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| My initial picks for Episode 1 and 2 for Make Mate 1 |
Welcome to my episode one review of Make Mate 1.
If you have not read my introduction post yet to this reality surviver competition show, please go back and read it to get a great idea of what to expect from this show.
If you do not want spoilers, please do not continue reading because I will not hide anything in my review. Besides, this episode already aired a while ago.
We shall begin our journey with the boys of Make Mate 1. I will make my review as short as possible, but still comprehensive to the performances that the contestants give us. I am a bit nervous because I hope to see more great performances than not so great performances. As I mentioned, I reviewed an SM reality survivor competition show, NCT Universe: LASTART so my expectations are extremely high and I need to lower them just for this show as a start. I won't be quick to judge so let us see what we are working with in this show.
I already watched episodes 1 and 2, made general notes as I was watching it, and I am rewatching it again in detail to see what else I missed to include in this review. I will continue doing this for all the other episodes. Honestly, with so much information thrown at me, I find it hard to keep up. I'm usually a details kind of person if you can't already tell from my writing.
The show starts off with showing us that these 36 male contestants are ordinary people who happen to have a dream to become an idol. What? That is totally unrealistic. If that was the case, I have also been dreaming about becoming a Hong Kong celebrity since I was fourteen years old, but that never came true and I also never joined the Miss Chinatown pageant, which could qualify me to go to the Miss Hong Kong pageant supposedly. I would have seen that as a ticket to stardom, however shady it may be. Even so, the chances of being legitimately scouted on the streets or online, is really slim to none. Therefore, I believe that without hard work and effort, there will be no result. These male contestants had to have done something to qualify them for this show. In a way, being on this show already will bring them some type of fame. I see this as a win-win situation. One thing is for sure is that the contestants will be either friend mates or rival mates, and they are all in this show altogether.
Will you be my mate?
Ooh, this could be cringy for a guy to say to another guy or was this phrase directed to the female audience? On one hand, the contestants need to work in teams. On the other hand, they have to convince the voters, mostly female that I have seen, to vote for them and give them love/support and popularity.
What surprises me is that all the audience/supporters seem to already know who they want to support with signs of some of the contestant's names. I guess these must be hardcore fans who already blindly support a contestant without actually see him perform yet. If I was in the audience, I need to remind myself to keep a neutral stance no matter who I think my bias is if I had a bias already, which would be unusual. I think if it was one of my friends or family members who was competing then it's natural that I would have a bias and will support them, but still, for the most fairness of it, I need to stay neutral.
I know life isn't fair to begin with, but I shouldn't add to the unfairness. I hope this competition is as fair as possible.
For the first and second episodes, we have a special guest host, Lee Gi Kwang from the male group, Highlight, formerly under the name, BEAST. Lee Gi Kwang is no stranger to the k-pop music industry, debuting in 2009 (wow, around the time I became a K-pop fan), and also somebody who I used to see often on variety shows. Ki Kwang is so nice and relaxed as a host, which is comforting to see when all the other contestants are in anxiety. I hope he can be a soothing pill for the contestants.
Special host Lee Gi Kwang explains that the keyword, mate, can either have a friendly meaning or a competitive meaning as in "checkmate." That was funny as I'm sure nobody really thought about the checkmate part. I consult with my lovely Merriam-Webster dictionary for the many meanings of mate.
The show proceeds to explain how to vote for seven contestants a day on the Makestar app. I already explained this part in the introduction post. Since the stage is happening a month before the show premiere, the votes in this pre-vote round will not affect the contestant's rankings. I'm the type of person who can't vote anyway without actually seeing their performance. Otherwise, I would just vote based on looks and maybe a little bit of the video clips if I have time to delve into it. It would not have been accurate in my opinion.
Special host Lee Gi Kwang explains that the contestants will be stepping on the stage for the first time in their lives. I honestly doubt that! If anybody is passionate about being a performer, this can't be their first time. They must have maybe done a school performance or a street performance at least because if this was their first time performing, I would be uneasy. Yes, this is their first time performing on the show. I would have accepted that explanation instead.
C mates are introduced, which are like the mentors and judges of the show. You and I can be online C mates as we watch the show remotely.
Lim Han Byul aka Onestar: The most charismatic C mate, probably due to his experience as he is no stranger to reality survivor competition shows (Girls Planet 999 and Boys Planet).
