check. The newfound fame—that compilation video of them performing for the military—lifted them to phenomenal status. And at a time when they achieved newfound fame when everyone was at their homes during lockdown only added to their fame because people didn’t really have much else to do – even those who don’t follow a lot of k-pop didn’t have much of a choice but see them go viral on social media and mainstream entertainment. So yes, Koreans (or at least those who will be watching Queendom) by now know who the Brave Girls are. Bye, nugu-dom; hello, Queendom 2!

The cons: The line-up. The group’s discography (and the songs of the other competing groups, especially WJSN) has a lot of rap verses that were fire under the very able skills of main rapper Hyeran. Unfortunately, Hyeran has been inactive with the group since 2017 and was officially out of it by 2019. The current 4-member line-up – Minyeong, Eunji, Yuna, and Yunjeong are pretty much solid when it comes to vocal skills. Minyeong can belt high notes like nobody’s business and the vocals of the three others can surely make Brave Brothers proud, but Eunji and Yuna as the designated rappers, cannot really measure up to the original main rapper’s skill level. So, yes, I did say that the current BG line-up is a bit unbalanced.    

Given the other groups in the competition, I am thinking that Brave Girls will pull off an AOA and will most likely end up 4th or in the worst-case scenario, 5th. 

Cosmic Girls

When it comes to looking for an ideal girl group participant for an Mnet reality show, the Cosmic Girls would fit the bill. The lineup is spectacular, as even without the fantastic Chinese trio whose presence has not been felt by the group since 2018, the group still looks balanced and in fighting form in all aspects. We have to admit, Xuanyi, Chengxiao, and Meiqi were practically the group’s main dancers and international crowd drawers (read: visuals to reiterate the group’s diversity), and all these contributions have been ably filled up by Bona and Seola, plus formerly overlooked members Yeoreum and Eunseo. That the group has such a huge lineup may have worked against them in the past, as it used to be that the public’s attention span seems to be limited to nine members at most (thank you, Girl’s Generation) and WJSN’s delineation of the member’s skills isn’t as pronounced as another huge group with so many members, SEVENTEEN. The way Pledis made the three groupings – vocal, performance, and hip-hop very distinct for SEVENTEEN worked for them, as the public caught on immediately and associated even the members who are less popular with their units (e.g., Dino is a performer, Joshua is a vocalist). The units for WJSN – Wonder, Joy, Natural, and Sweet didn’t really work that well for WJSN. But after the three Chinese members’ hiatus from the group, the lesser-known members like Luda, Yeoreum, and Eunso had some space to step up and get themselves some recognition.  Thus, everything – Bona, Seola, and Yeoreum in charge of visuals and dance; Eunseo, Exy, and Luda in charge of rap and dance; and Soobin, Dayoung, 

Dawon, and Yeonjung in charge of vocals (these four are quite a superior vocal line), make the current WJSN lineup simply spectacular. 

As for their discography, WJSN also has a very credible stable of songs that can match the competition. After all, they are a Starship group, and with SISTAR and Monsta X as solid proof, WJSN has been blessed with some really good songs since their debut in 2016. They have also proven themselves to be very versatile and adaptive when it comes to concept and image tweaks as they successfully went from very cutesy in their Mo Mo Mo debut to more sophisticated in Catch Me, before going mystical and dream-like in Secret with Yeonjung’s entry into the group. The group has gone on to oscillate between girly (Happy, Boogie Up) and darker (Dreams Come True, Unnatural) concepts, although always maintaining that mystical and cosmic ingredient to their comebacks. They have even scored a hit that has someone ingrained itself into Korean contemporary culture, as their 2019 song As You Wish makes an annual return to the top of the charts every New Year for three years in the running – 2020, 2021, and 2022!

WJSN sells well and has household name status, but I don’t believe the group will win Queendom season 2. I do have a feeling they will be the Oh My Girls of this season, massively reaping the rewards of the show after it ends.  Best case, they will get second, and at worst, they will be 4th. I don’t see them faring very bad at all, but I also don’t see them winning the whole thing owing to the other participants having larger fanbases. I will be quite happy if they end up winning though. 

Hyolyn

Speaking of Starship Entertainment, now we have a member of one of the most, if not the most successful group Starship has produced so far, Hyolyn of the iconic Kpop girl group SISTAR. SISTAR is one of those groups that didn’t even encounter rookie difficulties and went on to release hit after hit (with a sterling record of having all their title tracks at #1 in Gaon) until their unfortunate disbandment in 2017. And if Hyolyn will be fully reliant on the SISTAR catalog, there’s no question she’ll do awfully well in the competition. For one, SISTAR continues to have good name recall with the Korean public. The group parted ways with not much controversy, as they even did a farewell tour of all the music shows, both to promote what was going to be their last single, Lonely, and perform medlies of their greatest hits as a sort of encore performance. Plus, there’s no denying that SISTAR songs are just great songs.

This brings us to how Hyolyn’s trajectory in the show might end up being similar to the only solo act that has appeared in the show so far (considering both Queendom and the male version Kingdom), 2NE1’s Bom. Unfortunately, Bom did not do well during the show, always finishing 5th or 6th in the rankings. While Bom was constantly lauded for her bravery to join a contest where she has to compete by herself against groups, she somehow always sounded shaky in her performances, not to mention people still felt uncomfortable with how her facial features have changed. Suffice to say that people still recognize Bom as a solid vocalist as her solo releases have been warmly received, but her live performances have somehow a negative effect on viewers. Simply put, watching Bom live makes people anxious. 

On the other hand, the opposite can be said of Hyolyn. People somehow already know what to expect from a Hyolyn live performance: stable vocals and risque portions. Seriously, were people really shocked with her performance in the 2018 KBS Drama Awards? She was going to perform Dally, and Dally is pretty much a “trademark” Hyolyn song – vocally challenging but easily unnoticeable because people would tend to focus on the rather suggestive choreography. So, if Queendom is set on showing performances that will send tounges a-wagging for weeks for a bit of “shock factor”, then they can most definitely count on the former SISTAR leader for that. 

What Hyolyn lacks is a credible solo discography.

While Bom’s post-2NE1 releases have relatively good critical and commercial reception, Hyolyn’s has been a bit erratic. Although we know her as this sexy performer, Hyolyn’s most commercially successful releases have actually been OSTs – Goodbye from My Love from a Star and Let it Go from Frozen, to name a few. Her solo releases when she was still with Starship charted well, but after See Sea, Dally, and Bae, her releases under her own record label have not achieved similar levels of popularity. Thus, to perform well in the show, Hyolyn may have to really rely on the SISTAR (and SISTAR19 – Gone Not Around Any Longer and Ma Boy are still very much popular) catalog and her earlier works. 

Having said that, I think if Hyolyn plays her cards right, she can rank as high as 3rd. Unfortunately, if she catches the Park Bom “curse” of solo performers not faring that well in Queendom, then there’s a possibility she’ll finish at the bottom.  

But of course, everybody will still be looking forward to a 2022 version of Dally.     

Kep1er

Not a lot can be said of Kep1er. That’s because the group was only formed months ago and only debuted in January.

So, yes, what really can be said about the group that has had only one song under their belts? One thing’s for sure: Kep1er does feel like a last-minute addition to the show, the type of group that was only included in the line-up because a group backed out before the final announcement was made. Rumors were rife that Apink would be this edition’s MAMAMOO (aka a veteran group that had many ask, why are they on this show?), as well as Dreamcatcher. Now that either group is in the final line-up, many have concluded that Kep1er filled in for either group as it is likely that Apink did not want to do the show without Naeun (who YG will never permit to appear on such a show, although they did allow iKON to appear in Kingdom, which also had many scratching their heads) and Happyface does not see the merits of allowing Dreamcatcher to join the show (or any Mnet show). It is also likely that Mnet just wants to mindlessly push (read: shove) Kep1er down everybody’s throats since the show they produced for their formation, Girls Planet 999, unfortunately, did not turn out as successfully as its Produce predecessors. From Mnet’s viewpoint, they might as well ensure a return on their investment with every opportunity they get, eh? 

