#my top 3 performances were definitely tbz skz ikon

[mosviqu]

started watching kingdom bc i am losing it

[sanstropfremir]

some thoughts and questions:

about kingdom - seeing peniel join the mix of ateez and skz was odd for me lol that threw me entirely off and i think is the large reason why i’m personally not a big fan of it. i watch peniel’s stuff outside of kingdom and he’s just a v chill dude overall; even in btob’s performances, he’s not a big standout and is there and does his job. whereas for ateez and skz (i don’t watch skz enough but this is based on the kingdom content), their energies match very well with each other in terms of performance. ateez definitely wins in stage presence compared to skz but their sounds and dance compete, if that makes sense. what did you think of peniel in this performance (aside from the krumping mentioned in your long review, if you have any more thoughts)?

i also think wolf is such a bold song choice. it’s one of the sm staples - really only sm groups can pull off these songs and concepts because it was designed literally for them. e.g. snsd i got a boy, rv rookie, fx/tvxq/ nct songs. there’s a uniqueness to them that can’t be replicated imo. if a non-sm group is going to cover it, it’s almost always a fail (or is missing v important components to the song/performance that it lacks in comparison).

also, what do you think of the stages overall? like, in terms of variation. there’s nothing wrong with serious, dark, and/or thematic performances. but i feel like all of the groups are sticking to it because it makes their stages ‘valid’. if that makes sense. to simplify it, i wish groups did more ‘bright and fun’ concepts and played around more. ikon and btob are groups that do this but for these kingdom stages i don’t get the same energy.

about kpop in general - in your review of the recent kingdom ep, you mentioned that you can only think of 2-3 groups where most of (or all) members of the group have great stage presence. what groups do you think have this quality? off the top of my head, i think of shinee and seventeen. every time they perform, each member makes themselves known and carry their part. even for a large group like seventeen and some members get only like 3-5 seconds of screen time. when a member is missing it’s painfully obvious too.

this is so long and thoughtful, thank you! i’ll try to answer everything but if i miss something just let me know! i’m putting it under a cut because long.

ok to start: peniel. i agree, there is quite a bit of dissonance having him in with a group that’s comprised of 98-01 liners, and especially because he does have a very laid back personality. i do think he stepped it up pretty well in the stage, even if his energy wasn’t a perfect match. and he clearly did put on a different performance than he usually would, if eunkwang and minhyuk’s incoherent and hilarious screaming at the end of the stage was any indication. it was a smart choice to position him as the ‘alpha’ wolf of the stage. when there’s that large a gap of performing experience with idols, no matter what you do, it's going to show. even if he wasn’t a chill guy, his stage presence is just gonna be different. same thing with minhyuk in the rap stage. i know having a low member number puts them at a bit of a disadvantage, but btob (and subsequently ateez and skz) actually kinda lucked out in that regard for this stage. say for example, the full group was competing and they sent multiple members to the performance unit like the other two groups did. because ateez and skz are the same age and have relatively compatible performance styles, they can make a cohesive unit, but now you have multiple performers who have an incompatible style and will stand out from that group. how do you thematically bridge that gap within the performance itself? when you only have one unhammered nail, you can capitalize on that nail being unhammered. hence making peniel the alpha wolf, or making minhyuk the ‘boss’ at the end of the rap stage. there just isn’t enough time with this show to actually do the rehearsal to make a truly cohesive unit, so the best thing to do is highlight the difference. 

my position on covers is that it's futile to try and match the original perfectly, so match the energy but make it your own. one of my all time favourite covers is kings of leon’s dancing on my own. yes, the robyn song. also the 1975’s cover of thank u, next. rtk features a few stages that i think got the right idea, with pentagon’s follow and their collab with onf for kill this love. sm songs are tough for this for though because yea, they are pretty tailored to their groups, and the groups themselves have very unique signatures and theyre often so famous that it's hard to separate them from their contexts enough to pull off a more abstract cover.

honestly the variety of themes hasn’t been the worst? obviously i’m a person who likes narrative and thematic elements though so i'm going to be a little more biased towards those types of stages. i think people keep using the term ‘dark’ to describe any concept that’s vaguely thematic and has moody lighting. i wouldn’t describe any of btob’s stages as dark, or ikon’s, and i wouldn’t describe ateez’s wonderland stage as dark either.  i do want to see more variation in aesthetics, especially in the costumes. really only ateez and btob have got this one down; you can tell the group’s style and that it's the same designers/stylists, but there’s been enough variety that none of their looks have felt the same. tbz and sf9 have only worn embellished suits so far, ikon has not made much effort with their costumes all, and skz have just been alternating one stage black one stage white in like, exactly the same outfits. boring!!!! where is the drama!!! so yes, i would like to see everyone having a little more fun on stage and with their concepts, but i also dont know if i'm willing to risk the 60% chance that it will be school uniforms for the younger groups. because i really Do Not want that.