Hanhae: I am not too familiar with him. I see in his profile that he is a rapper and singer.
Vata: I didn't watch the Street Dance Fighter reality survivor competition show, but I remember Vata as the leader of "We Dem Boyz" dance crew. I wish I could watch that show with subtitles.
Ingyoo: He is also part of the We Dem Boyz dance crew and I am not familiar with him, but I see in his Instagram profile that he is the Director of We Dem Boyz. Nice!
Honestly, I do double takes whenever he is on screen because he reminds me so much of Taiwanese actor Jian He Wu whom I recently watched in the Netflix series Let’s Talk about Chu. When I have time, I will post a review about it (for mature audiences only). They probably have the same height and about the same vocal tone.
Honestly, I do double takes whenever he is on screen because he reminds me so much of Taiwanese actor Jian He Wu whom I recently watched in the Netflix series Let’s Talk about Chu. When I have time, I will post a review about it (for mature audiences only). They probably have the same height and about the same vocal tone.
Kim Sung Eun is a well-known established vocal coach. I am also not familiar with her, but this is not her first reality survivor competition show as well.
It sounds like we have a good mix of judges or C mates to cover vocals, rap, dance, and performance.
Let's add ourselves to the mix: professional reviewers. At least I am no stranger to reality survivor competition shows since Produce 101 Season 2 (2017).
On top of that announcement, special C mates are also introduced for this episode to provide commentary on the performances: Lee Mi Joo (formerly from the girl group, Lovelyz) and Choi Hyo Jung (leader of the girl group, Oh My Girl). I like that they introduced female commentators because we need that female-type voice for a show that is full of male contestants.
Three weeks before the performance, the C mates were able to meet the contestants and their mid-assessment review as a group. This is probably the most interesting part of the episode. Surprisingly, even the C mates themselves are meeting for the first time in many cases.
The show tends to jump back and forth, confusing me in some cases, but I will already name all the teams that have been established for the first performance round. I like it better when I have information that is organized (in order of appearance):
Team Growl (song originally sung by EXO)
Team Hello Future (song originally sung by NCT Dream)
Team Breathless (originally sung by Astro)
Team Miss Right (originally sung by Teen Top)
Team Be Mine (originally sung by Infinite)
Not shown so far are the following teams:
Team Fiction (originally sung by BEAST/Highlight)
Team Very Good (originally sung by Block B)
Time U (originally sung by Super Junior)
There are a total of eight teams, but of course the scenes are cut out, confusing me some more.
Both C mate mentors and contestants both greeted each other before everybody took a seat.
Team EXO is the first group to be introduced first as C mate Lim Han Byul is fond of EXO. However they are the first to come out and also the first to sit in the first row so it's natural that they are first. I find out what the green chalk boards that each group carried are for as they write keywords on them to introduce themselves individually.
Jeon Jun Pyo was highlighted to be a great dancer who the group Riize gave recognition to when he covered their Siren song. C mate Lim Han Byul mentioned that videos can be manipulated by AI nowadays and wants to see it live. I thought that comment could be borderline rude, but his intention is to give Jeon Jun Pyo an opportunity to shine. It's true that Jeon Jun Pyo can execute Siren well, but I am more interested in the live performance. Also, as we get introduced to more and more contestants, I forgot about this contestant, but I should keep Jun Pyo on my radar. Anyone who can professionally cover the Siren song needs recognition.
Shin Won Cheon was highlighted to be a number 1 winner in a Judo competition in Seoul and also a triple crown. He didn't go into deep detail, but after a little bit of research, I take it to mean that he won three of the most important competitions of the season. My husband mentioned that international competitions also count. Shin Won Cheon mentioned a lot of sport accomplishments. Why did he want to be an idol then if he is already so accomplished? Am I looking at somebody similar to Enhypen's Sunghoon, who was working towards professional figure skating before becoming an idol singer?
Dance C mate Vata mentioned that Won Cheon looked scary while performing alluding to his competitive nature, but to me, that only means being in the Growl team is perfect for him. I want him to act like he's out to kill the competition. He is perfect for a concept like Growl.
Jo Min Jae is somebody that I am very interested in as he seems to be a vocal master with six members of his family being professional singers. This guy gives me Doyoung from NCT vibes. I think it is his confidence as a singer that will bring him success just like Doyoung. He is made for debut. I will consider adding him to my final lineup.