Swing Music, the group’s current label, may have also warmed to the idea that any exposure Kep1er gets will be beneficial to the group, no matter if it makes them look miscast or like fish out of wonder because they’re competing against some tried and tested performers. So, maybe the goal of Kep1er’s participation in the show isn’t really to win the whole thing but just to keep the group in the public’s consciousness. Also, since Kep1er just finished competing months ago, the members might still be in competition mode even as we’re speaking, so that “rookie mindset” may work for them in the show. 

On the other hand, their inexperience in going up against industry veterans and their general state of being too “green” and amateur may also work against them. Besides, they don’t even have a discography. Alas, not a lot of people have warmed up to a number of Kep1er’s members, particularly the much-maligned Huening Bahiyyih. IOI had Sohye, IZ*ONE had Kang Hyewon, and now, there is, unfortunately, a lot of hate for Huening Bahiyyih. IOI and IZ*ONE didn’t compete again, though, so the amount of vitriol the poor German-Brazilian-Korean idol will be subject to is still unknown.  But then again, shall we count on MOA  to rally behind Huening Bahiyyih again? Lest we forget that fans of her brother, Huening Kai, were attributed in ensuring Bahiyyih’s spot in Kep1er by power voting in the finals, despite her lackluster performances in Girls Planet 999. Based on their WA DA DA stages, I think Kep1er will do fine in terms of performances, and since they have a member who is the sister of one of k-pop’s most popular groups, that can only work in her and her groups’ favor. 

LOONA

Much has been said about LOONA, and if the show will allow worldwide voting, then, as early as now, we can safely say that LOONA will win Queendom 2. No need for performances, no need for drama, no need for challenges, leave it to the Orbits to ensure victory for LOONA and the LOONAVERSE. 

But then, consider:

  1. Queendom is an Mnet show. Mnet has a history of vote manipulation in reality shows. Kep1er is practically an Mnet creation. Mnet may most likely do anything to turn things towards Kep1er’s favor. In other words, international Orbits may most likely be silenced. 
  2. This may definitely work against LOONA as compared to the Brave Girls, Hyolyn, WJSN, and VIVIZ (or at least its members),  LOONA’s popularity in Korea hasn’t matched the groups mentioned. If Mnet insists on Korea-only voting rules (just like they had in the Produce seasons after the first one – yes, the manipulated seasons), then the playing field (or at least the voting demographics) may be more even for all groups.
  3. Because in terms of line-up and performance, LOONA as a whole unit may not be as good as the others. LOONA and WJSN may have started off at the same time, but the latter already performed as a whole group with Yeonjung since August 2016. LOONA finally performed as a group of twelve in 2018. That’s a two-year headstart for WJSN to work on and improve their group dynamics and harmony. Even Hyolyn has had a year of getting used to performing solo before LOONA released Hi High. 
  4. Finally, it has to be said: the strength of LOONA as a group is weaker than the strength of its individual members. The releases of each member are definitely more interesting than the group’s releases. From Hi High to PTT (Paint the Town), fans have been anticipating for a breakthrough, that one release that will push the group into explosive heights of popularity. And that anticipation has been on for four years and running. 

So, will LOONA dominate Queendom? If international voting will be allowed, then yes, by a landslide. If dominating the show will be based on Korean following, performances, and discography, LOONA might be this season’s Lovelyz or AOA.

VIVIZ 

Finally, we have tricky VIVIZ. Several factors will definitely have an effect on how VIVZ will fare on the show. 

  1. The use of GFriend’s discography. This will definitely give VIVIZ a huge advantage. The thought of Rough, Navillera, and Sunrise alone is already giving me chills.  
  2. That the GFriend discography will be performed with SinB is gold.  But the intricacies of GFriend choreo to be reduced to being performed by a trio may prove to be a little underwhelming. It’s like Oh My girl choreography being down to YooA and Mimi. The girls will definitely still have the moves, but the grandness of the formations and changes will, unfortunately, be lost. 
  3. That the GFriend discography will be sung without Sowon and Yuju will definitely be very tricky. It will be a huge challenge for Eunha and Umji to fill in the shoes of the two main vocals. Song arrangement will play a vital role. It goes without saying Hyolyn will have a walk in the park. Yeonjung, Dawon, Dayoung, and Soobin will not have any problems with that. Chuu and HaSeul should step up to the plate.  Yeseo and Youngeun may match Sowon and Yuju’s levels for Kep1er. But Eunha and Umji… it’s gonna be challenging. 
  4. Can VIVIZ count on Buddy’s voting power to tide them through the competition? That remains to be seen. If the performance of the group’s first EP is any indication, then we may expect good results, but even LOONA’s Korean Orbits may pose a challenge. 

But let’s get one thing clear: Queendom still boils down to voting. So, if the show comes down to votes, we can look forward to these results: 

Korea-only votes will be considered:

  1. Kep1er
  2. WJSN
  3. Brave Girls
  4. VIVIZ
  5. LOONA
  6. Hyolyn

International votes + Korea votes combined:

1. LOONA

.

.

.

.

.

2. A mad scramble 

But of course, the show will still be fun because of Mnet edits, the performances, and the drama! Personally, I am looking forward to these things:

  1. A couple of girls may complain that Hyolyn may have featured artists in her performances (reminiscent of Jimin complaining of Bom having people with her).  
  2. LOONA performing WJSN’s Butterfly and WJSN performing LOONA’s Butterfly
  3. WJSN performing SISTAR songs for the nth time (I can only reckon they’ve been performing them since trainee years) but with a lot of embellishments for the show
  4. Kep1er getting a chance to perform any and all songs originally performed by their competition
  5. Kep1er’s Xiaoting performing Chinese line portions of WJSN songs
  6. Hyolyn performing Brave Girls’ sexier hits (Hyolyn performing High Heels!!!)
  7. Brave Girls performing Dally (the only choreography that can compete with their stingray move)
  8. Umji performing Dally
  9. GFriend choreography being performed by LOONA
  10. Taeyeon – Hyolyn legendary main vocal interaction  

If the Queendom Season 2 lineup is not exciting, we don’t know what is. Can’t wait to see how the competition unfolds and which Kpop girl group wins!

Featured image: Mamamoo won the first season of Queendom in 2019. Photo: Mnet K-POP/YouTube.
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IVE vs Kep1er: Which K-pop Girl Group Will Dominate 2022?

Is 2022 the year of monster girl group rookies? All indications point to the affirmative, and if we are to consider the first two groups that have been introduced to us in the last weeks of 2021 and the first weeks of 2022, then we are indeed in for one hell of a year. 

Here’s a closer look at the two groups that are out to prove that 2022 is indeed the year of the girl group. 

IVE

What we know so far: They have debuted! Armed with IZ*ONE center Wonyoung and visual Ahn Yujin, Starship Entertainment really banked on their trainees’ popularity thanks to Produce 48 and the resulting girl group IZ*ONE to propel their group to monster rookie levels. Well, this list will feature an all-monster rookie lineup, but IVE leads the pack because aside from the fact that they have already successfully debuted, they are supported by a company that knows its girl groups. Just ask SISTAR who had all their title tracks peaking at number 1 and Cosmic Girls who have the national New Year’s song, As You Wish. 

And to say that the debut went well is quite an understatement because the girls proved that they do deserve their reputation as monster rookies. 

According to Billboard’s chart ending on January 14th, Eleven entered the World Digital Song Sales chart at number 9 while also topping the Hot Trending Songs chart. The song also debuted on Billboard’s Japan Hot 100 chart and debuted at the top of the ‘Top User Generated Songs,’ with IVE entering the Artist 100 Chart as well. As for other charts, the single Eleven rose to 4th place on Spotify’s Viral Top 50 Chart and peaked at number 95 on the Global Top 200 Chart. The song also went on to become the most-streamed song on YouTube South Korea for five weeks while the group was chosen as the top cover artist on the music streaming platform Tidal’s K-pop Hits playlist.

On December 8, exactly a week after debut, IVE won their first-ever music show win on MBC’s Show Champion, breaking IZ*ONE’s record as the fastest girl group to win first place since its debut. Eleven also recorded the highest initial total number of albums sold on its first week of release, the highest among girl group debut albums. 

The Korean music industry also acknowledged the power this rookie group has. In a January 2022 poll participated by 31 of the most popular music agency experts from different entertainment companies, IVE was selected as the most anticipated act of 2022.