and as far as groups where all the members have great stage presence, i'm so sorry but i suspect you were typing this while i published a post where i detailed the exact reasons i dont find seventeen compelling, please do not be offended. i guess i can say they have good collective presence? the ones that i was thinking of are shinee and tvxq. shinee for obvious reasons, and tvxq is just two dudes, so they both have to have stage presence or the whole thing would have collapsed in 2011. oh, by default also superm, because sm cherry picked seven of their best performers and slapped them together in a group. honestly baekhyun is probably the weakest link in terms of stage presence but he makes up for it in screaming so i forgive him. if we wanna count 50%+, where the group has good presence as a whole but not all the members, i would say ateez, got7, mx, and vixx. vixx is a weird one because 50% of their stage presence is hakyeon, jaehwan, and hyuk being pretty normal charismatic dudes and 50% of it is leo’s absolutely incomprehensible cryptid vibes. why is he like that. we'll never know.

[insertbtsurl]

Kingdom ranking

Here I am again, ranking Kingdom groups after episodes 4 & 5.

BTOB

Stray Kids

The Boyz

ATEEZ

IKON

SF9

1. BTOB

This was exactly everything that I wanted from BTOB since the competition started, so the whole time I was just like "YES!". I loved their concept, with a pre-concert preparation (they must miss performing in front of a crowd so much!). The effects/props were maybe not as cool as some of the other groups, but their story was very easy to understand, and I think that's more important. As always, BTOB's vocals are 12/10 (Eunkwang's high note/harmony with Changsub...yeah). Peniel delivering the swag, and Minhyuk...so cool...the blond hair...the ripping of the shirt...I mean...they PERFORMED.

2. Stray Kids

This was, I think, their best Kingdom performance by far. Everyone's reactions to Han singing ("why is he so good?", "isn't he a rapper?") had me dead because same. Generally speaking, the VOCALS on this performance were top tier. Honestly SKZ could have made it to first place, but I was really wowed by BTOB (I guess because of the different expectations I have for both groups). I felt a lack of Bangchan, but maybe that's just me. Anyways play Han and Seungmin's harmonies at my funeral (also I.N singing as Changbin raps aggressively).

3. The Boyz

Again, this Juyeon dude...I see u. That boy is so charismatic, and I loved the tango intro. I heard a lot of good, strong live vocals, it was a solid group performance, and I LOVE to see so many female backup dancers! I have really nothing much to say about it, they delivered and made the song their own, well done!

4. ATEEZ

I really commend ATEEZ's incorporation of classical pieces to their performance tracks. Like last time with Dvorak's symphony, I think Vivaldi's Summer goes really well with the song (Rhythm Ta in this case). I have nothing bad to say about it, it's just that other groups really outsold this time. I hesitated between ATEEZ and The Boyz for 3rd place, but in the end I liked The Boyz's vibe better this time. The reason ATEEZ end up here is that I think unlike BTOB, SKZ and TBZ, they didn't outdo themselves with this performance. But it was still really solid, I loved what they did with the song, Jongho's vocals are insane as usual and Hongjoong was looking particularly cool with the blonde buzzcut.

5. IKON

So, Inception is one of my favorite (if not my favorite) of the songs performed in these episodes, and I think that worked against Ikon in this case, because I did not like the breakdowns they inserted here...I simply don't think they go with the song, and that's already the issue I had with IKON's performance last time. I think they really tried to do something to make the song theirs, but it's just not working for me...What they do is really cool on its own, but every time I just think "was THIS the time to do it?". Other than that, they looked really cool, they gave a good performance. Them ranking lower is definitely a question of personal taste.

6. SF9

The Stealer is another song that I really like, and I think SF9 had potential to do something really cool with it. Their set was really nice, the idea behind it could have worked. I'm probably going to sound harsh, but to me they have consistently been the weakest performers on the show. There's quite a bit of lipsyncing, which could be fine, after all performing all these songs while dancing to a demanding choreo cannot be easy. However my issue with it is that often times, the way you can tell they aren't singing (or at least that their vocals aren't coming through) is that their energy does not match that of the track, and that happens especially when they aren't dancing. I don't know if it's them trying to look cool or what, but it just takes me out of the performance almost completely. Inseong was a notable exception to that rule, which I think I should point out because it was so refreshing (looking him up, I saw he's the main vocalist, which...makes sense). They are clearly a talented group of young men, they do deliver with the dancing, but kingdom isn't showing them under their best light, most of the time I just...don't believe them.