It was during this time that Mate Pick was introduced where the contestants can vote to gauge who is the best or worse in several categories. Judging from past survival shows, this type of honest vote is a good indicator of who is on top and who needs to improve their performance unless it is about the looks category, in which anything goes. Contestants are not allowed to put blank as an answer and they are allowed to be anonymous, though the camera probably captured some interesting handwritten answers, which I won't bother looking into as it was meant to be anonymous.
Team Growl has two mate picks: Ace team (like the avengers team) and number one vocalist being Jo Min Jae.
I haven't seen their performance yet, so it's hard to tell at this point if they are really the "Ace" team.
Conclusion: I pick Jo Min Jae as the contestant to look out for.
The Hello Future team came to the stage next. The judges wanted to announce their Mate Pick scores first.
Team Hello Future has one mate pick: Looks (Bing Fan).
I'm not entirely convinced that Bing Fan is the most handsome trainee and I'm not exactly into vanity contests. Bing Fan talked about his love for K-pop and K-dramas, which I totally understand except I haven't memorized any specific K-drama scenes like he did. I want to see how well he performs later.
Midori was highlighted next for appearing in a short video with 35 million views. Again, I am not the type of person to be rating a competition based on looks so I won't comment much here.
Conclusion: I don't have any particular person that I am on the lookout for as they only discussed looks in this group.
We're moving fast with the Be Mine Team being introduced.
Jang Hyun Jun was introduced as the main vocalist (center) of their main theme song, "한 페이지가 될 수 있게 (Time of Our Life)." Nice to finally meet the man in the middle. Honestly, I was supposed to pay attention to such a person who has the main spotlight, but somehow I forgot about him later on. Perhaps he has that band voice, which the producers liked.
The Be Mine team has two Mate Picks: Number one vocalist being Jang Hyun Jun and most popular contestant Noh Gi Hyeon.
Does this mean Jang Hyun Jun is the competitor of Jo Min Jae, who was also picked as a number one vocalist? We have two number one vocalists so far.
Noh Gi Hyeon is apparently specializing in dance. He uses his tongue a lot in dancing, but I hope this is not a habit. I know Sakuya from NCT Wish uses his tongue a lot too, but his tongue habit seems to be hidden while he is dancing. He's a good dancer, but I would not yet put him in my final lineup just yet.
Conclusion: I'll be on watch for Jang Hyun Jun because I pay attention to top vocalists.
Team Breathless is next. Their introduction is so cute as they capture their last breath. This makes them memorable.
Jung Hyun Jun introduces himself as the maknae (youngest of a group) of the entire competition at 15 years old. This is surprising because he is very tall and I can tell that he is very passionate about being a performer. It's good to know what one wants when one is young. I would say the sooner, the better it is to find one's passion, but also it is not bad to find out later when one is truly ready for it. Jung Hyun Jun wants to be remembered as a passionate maknae and a number one dancer. Those are serious goals. He seems to be overly mature for his age as well. He picked some type of Spanish club music to dance to, but it makes me think whether that is appropriate for a 15 year old boy. At one point, he slaps his butt and I just feel weird. I rather he picked a song more appropriate for his age. However, he doesn't seem to be a number one dancer to me, but his skills are decent so far.
Miraku was highlighted next as an Aroha (Astro's fandom name) fan. He joined the right team as he is part of the Breathless team. I wonder if the contestants were allowed to pick their own song. When I saw his dance, it was so powerful and impactful as he uses big movements. I can't believe he started to do Astro cover songs, but he dances so powerfully unless he was already a great dancer before he was introduced to Astro songs by his mother and sister. Teammate Jung Hyun Jun better watch out as Miraku is a formidable opponent.
Kim Shi On was highlighted next to be a super flexible person. Ironically, Kim Shi On mentioned that he was born with short tendons and an Achilles' heel, but with practice, he was able to beome super flexible. He showed the audience his side split before moving his legs behind and showing the camera his signature heart, which is composed of the Korean shiot character with his right fingers to represent "Shi" and a half heart with his left hands to represent "On." It doesn't look like a heart shape, but I will give him credit for creativity and his ability to stand out from other competitors and even idols. This guy, to me, may get the most popular contestant vote from the voters. At this point, as cute as he is, I am not putting him on my watch list just yet until I see his performance.