How will they slay: The reputations of Yujin and Wonyoung have so far carried the group through rookie blues and Liz, Leeseo, Rei, and Gaeul proved that IVE will not just be one of those acts where one member carries the entire group’s popularity. We’ve seen that with their company-mates – SISTAR – who for a time was regarded as “Hyolyn and the Girls.” The same thing happened (and is still happening) to other groups like 4Minute, Gugudan, and LABOUM. By putting the spotlight on the other girls as well, the group should be able to surpass the high levels of popularity they are already enjoying currently as high-profile rookies. 

What could make their star fall: Two things come to mind when talking about what could cause IVE’s downfall. One scenario is should the girls be made to feel that everything is only focused on Wonyoung or Yujin, then internal squabbles may start and the other members may start feeling uncomfortable to perform and be identified as IVE. 

The other worst-case scenario rests ultimately on their company. If Starship suddenly mishandles IVE the way Pledis mishandled Pristine (and all their other groups except for Seventeen), then we can expect the group’s lifespan to dramatically shorten to debut and one comeback before disbandment. But then, with the company’s quite sterling record of handling screwups like Wonho and Shownu with Monsta X, SISTAR’s graceful disbandment, and the Chinese members’ lack of activities with WJSN, we believe that Starship would be incapable of conducting Pledis levels of talent mismanagement.     

Kep1er

What we know so far: This is another group on our list that has already debuted! To think that this group is another product of an Mnet singing reality competition, which has seen better, scandal-free days, expectations have been controlled. After the manipulation scandal that apparently was present on all four seasons of the Produce series was exposed, it seems that Korean viewers may have gotten cautious about stan-ing another Mnet-produced group. But then, the music channel presented another twist with their latest offering, making it distinct so that hopefully, the audience can easily warm up to the new show without being reminded so much of the scandal-ridden Produce shows.

And in typical Mnet fashion, the new reality singing show they presented had a new element that hasn’t been seen before. While Produce 48 had almost half of the trainee contestants composed of Japanese trainees, Girls Planet 999 had Korean, Japanese, and Chinese-speaking (from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) trainees! How’s that for tapping into the largest market in the world? While there have been a number of trainee contestants from Chinese territories from Mnet-produced shows before (Yiren, Kyulkyung, Zhengting, and Justin in the Produce shows and Snowbaby and Tasha in Idol School), Girls Planet 999 would be the first time that the number of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese trainees would be equal at the start. 

Since the show isn’t produced by the same team that has fallen from grace since the Produce vote rigging expose, the final resulting group, Kep1er, wasn’t really suspected of the same cheating scheme. But as with any other show produced by Mnet, many expressed their confusion over the final lineup. Out of the 9 slots that were open for the final group, only one Chinese contestant, Shen Xiaoting, got in and got the final spot when she spent most of the competition in the top ranks (she was ranked first in three out of the 7 ranking episodes, to be exact) . Only two Japanese contestants made it to the final group, which did not include another perennial topnotcher, Yurina. This allowed six Korean contestants to complete the lineup. Alas, there’s the issue of that one contestant who was weak throughout the competition but ended up getting a spot in the final group lineup. While Sohye, Hyewon, and Kuanlin were eventually accepted by fans because of the development they presented throughout the show and during their promotions in the group, Kep1er may have a bigger problem with their “problematic” member Huening Bahiyyih.               

How will they slay:  They were originally scheduled to debut on December 14 and perform at the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards, but due to one of their staff members and later, Mashiro and Xiaoting testing postive for COVID-19, all activities had to be postponed. After the two members fully recovered, Kep1er finally released their debut EP First Impact with the title track Wa Da Da on January 3, 2022. Ten days after the EP’s release, the group won their first music program award on M Countdown.

It does look like Kep1er‘s debut can be considered a success. Their first EP, First Impact, peaked at number 1 in the Gaon Album Chart and has sold more than 300,000 copies. The six-track EP may have sold less than IVE‘s Eleven, but considering that Eleven is only a single album while First Impact is an EP, the difference isn’t that huge. Wa Da Da also charted lower than Eleven as it peaked only at #75 compared to Eleven‘s #2 peak, but it fared better in Japan by peaking at #9 compared to Eleven, which only managed to peak at #16 in the Billboard Japan Hot 100. 

What could make their star fall: As of the moment, that haters are concentrating their efforts on one thing; one member to be exact – Huening Bahiyyih. As mentioned earlier, people are still not convinced that she deserves her spot in Kep1er. The skills she displays are not really at the same level as her groupmates who she outranked in the finals (she ranked second in the Girls Planet’s final episode). If we’re talking about beauty, a number of names have been forwarded by critics who say that Girl Planet contestants like Guinn Myah, Chen Hsinwei, and Yurina would have been better options compared to her. Even in their variety shows, people have commented on how Bahiyyih is coming up as dry and lackluster in terms of personality. Alas, with her beauty, skills, and personality all in question, people can’t help but point out that her popularity is only because she is the sister of TXT’s Huening Kai. People speculated that her brother’s fans may have power voted her to the final lineup, as she wasn’t actually in good standing during the show’s first five ranking episodes. It wasn’t until the second to the final episode when she became part of the nine-member lineup. 

@official_kep1er 다라라라라라리~💕널 보고 있음 음악이 Babe🎶#dararichallenge#히카루 #HIKARU#휴닝바히에 #HUENING_BAHIYYIH #서영은 #YOUNGEUN#강예서 #YESEO#Kep1er #케플러 ♬ DARARI – ︎ ondu

With the group joining Queendom 2, it is feared that the gap between the more experienced and senior groups and Kep1er may become more obvious, not to mention the gap between more experienced members Yeseo, Yujin, Hikaru, Dayeon, and Xiaoting and Bahiyyih. Thus, there’s no better platform for Bahiyyih to breakout and establish herself as a star member of Kep1er than Queendom 2.  Will Mnet do some magic in Queendom 2’s editing to give Bahiyyih the sob story angle that could possibly convert some fans to her side? Here’s hoping they can. 

The question now is, are you ready for these groups to dominate the rest of the year?

Featured Image: IVE from their Official Twitter Account

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The Genius of the Genius Game: Exploring the Brilliance of the Game Show

Has the Netflix hit Squid Game have you pining for more Korean shows where people play games for money? Don’t worry, there has been quite a number of Korean game shows that have been produced that had contestants compete for money, just like in Squid Game. The good thing is, the contestants in these shows don’t have to resort to violence and death. 

The show we’re going to explore is The Genius, a game show that ran for four seasons, from 2013 to 2015. When it was aired, it became a huge fad in Korea.

The Genius was a reality game show with 13 contestants from different backgrounds. There are some celebrities known for their social skills, professionals known for their particular skills in their work, and finally some “regular folk” known for their exceptional intelligence. These participants compete to be on top in every episode, which provides them with immunity from elimination. On every episode, one contestant is eliminated after two rounds of games – a Main Match and a Death Match.

During the Main Match, all players who have survived the previous episode’s elimination will play to win and to be immune from elimination via a token of life. There have been some Main Matches where more than one contestant receives the token of life and therefore, is exempted from elimination. In Main Matches, the winner receives an additional token of life which they can give to a fellow contestant, sparing the recipient from elimination as well. 

The contestant who performed the worst in the Main Match will face off with an opponent of his or her own choosing from among the contestants without a token of life in the Death Match. There have been episodes where there are joint losers, in which case the winner(s) of the Main Match will have to nominate the Death Match player from among the losers. Obviously, the Death Match loser is the eliminated contestant of that episode. 

Aside from the token of life, the winner(s) of the Main Match also win a number of red garnets. A red garnet is equivalent to 1,000,000 won (approximately US$1,000). In the final episode, only the total garnets of the winning contestant are exchanged for his or her prize money. Throughout the show, garnets can be given to other contestants as a form of leverage when negotiating some aspects of the game. Some Main Matches also allow the use of garnets for clues or implements that may win a game for a contestant. 

As the show’s title denotes, it would take a genius to win – but not just a genius in the conventional definition of being someone who has superior academic intelligence. As the start of the third season’s first episode showed, there are different kinds of intelligence, according to Harvard psychologist Howard Garner. To win this game show, it is believed that the contestant needs to employ the kind of intelligence that would benefit him or her the most, at least for a particular Main Match or Death Match. It can be interpersonal intelligence, verbal-linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, etc. 