Jung Jae Young was highlighted as the last member. For this team, they highlighted all of the members, so this is probably a team I need to watch out for in the future. Jung Jae Young was in a K-pop dance team in Gyeongju and has memorized more than 200 songs. That, to me, is very impressive. I can barely remember the choreography of past songs that I learned, but then again, I think it would require him to practice regularly just to remain comfortable with performing these songs at any moment.
I appreciate that Jung Jae Young is also mouthing the lyrics as he dances and that oozes confidence to me. I can see how he is a main dancer of his dance team as he appears to dance cleanly. He also danced the TWS "Plot Twist" song so that song is pretty recent so it makes me think that he was part of the dance team until very recently or until they started filming for this program. Shi On did not hesitate to join in for this song to support his teammate and he is so cute. I just realized that we have a Shi On active already as the leader of NCT Wish, but he spells it as Sion in English. I guess anybody whose name is Shi On is meant to be attractive.
C mate Hanhae compared Jung Jae Young to Key from SHINee who also knows about every song. Yes, Key is really unmatched, but Jung Jae Young could be at that level as long as he continues to practice regularly. There could be natural geniuses in life, but I believe in hard work paying off.
Conclusion: My first impression is to watch out for Jung Hyun Jun and Miraku. Jung Jae Young's impact was not as strong, but I think I might be underestimating the four of the members during the second time review of this episode. Again, there is too much information flying towards me so I rely on my limited memory to see who is memorable to me.
The Fiction Team came on stage where Kai is the first to be introduced. He was very confident and he is probably the most handsome Japanese idol that I have ever seen and with his tall height. His smile is infectious and he looked very friendly unlike my typical experience with Japanese people who rarely display their emotions out in the open. He felt like a breath of fresh air.
Kai mentioning liking banana milk is like Sakuya from NCT Wish mentioning that he loves bread during the initial broadcast. These are just random comments, but I think, could be effective towards memorability towards people we are not familiar with yet. However, by the time Kai performed on the actual stage, I had already forgotten that he liked banana milk. However, in Sakuya's case, he was the only contestant who made that outlandish comment and I was somehow able to remember his love for bread and his cute username/nickname "sakupang."
Ki Hyeong Jun was introduced as "Geosu's Mustard Boy" and a 뚝딱 "clunky" or "Dduk Ddak" boy.
Geosu is known place for its mustard greens so ideally Ki Heyong Jun wants to be more famous than the mustard greens. I just hope it's not for a negative reason. Sadly, he couldn't get a sentence out smoothly.
As abrupt as a tick-tock sound, Hyeong Jun is not comfortable with himself and I don't consider that a good thing no matter how many people praise him as cute. This is potentially detrimental to his career if he cannot dance fluidly and also behave in a relaxed manner. It's fine if he lets the clunky part of him show through in casual situations, but seeing him as a performer like that will make me uncomfortable.
Conclusion: I don't have any special pick for this group as the whole discussion seems so random and I am looking for talent. I'll see them on stage.
The Very Good team came on stage, but their team greeting was very lackluster. If my team name was "Very Good," it better be said with a enthusiastic tone. Jung Jae Young from the Breathless team said their name with enthusiasm.
This team has a Mate Pick: Best Performer, Jia Hao.
Interesting that I haven't seen a Chinese contestant that is formidable since ZEROBASEONE's Zhang Hao who overwhelmingly ranked first in the final round of the Boys Planet reality survivor competition show. Coincidentally, Jia Hao also has the Hao sound in his name, but they are different Chinese characters and different meanings: 章昊 (Zhang Hao) vs 张家豪 (Zhang Jiahao). Even the surnames have the same sound, but different characters/meaning.
Jia Hao wasted no time to dance a super fluid dance and C mate Vada was thoroughly impressed, stating that Jia Hao was doing advanced moves and details. I wonder if Jia Hao had professional training before he joined the show. I feel like Jia Hao and Jo Min Jae from the Growl team will be the most sought out contestants.
Han Yu Seop was highlighted as a former guitarist in a band. It is only fitting that he chose to sing "Get a Guitar" by Riize. Riize has been mentioned on this show twice already, so I feel the power of Riize. Han Yu Seop's voice is very smooth and baritone. Are we sure these are everyday people picked for the competition? C mate Lim Han Byul gave Han Yu Seop a standing ovation. C mate Kim Sung Eun stated that Han Yu Seop was grooving rhythmically in a low voice.
Scuba diver Seo Yun Deok reminds me of Shin Won Cheon from the Growl team, being physically active. However impressive as it is, I can't see how this is related to being a performer.
Next, the judges/C mates move on to the question mark on the board. I thought this trainee would write down random skills to show off, but he wrote "탈북" (Tal Buk, Korean escapee) to shock the audience. This was Kim Hak Seong's introduction.
Miraku from the Breathless team asked Kim Shi On if it was okay for Kim Hak Seong to be on a TV broadcast. Kim Shi On replied knowingly that South Korea will protect Kim Hak Seong. I would say that Kim Hak Seong is taking a big risk, so I understand his nervousness besides being on stage.
Kim Hak Seong arrived in South Korea in 2017 so it has been seven years. I am still worried if he has family in North Korea and whether their lives would be in danger if he goes public with this story. As it turns out, he was only interested in being an idol after watching TV in South Korea after his escape.
Kim Hak Seong made a few trainees cry upon explaining his story. I was getting a bit teary-eyed myself. C mate Hanhae asked Kim Hak Seong a good question whether Kim Hak Seong had a goal that he wanted to achieve upon debut. Kim Hak Seong answered wisely with rather than a goal, he wanted to give people who are in difficult situations in which they cannot pursue their dreams some hope. I was touched by his answer. While his backstory is impressive, I'm here to see performances.
Conclusion: I will be watching Jia Hao as he is very impressive. Han Yu Seop is also on my radar with his great guitar performance.
It's such a low blow to the U team that they weren't shown in the show at all up to this point. I am not sure why the producers decided to hide this team. I already picked six contestants to be on my radar: Jo Min Jae, Jang Hyun Jun, Jung Hyun Jun, Miraku, Jia Hao, and Han Yu Seop.
We are brought back to the performance stage in which the contestants will start performing in front of the live audience. In this round, the scores from the live audience will be combined with the scores of the C mates for the total score. The live online vote will not count in this round as mentioned earlier. After the first round of ranking, the rank of each contestant will determine if they will be in one of two groups: Mate A group or Mate B group. This arrangement will be called "Mate Dreams." I'm still not clear what that means, but we'll find out.
Let the competition begin!
The first team to perform is the Be Mine Team:
Choi Min Jun
Jang Hyun Jun
Noh Gi Hyeon
Jo Seung Hyeon
Seo Ji Ho
During their team introduction, I love how each member did the main "be mine" pose, one by one. It is clear the audience thinks Noh Gi Hyun as the most handsome. The crowd in this show is not afraid to tell guys how handsome they are to them. Koreans are becoming so bold.
Unfortunately, the show revealed that the "Be Mine" team received criticism during their mid-assessment performance. C mate Lim Han Byul mentioned that the song overpowered the group. C mate Ingyoo wanted a more detailed and refined plan for the "Be Mine" performance. He didn't like that they were all singing the "Be Mine" part at the same time. Honestly, I thought that was a bit distracting as well. C mate Vata couldn't feel their charm. To Vata, Jang Hyun Jun and Noh Gi Hyeon felt like engineering majors who dance. I take that to mean that engineering majors know nothing about music.
Noh Gi Hyeon mentioned they were too busy worrying and practicing kalgunmu or "razor-sharp group dancing" so they were not able to display individual charms. Kalgunmu is the SM Entertainment way and also the type of performance that is most appealing to me.
After the performance, the group focused on how they can improve their performance so that there could be a climax towards the end of their performance. The problem is that these contestants have never fallen in love so they have no idea what type of emotion they should show to the woman that they love. The group continued to practice different emotions whether it is anxiety, forcefulness, pain, and more, which is probably fun for them to get into acting for the part. I think it's cute that Jang Hyun Jun wanted to defend the engineering majors who can be sexy. Exactly. Why can't engineering majors be sexy? If they have a will, there is a way.