The key is for the contestant to realize what skills are important for a victory. Thus, having a high IQ may not be assurance of success in the show, as understanding and grasping concepts quickly also aren’t – other contestants may notice this skill and may consider you a threat, prompting them to ally with other contestants to plot your downfall.  Some watches may require more of quick scheming, others may require superior logic, yet others may demand alliances and betrayal.

What are the games played in the Main and Death Matches? 

Most, if not all games are made to look like contestants need to be astute in using logic and mathematical skills, but that might only get them so far. A good deal of one’s success in the games also involves strategy and negotiations and building cooperative relationships and alliances with co-players to ensure favorable outcomes. Outthinking and amazing strategic mindsets can also help a lot in giving a contestant a win.

https://twitter.com/colinstone/status/1462612587154132999

For example, in Season 2, Episode 11,  TV personality and politician Yoo Junghyun faced comedian Noh Hongchul in the Death Match that required them to play Same Picture Hunt, a game that was also Season 1’s final Death Match. The game involves 16 picture tiles hidden behind 16 letter panels and arranged in a 4 by 4 board for the contestants’ reference. Tiles corresponding to the pictures are then dealt out on a conveyor belt with 20 spaces on it. The candidates then try to locate the picture on the board that matches the next tile on their belt. If correct, they move to the next tile, their conveyor belt not moving. But if they’re wrong, the belt is sent one space backward and the erring contestant loses their turn.  This continues until either the winning candidate reaches the end of their conveyor belt or until the losing candidate loses all his or her tiles because they have fallen off the belt. 

Seems to be your usual memory game, right? In Season 1, former idol and TV personality Lee Sangmin and former newscaster and TV personality Kim Kyungran played the game in a straight laced-fashion – a battle of memory. That did not happen in Season 2 as politician Jonghyun used his advantage of going second in the game to block out Hongchul. How?

For example, Hongchul wanted to know the picture behind the letter S. As Hongchul’s picture and the picture behind S do not match, it becomes Jonghyun’s turn. Jonghyun does not use his turn to discover what’s behind another letter and instead just repeats Honghul’s chosen letter, S, for his round. Thus, Hongchul is not given new information. Since he comes first in the game, he used up all his tiles before Jonghyun lost his. Smart, eh? 

Another popular Death Match that was frequently used in Season 1 was Winning Streak, or simply put, rock paper scissors with politics. The point of the game is to make sure you have more allies with your fellow contestants compared to your opponent, so that you will have a longer winning streak, as you will play rock paper scissors with the contestants who aren’t in the elimination block. If the contestants you have allied with are few and far from each other, then the chances of you getting a long winning streak is slim.  

A lot of games were like this, proving that while you can get ahead in the contest with just a thorough understanding of the game’s rules, being strategic on how to use this understanding to win the game is also important. 

Who were the players in The Genius?

The Genius ran for four seasons and had popular personalities as contestants. In Season 1, aside from Sangmin and Kyungran who were mentioned earlier, other contestants include former member of the short-lived girl group Tinus Choi Jungmoon (who also happens to be a MENSA member, eliminated in Episode 5), controversial MC and DJ Kim Gura (as in the grouchy panelist in Radio Star and King of Masked Singer, eliminated in Episode 6), INFINITE leader Sunggyu (who was actually quite successful, reaching Episode 10 before getting eliminated), webtoon artist Kim Poong (eliminated in Episode 7), and weather reporter Park Eunji (eliminated in Episode 9). The season was won by former professional Starcraft player and TV personality Hong Jinho, who faced off with Kyungran in the final episode.

Season 1 champ Jinho (who was unfortunately eliminated in Episode 7) and Sangmin returned in Season 2. Aside from Hongchul and Jonghyun mentioned earlier, they were joined by Jaekyung (leader of girl group RAINBOW, 2nd to be eliminated). Jiwon (as in the leader of 1st gen mega group Sechs Kies, who like Season 1’s Sunggyu was also eliminated in Episode 10), magician Lee Eungyeol (who was always in coattails and sunglasses throughout the show, 4th to be eliminated), and former Starcraft professional player Lim Yohwan (as in Jinho’s mortal adversary in the gaming world), who faced Sangmin in the finals. 

Season 3 included academy math teacher and KAIST lecturer Nam Hweejung (who rose to fame after becoming the first contestant eliminated in Season 2 as many disliked his arrogance, though he fared better in Season 3, where he got eliminated in Episode 4), former singer and actor Kim Jeonghoon (as in Prince Lee Yul in Princess Hours, eliminated in Episode 6), and eventual winner, comedian Jang Dongmin, who beat then 19-year-old KAIST student Oh Hyunmin. Hyunmin, who then was the youngest contestant to ever appear in the show’s four seasons, went on to become a TV personality. 

Season 4 is sort of the show’s “greatest hits” season, where the most popular players of all three seasons reunited. 

What was the best season? 

The answer to this question really depends on the viewer’s personal preference. I personally prefer Season 1 the most, since the contestants were pretty much left to their open devices on how to play the games and strategize, while the two other seasons already have references from previous seasons and thus, came more prepared. 

Season 1 set the bar with the brilliance of the eventual winner, Jinho, whom showed amazing performances in the three Death Matches he participated in and won, as well as winning three Main Matches as well. How he played the games and avoided betrayal as much as possible was also remarkable. The season also showed fantastic runs from Sunggyu, who led on other players by pretending he was mostly clueless of the games to hide his brilliance in tactical thinking and Kyungran, who managed to always be in the right place and the right time and thus, avoiding Death Matches (she only played one Death Match – the last one before the final episode). 

Season 2 was a bit of a damper in the sense that most of the season was spent on something that wasn’t really a part of the games – the immunity token. This was introduced only in Season 2 and was not used in the following seasons, which allowed the owner to skip a Death Match. A good amount of play time during Episodes 3 to 5 were spent on players who have clues on the whereabouts of the immunity token looking for it, so they weren’t able to focus on the Main Matches. 

Moreover, thing went awry in Episode 6 when Jiwon took the ID of contestant Dohee (known for hacking Seoul National University’s website), which was an important element of playing the Main Match of that episode. As a result of  looking for it until the last round, Dohee wasn’t able to properly participate in the game and was automatically sent to the Death Match. Things became more uncomfortable to watch when Sangmin gave him a fake immunity token, which he used, only to find out that he was duped for the second time in one episode. For a show that stated right from the start of Season 1 that  “violence or theft is not allowed,” it was very disappointing how the producers did not step in and forced Jiwon to surrender Dohee’s ID. 

Season 3 had a very different player dynamic from the past two seasons because of the backlash the show received with the Episode 6 mess and the alliance among celebrities and non-celebrities. Thus, the third season had more “normal” and “regular” people as contestants. The alliance between Hyunmin and Dongmin pretty much ruled the entire season, but what was great about it was the two did not make their relationship too obvious and still allowed the other players to display brilliant gameplay, especially Yeonseung who considered himself an outsider the entire season, yet managed to be part of the final 3. The games themselves were not as dynamic as the first two seasons, but we were allowed to see the vulnerabilities in all the players.  

Sadly, The Genius is not streaming on any platform, although subtitled episodes have been available on YouTube and Dailymotion. International diehard fans have also made it something of a cult classic, with reddit and Discord forums still alive six years after the last episode was aired. It can be said that the show’s popularity can be narrowed down to three factors: The novel but interesting concept, the genius-level editing of the show’s episode (the fast forward and flashback scenes get people to anticipate what’s happening and why things turn out they way they eventually did), and finally, the relatability of the contestants who really made sure they played the games to the best of their abilities, which made the show all the more watchable. Hopefully, we can get tVN to release the show’s four seasons in a streaming platform for more audiences to experience it. 

Featured Image: Screengrab from Tvn Youtube Channel “The Genius Game” trailer

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Where are the SIXTEEN Contestants Now?

In 2015, JYP Entertainment got into the craze of shows where idol hopefuls compete for spots in a group that will be debut after the program’s run. JYP, in collaboration with Mnet, produced SIXTEEN, where sixteen trainees had to compete against one another to secure a spot in a girl group, which before the show ended, was revealed to be named Twice. The sixteen contestants were assessed with the usual prerequisite skills of singing and dancing, as well as their personalities and their charisma. For ten episodes, the sixteen trainees duked it out on several challenges, with JYP Entertainment’s A&R team and Park Jinyoung deciding who would compose the “major” and “minor” groups.

This is where the initial controversy with the show started, as the contestants who were classified in the “Major” group were given better treatment, including living in a better dorm (at least for a week), having mentoring sessions with then-current JYP idols, having a van to take them to the show’s shooting locations, and finally having prime training time from 9 in the morning to 9 in the evening. On the other hand, contestants appointed to the “Minors” group had less than stellar living conditions and only had access to the company’s practice room from 9 in the evening until 9 the following day. If that’s not emotionally abusive and sheer cruelty to the contestants who only want to realize their dreams of stardom, then nothing is!

If that’s not enough, controversy pursued the show until its final episode when two contestants who have been eliminated were eventually included in the final line-up for Twice. Momo, who was eliminated in the 4th mission and Tzuyu, a contestant who made it to the final episode but was not chosen to be part of the debuting group but was brought back because of fan opinion, somehow found their way to the final group. 

Moreover, it was weird how some contestants like Natty and Somi, who were designated to the Minors group only twice (pun not intended) throughout the show’s ten episodes, not only ended up getting eliminated in the final episode, but were also not considered at all for the final line-up. The reason: JYP said they were a bit too young to debut.  That’s confusing, considering Hyuna debuted with Wonder Girls at age 13 and Suzy debuted with Miss A at 15, and Tzuyu was only a year and nine months older than Somi. 

Anyway, those dissenting opinions regarding already-eliminated contestants getting a second chance at the expense of better-but-“underage” contestants were only countered by a statement the company released after the show’s finale:  “We apologize for failing to clearly communicate the selection process, and we’d like to explain it in detail once again. The condition to be chosen as a final member was the votes made by the audience and viewers. However, leading up to the final episode, we thought that the seven members selected officially may leave something to be desired. So, in addition to the seven, we decided that one member would be added solely from the viewer’s opinions (Tzuyu) and one from solely Park Jin-young’s opinion (Momo).”

A bit fishy, yes? 

After the program, the nine “winners” of the contest – Jeongyeon, Nayeon, Mina, Sana, Dahyun, Jihyo, and Chaeyeong, plus the two added on the final episode, namely Momo and Tzuyu, debuted as Twice and released their first single “Like Ooh-Ahh” on October 20, 2015. Immediately after the show, Jiwon, who was eliminated in the showcase episode, decided to leave JYP Entertainment. 

Also read: The fun relationship of JYP and Twice’s Dahyun

After Jiwon, Minyoung also left JYPE. In an interview with news site OSEN, she said, “I will be pursuing my dreams somewhere else. I haven’t given up. While I was at (JYPE), I wanted to communicate with the fans, but I was frustrated because I couldn’t. I wanted to say that I got all of the gifts you sent me…I am really thankful; they were a great source of strength for me.”

Despite losing in the program, Somi was next to be in the spotlight as she competed in the Mnet reality girl group survival series Produce 101 in 2016. She eventually finished in first place and debuted with the show’s project girl group I.O.I. While Somi was at the tail-end of promoting with I.O.I, her name, along with the remaining JYPE trainees – sisters Chaeyeon and Chaeryeong, as well as Natty and Eunsuh began surfacing as probable members of a new group JYPE will debut in 2019. However, it wasn’t meant to be as Chaeyoung, Natty, and Eunsuh decided to leave the company in 2017. 

 On August 20, 2018, JYPE also announced that Somi has terminated her contract and left the company. A month later, she signed an exclusive contract with YG Entertainment’s sub-label The Black Label, where she eventually debuted as a solo artist in 2019 with her title track Birthday. Somi has since then done two comebacks with her latest, Dumb Dumb, being the most successful, and news is rife that her full-length studio album XOXO will be out very soon!

But before that, while Somi was winding up her promotions with I.O.I, Eunsuh, Natty and Jiwon competed on another Mnet reality girl group survival show Idol School. It was only Jiwon who secured a spot on the show’s girl group, Fromis 9, as she finished 6th in the show. 

Chaeyeon, the first contestant eliminated in SIXTEEN, has since then followed Somi’s footsteps as she competed in Mnet’s Produce 48, the third staging of the Produce 101 program, where she represented WM Entertainment (home to B1A4 and Oh My Girl). She finished in 12th place, securing her a spot in the show’s project girl group, Iz*One, which debuted in October 2018. There’s still no news about the continuation of her singing career, whether she will promote herself as a girl group member or a soloist. She is currently a contestant in Street Woman Fighter, another reality competition, this time featuring all-girl dance crews. Fans are a bit concerned about the treatment of her by other dancers on the show, who dismiss her as an idol rather than a serious dancer. Others speculate that she is just undergoing the usual Mnet character development of a contestant who has many disadvantages at the start of the competition but leaves her underdog image behind towards the end of the show.  

In 2020, Natty finally debuted as a solo artist after signing with Swing Entertainment with the single Nineteen.  She has since then released another single in November entitled Teddy Bear. She has yet to resume promotions this year.  

After quitting JYP Entertainment, Minyoung seemed to have given up on being an idol. She has been working at an international school and has since gotten back in the spotlight earlier this year with the launching of her YouTube Channel, where she has posted her own music compositions, song covers, and vlogs, including, of course, some insider info of her time in Sixteen.  

After joining Idol School, we haven’t heard a lot about Eunsuh. She got embroiled in a social media tiff after a Facebook account with her name left a shady remark on Somi’s video where she covered Sunmi’s Gashina. She claims that the account is actually a shared account among her friends who don’t have a personal account (most probably because they’re not of legal age yet) and that particular comment was left by one of those sharing the account. She vowed to leave that account and not use Facebook and Facebook Messenger anymore. As for her other social media account, her last Instagram post was in September last year. 

Finally, loyalty and persistence have paid off for Chaeyeon’s sister, Chaeryeong, who is the only JYP trainee who didn’t get a spot in Twice but chose to remain with JYPE. She finally debuted as a member of the company’s new girl group, Itzy, in February 2019.

So, we can conclude that the entire SIXTEEN alumnae body has somehow been successful. Twice even released a comeback album, Formula of Love: O+T=<3, in 2021. Now, only if we can have more updates regarding Eunsuh, a new Natty comeback, a successful Somi album, and for Twice to have better songs, then the OG fans can be happier. 

Featured Image: Photo: Twice/Twitter

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BTS FEATURES LATEST STORIES VARIETY

5 Books Read by K-Pop Idols to Add to Your Reading List

RM, BTS's resident genius, reads "A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney" by Martin Gayford" while preparing for a performance.

One might think that with their super busy schedules, idols won’t have time to even crack open a book. But, it turns out that there are a lot of bookworms among idols—and they love recommending new reads to fans! Check out these K-pop idols’ book recommendations, what they have read, or were spotted with:  

K-pop idols’ book recommendations 1: I Decided to Live as Me by Kim Soo Hyun

Read/recommended/spotted: BTS’s Jungkook

A collection of short essays, filled with nuggets of wisdom, seems to have intrigued BTS’ Jungkook.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed as you took your first steps into adulthood? Or maybe you’ve had days when you felt lost, insignificant, or worthless? Try reading I Decided to Live as Me, a collection of short essays by Kim Soo Hyun, to soothe your worries. The book is filled with nuggets of wisdom such as, “The person that you always have to respect is no one else but yourself.” This blunt, no-nonsense self-help book (peppered with cute illustrations that break up the seriousness of some of the topics) teaches important life lessons that will empower everyone to accept themselves for who they really are and live well. 

BTS’ golden maknae Jungkook was seen packing this book in his bag in the group’s travel variety show Bon Voyage season 3. Sales of the book increased almost immediately after the show was aired, as ARMYs became interested and began reading and recommending it to friends. 

K-pop idols’ book recommendations 2: Almond by Sohn Won Pyung

Read/recommended/spotted: BTS members RM, Suga, and J-Hope

Leader of BTS, RM often recommends the books he read and loved to ARMYs. And this one is RM approved!