The actual performance started with explosive power. With Jo Seung Hyeon in the middle, the team looked stronger. I guess this emotion starts off in a type of anger. I can tell that this team is very cohesive. Up until the first chorus, I wasn't particularly impressed with the vocals. I thought Jang Hyun Jun's notes leading up to the chorus sounded a bit strange. Unfortunately, he did not stand out for the rest of the performance for me. I appreciated how the group maintained the energy in the chorus with a stronger "Oh" each time because I can see performers can possibly get weak at that point due to the high pitch. While Noh Gi Hyun sang well, his vocal technique sometimes didn't fit the style of the song. I need the singing to be shorter and powerful for this type of song. His notes tended to linger. I wrote in my first time impression that Noh Gi Hyun's singing wasn't too stable, but hearing it a second time, it was decent. During the second chorus part, I heard Noh Gi Hyun's vocals rather clearly. In my first time notes, I wrote that Seo Ji Ho's performance was a little bit weak. I think by watching it a second time, Seo Ji Ho can show more confidence in his singing as he cut his notes too short. He could afford to hold his notes a little bit longer to dominate his part. I didn't notice Jo Seung Hyun that much during my first time watching the performance, but in the second performance, he caught my eye with his powerful dance moves and his expressions. He probably fit the song's concept the best. While his falsetto needs a bit of work, I believe he can improve in the future.
Actually, I think they can go for a more bad boy concept. Having Noh Gi Hyun with a bowl haircut isn't as effective as giving him some slick hairstyle that would make him a bit more rebellious and potentially more manly. I see they went for a more pure concept in clothing and image. I don't think I can take a man seriously if he is looking pure, asking me to be his lover like a declaration. I expect some boldness, but of course, not that it can't happen, but the story in my mind is more spicy.
Conclusion: I will be a bit strict here in that I currently do not see any particular mate in which I want to bring to the final lineup. While the group gave us a better than average performance, it wasn't enough for me to consider them into the final lineup. If I need to pick only seven contestants, I need to reserve it for the very best.
Special Host Lee Ki Gwang reminded the audience that they cannot vote for the same contestant multiple times, but they have the freedom to vote for each member at least once. This type of voting format will give me difficulty because it would really be hard for me if I were in the audience to not press that button for each contestant unless the performance is truly terrible. I figure that terrible performances will not happen often. I would have voted for all five members.
I realized that I didn't comment on Choi Min Jun. Unfortunately, he never entered my individual radar on the first or second watch. That is unfortunate. No feedback is a type of bad feedback. I hope he thinks of special ways to be in the spotlight so that he is not forgotten.
Special C mates Lee Mi Joo and Choi Hyo Jung both picked Jang Hyun Jun as their one pick.
I think if I had to pick one person, and I have to think hard in this case, it would have to be Noh Gi Hyun as he stood out the most to me as the most memorable, but stable. He was easily heard during the chorus part.
The audience ended up choosing Noh Gi Hyun as their favorite mate. I guess I follow the crowd this time.
The second team to perform is the Breathless Team:
Jung Hyun Jun
Miraku
Kim Shi On
Jung Jae Young
They have the best intro. They march in and also hold their breath with their fist motion before letting it go at the end of their introduction, which make them a super memorable and cute group.
During their introductions, Jung Jae Young was revealed that he is 20 years old, while Miraku and Kim Shi On are 16 years old, followed by the maknae of the entire competition, Jung Hyun Jun who is 15 years old.
During their mid-assessment evaluation, Kim Shi On had difficulty tying his shoelaces, but I guess it is because he was nervous because I am sure he can tie his shoelaces in a normal situation. They seem to have given a very stable performance as we could only see parts of it. C mate Vata actually wrote in his notes that Jung Hyun Jun will "make it" or become successful.
A Mate Pick reveal shows that the Breathless team was also picked as an Ace team. This means that there are two Ace teams: Growl and Breathless.
During their practice sessions, all I see is Jung Hyun Jun being the person who is constantly suggesting ideas for the group. I was a little disappointed as I hoped to see others also providing ideas as well.
In the individual interview, Miraku confided to the viewers that he is the most worried about himself. He is not stable in hitting the high notes needed after they do all the jumps in the chorus parts. His voice was constantly cracking, but this is to be expected as he is only 16 and it could happen for boys his age who may be going through puberty.
They have great expressions when they started the actual performance, so I am hopeful that they will do well. I can hear that Miraku has some pitch issues, but I know he is already doing his best. Jung Hyun Jun really tried to make his part unique to himself. I was slightly irritated that he can possibly overact or become overeager and I feel that the performance would be better if he toned it down just a little bit. Miraku seems to fare better as a rapper. Unfortunately, Miraku had an oops moment when his voice cracked during the second chorus. I still applaud him for being able to keep going and finish the song. I wrote in my notes during the first time watching the performance that Jung Jae Young was the most stable, but hearing him sing his first verse during my second time watching the performance, it wasn't as stable as I thought. In the second verse after the second chorus, he redeemed himself with better vocals. Kim Shi On shined in the second verse where he has a distinctive accent, but it works for a song like this one where it is very youthful. I want to see how well he does in a different type of song.