The BTS members are certified book lovers! Leader RM, in particular, often recommends the books he read and loved to ARMYs. One such RM-approved book is Almond by Sohn Won Pyung. The story revolves around Yunjae, a boy born with a brain condition that makes it difficult for him to feel strong emotions like fear or anger. When he personally experiences violence and loss, he struggles to cope, until he forms a surprising bond with a new friend. It’s a touching story about growth, friendship, and love, all wrapped up in a slim volume.  

RM read this book at BTS In the Soop. Fellow members Suga and J-Hope were also seen reading the novel in the show. 

K-pop idols’ book recommendations 3: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Read/recommended/spotted: Super Junior’s Kyuhyun

This hefty, 400-plus page non-fiction book was ready by Super Junior’s Kyuhyun

Super Junior’s maknae and resident genius, Kyuhyun, also likes to indulge in reading during his downtime. One of his more recent reads is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. This hefty, 400-plus page non-fiction book dives deep into the history of the homo sapiens—us, modern-day humans—and their motivations, innovations, and need for self-preservation. The idol brought this book with him to a solo staycation, as seen in his KYU TV channel on YouTube. 

Watch Kyuhyun’s staycation video below: 

K-pop idols’ book recommendations 4: Kim Ji Young, Born 1982 by Cho Nam Joo

Read/recommended/spotted: Red Velvet’s Irene

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam Joo is the story of Jiyoung, a 30-something year old woman, and her daily struggle against gender discrimination that’s present in every aspect of her life. This takes a toll on her mental health, and she slowly descends into madness. It’s a sobering story tackling pervasive misogyny, societal oppression, and what it means to live life as a woman. 

Feminist book Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 landed Red Velvet’s Irene in hot water.

Red Velvet’s Irene revealed in a fan meeting that she read the thought-provoking book, which got her into hot water with male fans. The book is branded as a “feminist” book, and some anti-feminists in Korea perceive the novel as inciting contempt for men. Netizens even posted photos of them cutting and burning Irene’s photocards after the event. 

Other idols who have read the book include BTS’ RM and Girls’ Generation’s Sooyoung. 

K-pop idols’ book recommendations 5: The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino 

Read/recommended/spotted: EXO Kai

EXO’s main dancer said The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino made a huge impression on him.

EXO’s main dancer Kai named The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino as a book that made a big impression on him in the KBS program The Human Condition. The Japanese crime novel tells the story of meticulous math teacher Ishigami and his neighbor Yasuko, a divorced mother. When Yasuko’s abusive ex-husband drops in at hers and her daughter Misato’s home unannounced, a fight ensues that ends in the ex-husband’s death. Ishigami offers to help cover up the crime, which results in a high-level cat-and-mouse game between the teacher and the detective in charge of the case. 

Which of these books will you add to your list of must-reads? 

Featured Image: RM, BTS’s resident genius, reads “A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney” by Martin Gayford” while preparing for a performance. Photo: BANGTANTV/YouTube
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FEATURES K-DRAMA LATEST STORIES VARIETY

Why Has Squid Game Invaded the World?

Still from behind the scenes of Squid Game. Picture credit: Screengrab from Netflix

As of the moment, it seems that the world has gotten addicted to the Korean Netflix show Squid Game. Not that anyone’s complaining though, because the show is really something. Plagiarism claims aside, the show manages to captivate everyone’s attention, not just those who have gotten bitten by the K-drama bug. And that’s good since the show’s universal appeal means that nobody can argue that its popularity only stems from K-drama fans crazily streaming the show non-stop.

A still from the shoot of Squid Game. Picture credit: Screengrab from Netflix Youtube

Netflix has actually not just shown a lot of K-dramas, but has actually broken through the Korean market in 2013 by being the sole distributor of Kingdom, a show produced by Korean production company AStory, but was solely shown on the streaming platform and not on any Korean TV channel, free-to-air or cable. It then struck a deal with producers NEW (Next Entertainment World) and JTBC to release the Lee Jungjae-headlined Chief of Staff on the same day as its premiere on the cable channel. Since then, Netflix has not only distributed K-dramas and movies but has also dabbled into producing content that would make up the company’s Korean-language original programming.


But even with the original content they produced, it always felt like Netflix’s Korean original programs catered to a niche audience. True, a good number of the shows they produced and distributed had become famous even internationally, but as mentioned earlier, most of them, even Kingdom, were still confined to an audience with an affinity for Korean-language content. 

So, even if there are a lot of people overseas who have watched Kingdom, it was assumed that these viewers were Korean-Americans or those who have already liked Korean dramas in the past. It seemed that the audience the show connected with continued to be limited to Korean drama fans, unlike other foreign Netflix shows like Lupin, Elite, and Money Heist, which have amassed huge followings from countries that aren’t French or Spanish speaking, plus haven’t had any particular loyalty to French or Spanish language content. 

That is until Squid Game came along. 

The website FlixPatrol, which analyzes streaming figures on the world’s leading online streaming platform, claims that Squid Game topped global charts on Friday, September 27, only a week since its release on September 17. It has since then kept the top position. As of press time,it still holds the top position, keeping other Netflix shows such as Sex Education, Maid, and Lucifer at bay. The fact that it has dislodged English-language shows on top of the charts and is keeping its #1 placement even in countries with very particular audiences such as the USA shows that it has really won over a huge audience, especially those that are not particularly fond of content not in English. 

 

In fact, the show has now gone down #2 in markets that are known to consume a lot of Korean language content such as Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines because of the weekly episodes of the Kim Seonho drama Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (which coincidentally also has Shin Mina, who was also part of the aforementioned Chief of Staff), while maintaining the top position in other countries that are not that keen on following the shows of Hallyu stars.    

So, what is it exactly about Squid Game that has audiences from all corners of the planet wanting more? Everyone, from armchair TV critics to cultural researchers, has had their opinions amplified on mainstream and social media, and it seems to boil down to three factors: 

 

The storytelling is unique yet universal.

A lot of concepts of the show’s story may be distinctly Korean but they are exactly the same elements that hit foreign audiences hard in their feels. For one, Squid Game is about people who are psychologically and financially desperate – something so many of us can definitely identify with since the start of the pandemic, with job losses and mental health struggles abound. 

While it may not be true that the rest of us outside Korea get hounded by gangsters working for loan sharks when we run away from paying our debt (though according to Koreans themselves, that actually happens, but is not an everyday occurrence), we can relate to the desperation Gihun (Lee Jungjae) and the other 455 players feel when they are willing to risk life and limb to take home some serious money. We can relate to how Gihun’s feelings toward childhood friend Sangwoo (Park Haesoo) turned from idolization to disappointment after the former realized throughout the game how morally iffy some of his hometown hero’s decisions were. 

Finally, we can all relate to the sense of nostalgia playing those childhood games brought to the participants, particularly to mastermind player 001 Ilnam (Oh Yeongsu). Although we have resumed a lot of our activities, we have to admit that things have not been the same as they used to be, so it is inevitable that we long to remember simpler and more comfortable times when we did things such as playing just for the fun of it and not because there are consequences to our every move.

The show tapped into people’s psyche. 

Speaking of relatability, the show works not only because we can relate to the plight of Gihun and the 454  other players in terms of their desperation and police officer Junho’s (played by Wi Hajoon) urgent attempt to fight his brother, but we can also relate to the foreign VIPs, The Front Man (played by Lee Byunghun) and beloved old man with a twist Ilnam. 

Wait, what? Are you saying we have things in common with the game’s disconnected spectators?   

Of course, as the audience, we occupy a similar position to the VIPs as spectators of the game, as we satisfy our base instincts of voyeurism in finding out who survives in the rounds and who ultimately wins. It’s like an unfortunate accident happening right before your eyes that you’re telling yourself to look away, but you simply cannot. 

Allowing us to sympathize with the players and yet having a safe distance from them as we watch their activities from the comforts of home has given the show’s producers a perfect formula on how it can get us audiences hooked to the social message of the story while not making us too uncomfortable. 

With Squid Game, while we sympathize with the characters, the line between them and us is very clear, as they are the ones playing the games. We have the option to sympathize with them and at the same time be guiltless spectators just like the VIPs. After all, the VIPs are only spectators just like us; they are not the ones running the game – the workers in pink jumpsuits are actually the ones rolling out the games and dealing with all the dirty work. 

In horror movies, even those set in a game theme like Battle Royale or the Saw series, there are no spectators, so we cannot help but actually have 100% of our sympathies to the players. And it is only later when the games are through when we start to really consider if we could carve the perfect shape out of the honeycomb cookies or if we can distinguish which glass can hold human weight and which will break. In Squid Game, we are constantly reminded that we can also be detached spectators just like the VIPs. Squid Game is escapist entertainment masterfully done.

The production values are off the charts.

It cannot be denied that the production of Squid Game is just fantastic. From the secluded island where the players were confined to the playground where they played the first couple of games, the sleeping quarters that looked like a storage facility, there was nothing that was spared to make the series believable and exciting.  What’s great about the sets they used for the show is that there were some easter eggs hidden in them that keen-eyed viewers may have noticed while watching the episodes. 

The fact that most of us have seen something like Squid Games’ premise in Hunger Games and Battle Royale has not deterred us from watching the show because the scenes have been filmed in such an attention-grabbing manner.  

For example, while the sequence of games was told in advance to the Doctor (Yoo Sungjoo) the evening before the game as they helped them harvest organs of the players who were killed, there were actually murals on the walls of the players’ sleeping quarters that show the major points of the games. So, players who were more aware of their surroundings should have noticed that. But then, since they were constantly tired and paranoid of their fellow players who may attack them when the lights go out, they may not have the energy to be that sharp.

For most of the past year, we have been confined to our movements and activities, so watching shows and movies from other countries may give us some sort of comfort and pleasure that we can experience the cultures, places, and ways of living of people far away from us. We may be awed at how we have actually a lot of things more in common with people from other countries, but since they have different customs and environments, there are also interesting twists and differences that we should look out for. So for now, we just need to enjoy the show while learning some lessons from it.

Featured Image credit: Still Watching Netflix Youtube

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KPOP NEWS VARIETY

K-pop Group 100% Confirms Disbandment in October

The boy group’s agency TOP Media issued a statement regarding 100%’s current status.

“Our sincere thanks to the fans who have loved and supported the members of 100%,” the statement read. “TOP Media’s exclusive contracts with 100% members Rockhyun, Jonghwan, Chanyong, and Hyukjin expire on October 9, 2021. After deep discussions with the members, we have decided to end 100%’s activities.”

The statement went on to express gratitude to the boy group.

“We sincerely thank the members, who have worked with us at TOP Media for a long time, and we will continue to cheer on their futures,” it continued. “We ask fans for their warm interest and support for Rockhyun, Jonghwan, Chanyong, and Hyukjin’s new starts.”

The 100% members also issued a statement of their own.

“This is our last farewell as 100%. It’s really difficult to leave a place where you’ve stayed for so long. It’s been a long time, but now that it’s passed, it also feels quite short,” they wrote.

Rockhyun, Jonghwan, Chanyong, and Hyukjin also thanked PERFECTIONs for their undying support.

“As 100% members and as each other’s colleagues, the past nine years were a very valuable time for us. We thank PERFECTION for loving us even when we were lacking. Our twenties were fun and happy because we spent it with you. In the future, we wish each other nothing but happiness and we will soon greet you with new images,” they wrote.

It has been a joyful journey for the members of 100% but it was also marked with hardships. Although they started out with seven members, the boy group ultimately ended up with just Rockhyun, Jonghwan, Chanyong, and Hyukjin. In 2014, Sanghoon decided to take time off the group while Changbum departed in 2016. The most painful parting was with leader Minwoo, who passed away in 2018.

Although they will no longer be promoting as a group, the members of 100% are expected to pursue their own solo careers. With that in mind, PERFECTIONs will continue to be ready to support Rockhyun, Jonghwan, Chanyong, and Hyukjin in the future.

100% will officially disband when their contracts expire on October 9, 2021.

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LATEST STORIES VARIETY

Subscribed! YouTube Channels of 12 Male K-pop Idols.

EXO Chanyeol's Personal YouTube channel, NNG ᄂᄂᄀ. Photo: NNG ᄂᄂᄀ/YouTube

We’re always on the lookout for fresh content from our idols—anything from music show performances to variety show appearances. But in the last few years, we have seen idols open their own YouTube channels, giving us a new opportunity to see our idols living their lives away from the stage.

Some idols open their own channels to post song covers, and several grab the chance to better showcase other aspects of their personalities. But above all, K-pop idols use the platform to better connect with fans.

Take a look at the personal YouTube channels of these male K-pop idols and click that subscribe button so you can catch up with their daily lives!

iKON

Chanwoo

iKon’s Chanwoo posts a variety of content on his Chanwoo Sari channel for iKONICS to enjoy! From food reviews to gaming to car interviews, there’s a lot of stuff for fans to indulge in.

Chanwoo also gives fans a sneak peek of the new YG building. Check out his YG New Building Tour video below:

BIGBANG

Daesung

Bigbang’s Daesung tried to make his YouTube channel D’splay as anonymous as possible, but there’s no hiding from VIPs! In his channel, Daesung uploads drum covers of K-pop and western songs. He has also recently started uploading vlogs of his daily life and activities.

Watch his drum cover of Take My Breath by The Weeknd:

VIXX

N

Want to wind down and relax after a long day? Head over to VIXX N’s channel, Today’s Record, to watch soothing videos that give Starlights a glimpse of the idol-actor’s daily life.

Watch N as he drives around Korea for his drama Mine:

Ken

On the other hand, main vocal Ken’s YouTube channel, ! Ken Do !t, is rife with bright and cheerful energy! In his channel, the idol and musical actor posts song covers, mukbang videos, backstage footage from his musicals, and more.

Ken is still serving in the military, but his pre-filmed content is uploaded regularly on the channel. Watch his hilarious—and on point!—cover of Into the Unknown from Frozen 2:

Ravi

Main rapper Ravi is the latest VIXX member to become a YouTuber—and one of the latest idols to join the platform. He opened his YouTube channel just this September! Aside from video and audio clips of his music, Ravi has also posted a teaser video of what Starlights can expect! Looks like fans can look forward to the idol showing the singer, variety show star, record producer, and record label boss sides of himself, so make sure to subscribe and turn on the notifications!

Hyuk

VIXX’s maknae Hyuk only recently launched his YouTube channel H:Life. The idol posts vlogs about his daily life and work. In his first few videos, though, he never showed his face—but a lot of Starlights easily figured out his secret. On the 100-day anniversary of his channel, Hyuk finally revealed himself! Fingers crossed for English subtitles to be added soon for international fans!

Day6

Jae

Day6’s Jae also runs his own YouTube channel. Initially, the channel was called Jaesix, and he posted videos of him interviewing and playing games with fellow idols, as well as his a-day-in-the-life vlogs. More recently, renamed the channel to eaJ. The latest posts are now the singer-songwriter’s self-written tracks.

GOT7

Jay B

GOT7’s Jay B launched his channel in February 2021 as a way to communicate with his fans. His initial uploads were the songs from his mixtapes. But just last August, Jay B uploaded his first vlog—so make sure to hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss future updates!

EXO

Baekhyun

Baekhyun’s KyungTube contains vlogs, behind the scenes footage of album recordings and music video shoots, ASMR and mukbang videos, and more. Before he left for his military enlistment, he pre-filmed lots of content to be released regularly, and it looks like he’s keeping his promise!

For the EXO fan club’s anniversary, Baekhyun uploaded a video of him preparing a rainbow cake to greet EXO-Ls a happy birthday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vBKpUNbYFo

Chen

If you’re missing Chen’s soothing vocals, make sure to check out his YouTube channel. Aside from his solo songs and OSTs, he also covers songs from other artists.

Chen hasn’t uploaded any videos recently, but you can still get your fill of his amazing covers such as his rendition of Breath by Park Hyo Shin:

Chanyeol

Chanyeol’s Studio NNG documents the idol’s life as he goes to recording sessions with his bandmates and collaborators, tries out baking, and builds a bar in his studio. There’s also behind-the-scenes footage from music video filming, and backstage videos from music show performances.

Like Baekhyun, Chanyeol also pre-filmed content to be released monthly throughout his military enlistment. Make sure to subscribe and click the notification bell so you don’t miss an update!

Lay

EXO’s only Chinese member, Lay, also has his own channel! Subscribe to Lay Zhang so you watch his amazing dance performances, cinematic music videos, and more!

We know this is nowhere near a full list because more and more idols open their own channels every day. But in any case, fans everywhere are delighted to see their idols show off their unique talents and fun personalities on YouTube! Who’s your favorite male idol YouTuber?

EXO Chanyeol’s personal YouTube channel, NNG ᄂᄂᄀ. Photo: NNG ᄂᄂᄀ/YouTube

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K-DRAMA LATEST STORIES VARIETY

You Need To Check Out Three New Dramas Featuring Your Favorite Idols

We may have heard a lot of news about these dramas, including casting updates, the dropping of stills and teasers, but for the longest time, we have not been informed of confirmed dates for their release. 

Now, we have gathered the latest updates about three web and TV shows that will feature some of your favorite idols, so without further ado, here they are:

Heartbeat Broadcasting Accident

Scheduled to premiere on October 27 on Naver TV Cast

What’s it about: A lot of us K-drama followers are surely hard to please! We constantly complain that a majority of the content we see is not that relatable. If most dramas are about fantastical characters with superpowers like Goblin or A Korean Odyssey, we complain. If we get a suspense drama about how the 1% of society live, such as the Penthouse series or SKY Castle, we still complain. When we have period dramas like 100 Days My Prince or Mr. Queen, we still have something to say about the content being too foreign and irrelevant. Finally, when we have shows about celebrities like The Producers or Touch Your Heart, we still have an issue or two. 

So alas, we are starting off this list with something most of us can surely relate to – an office drama! Heartbeat Broadcasting Accident is a web drama set in an office that will surely be relatable to a lot of us since it is about unrequited love (who can’t relate to fluttering hearts the first time we meet an attractive officemate?), influencer rivals (there’s always competition on who gets the boss’ approval, after all), and a love triangle (because it is sometimes inevitable that attraction breeds in the small circle of office teams)

Who’s in it? The web drama features SF9’s ZuHo, Lim Nayoung, Lee Hyunjoo, and Jung Mingyu.  ZuHo proves that all (or at least, a majority of SF9) members can act and pursue careers outside of their group. So, it’s not just Rowon and Chani who get to display their acting chops, as in this show, he will essay the role of Cha Seonwoo, a first planning team leader at “Sherry Shop” and has good looks and top skills and competes with a male colleague for the affections of a female officemate.

Lim Nayoung, former I.O.I and Pristin leader, seems to be intent on proving herself as an actress since her group’s disbandment and leaving her former talent agency, Pledis Entertainment. Debuting in the acting world with the acclaimed drama Flower of Evil, she has since appeared in the web drama Summer Guys with bandmate Kang Mina and the KBS idol drama Imitation, which also starred ZuHo’s bandmate Chani. Nayoung will be the leading lady of the drama, playing Yoon Yiseo, a social media influencer who has to keep an office job to make ends meet. She meets childhood friend Seonwoo in Sherry Shop, though she has also noticed another male officemate.

Second leads include Lee Hyunjoo, formerly of the girl group April, who plays Yura, Yiseo’s rival in many aspects – online, in Sherry Shop, and for Seonwoo’s affections. There’s also model-turned-actor Jung Mingyu, who as Kwon Hyuck, also works in Sherry Shop and will battle it out with Seonwoo for Yoon Yiseo’s heart. 

 

Idol: The Coup

Scheduled to premiere on November 8 on JTBC

 

Speaking of Lim Nayoung, after Pristin was disbanded, she moved to Sublime Artist Agency, where she is now pursuing an acting career. The agency is also home to former idols who have opted to diversify or shift their careers to include acting, such as Yerin formerly of GFriend, Youngjae of GOT7, and Ahn Heeyeon, or more known to us as Hani of EXID. Hani has dabbled a lot in acting since leaving Banana Culture, EXID’s agency, having bagged roles in web and TV dramas such as XX, The Spies Who Loved Me, SF8, Not Yet 30, and You Raise Me Up. Next for her is this idol drama, Idol: The Coup, which coincidentally is also similar to Nayoung’s previous drama, Imitation, in the sense that both are shows about the triumphs and struggles of idol groups. 

Idol: the Coup is a story of an idol group that is on the brink of disbandment because of its unpopularity. Just like most idol groups these days, the fate of the band ultimately depends on a breakout hit that may possibly save them and bring them back to public attention. Us fans are too familiar with this scenario, as we’ve witnessed groups that have been on the brink of getting dismissed and it just took one viral hit to change public perception. There’s Brave Girls with Rollin’, LABOUM with Journey to Atlantis, and EXID with that viral Up and Down fancam that featured none other than Hani!

Alas, this drama’s story is also quite familiar with its actors because aside from Hani, who plays the leader of the fictional struggling group Cotton Candy, the other members include Exy of the Cosmic Girls (WJSN) and Solbin of LABOUM. Suffice to say these actor-idols will be acting from experience, indeed. The drama also includes Han Soeun and Green (of the group REDSQUARE) as the other members of Cotton Candy, Produce X 101 alumnus Kim Minkyu as Seo Jihan, the leader and main vocalist of Mars, a popular K-pop boy group that has an opposite fate as their labelmates Cotton Candy. There also may be a love angle between the leaders of the two groups. 

Other members of the cast include Kwak Siyang as Cha Jaehyeok, the CEO of Starpeace Entertainment, the agency of both Mars and Cotton Candy, Lee Youjin as Piyon, a genius producer who exclusively provides songs to Starpeace Entertainment talents, and the other members of Mars, which also include real-life idols such as Hong Eunki (formerly of RAINZ and also a Produce 101 X contestant), Lee Eunsang (who was also with Eunki and Minkyu in PD101X and became a member of X1), and actors Baek Seohoo and Jo Joonyoung. 

Teasers of the drama have already been released on JTBC’s YouTube channel, which show a lot of the cast members in heavy drama scenes. Looks like the idol actors don’t have to work that hard to be reminded of the struggles they had in their careers as idol group members. 

School 2021

Premiering on November 17 on KBS2

I’m sure most, if not all of us, have at the very least heard of an installment of the School drama series. After all, there have been eight (you read that right, e-i-g-h-t) of them released, with the first one coming out in 1999. A lot of established actors have been a part of the franchise, including Bae Doona (School 1), Lee Dongwook (School 2 and 3), Jo Insung (School 3), Gong Yoo (School 4), Kim Woobin (School 2013), Kim Sohyun (School 2015), Nam Joohyuk (School 2015), and Kum Junghyun (School 2017). BtoB’s Sungjae and former Gugudan center and I.O.I main vocalist Kim Sejeong also have School 2015 and 2017, respectively, as part of their acting credentials. 

A new batch of relative acting rookies will be introduced in this year’s School 2021, which was actually supposed to be School 2020 had the pandemic not delayed production of the show.  As with the other earlier editions of the drama, this 2021 version still follows the life and growth of students, with a twist. This time, the show will be set in a vocational high school and will star feature ex-X1 center Kim Yohan, Choo Youngwoo, and Cho Yihyun.  

Gong Kijoon (Yohan) used to be a taekwondo player and has played in national compet9tiojn when he suddenly had incurred a serious ankle injury. With his father’s business going bankrupt, Kijoon wanted to reverse his family’s misfortunes by quitting taekwondo and entering a vocational high school so he could be employed fast. Enter Jin Jiwon, his first love, who wants to become a carpenter and is already enrolled in the vocational school. There’s also Jung Youngjoo, a transfer student who has a connection to Kijoon’s past.

The other students in the drama include Kim Kangmin who plays Ji Hosung, a student who is always changing his plans on what he wants to become in the future and becomes Kijoon’s friend. There’s also Hwang Boreum Byeol who plays Kang Seoyoung, a high achieving student focused on making it to one of the five top universities in Korea and maybe cold and uncaring because of her ambition. 

What do you think of these dramas?

Featured Image: Still from School 2021 trailer; Photo: Viki Global TV Viki Global TV

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