Conclusion: This is another tough decision. I ended up choosing Kim Shi On to be in my final line up, but this will also be dependent on whether he can handle different genres of songs and concepts. He was very cute and memorable. The other member I initially chose was Jung Jae Young because I initially thought he was stable throughout the performance, but then after watching the performance a second time, I would change it to Jung Hyun Jun because despite thinking that he was overacting, he was very stable in singing and dancing throughout the whole performance and dare I say that he has the most energy. As C mate Vata mentioned, Jung Hyun Jun will "make it."
Therefore, I have two slots filled up for the seven member vote:
1. Kim Shi On
1. Kim Shi On
2. Jung Jae Young --> Jung Hyun Jun
Honestly, the Jung Jae Young slot could easily be changed to another contestant as I couldn't figure out who my seventh vote would go to so I would say this is very subject to change in future episodes.
I love how each contestant has their own gestures to encourage voters to vote for them, which I haven't seen too much in past reality survivor competition shows.
Special host Lee Ki Gwang mentioned that jumping and singing is already very hard and especially at that height and asked Miraku if he possible heard something and Miraku already confirmed it mid-sentence. Honestly, I think I would include Miraku in my future final lineup because he is very memorable and I would not question to give him another shot because he seems to be a good rapper, dancer, and potential singer as soon as he overcomes his voice crack phase. He is a potential all-rounder so I will still keep a radar on him.
Miraku couldn't speak further and started crying while everybody told him it was okay. I understand that is not how he would have wanted to give first impressions or give the Aroha fandom of Astro any justice, but I think better performances await him. I like his attitude that he will work harder and that's the kind of mentality that will potentially bring him a higher chance of success.
When it is time to pick the best contestant of the group, special C mate Choi Hyo Jung picked Kim Shi On simply because he pulled the highlight part of the song successfully. I agree with her because I started noticing Kim Shi On seriously at that point. I think that part would have been the killing part of this song.
Choi Hyo Jung was right and Kim Shi On is selected as the fan favorite with the most points. I can honestly see that happening. I would have voted, yet again for all five members of the group. However, Miraku is still a strong contender so I need to watch out for him and Kim Shi On.
Miraku really reminds me of Geonu from the Just B group. I feel that same vibe from Miraku.
In general, this team was a strong team in which I would rank one step above the Be Mine team.
The third team to perform is the Growl Team:
Jeon Jun Pyo
Lin
Takuma
Jo Min Jae
Shin Won Cheon
The group's introduction was very creative. They stood in different angles in a vertical line and with a fake explosion that the person in the middle (Takuma) creates, the members jump to the sides to finish their introduction like a bomb.
Special C mate Lee Mi Joo mentioned that Lin looks like singer Hwang Min-Hyun. I do agree to as their eyes look similar.
Surprisingly, Shin Won Cheon is the maknae of the group. Who knew? Special C mate Choi Hyo Jung thinks that Shin Won Cheon looks like Yun Sung-Bin, a South Korean skeleton racer.
As their performance starts, Lin started off strong with setting the tone. Jeon Jun Pyo sang decently. He is actually a strong singer. I only saw him dancing earlier in the episode, but his singing skills are also not bad so far. Jo Min Jae easily gave me Chen vibes from EXO when he sang his part so effortlessly. I loved the way the group also tried harmonization, something in which I didn't hear from the other groups so far. That skill is truly one level above the other groups. This group is strong, but the most out of place member is Lin. He didn't fit the Growl vibe where he could have inserted his own Growl attitude into his singing. I am loving the way Shin Won Cheon is playing his part. He is the person who fits this song's concept the best with his tough guy gestures and movements. Shin Won Cheon also had no problem hitting the high falsetto notes. Takuma was doing well throughout the performance, but he didn't grab my attention so that's a shame. I guess if he is surrounded by talented members, he really needs to also step it up a notch to be noticed. Meanwhile Jo Min Jae surprised special host Lee Ki Kwang with his high notes. Sadly, during the bridge part after Jo Min Jae sang, Lin's voice was very distracting when singing with Takuma. I really think Takuma should have sang it with Jeon Jun Pyo. Lin's voice feels out of place in this song. Or Lin should have harmonized with Takuma instead. I think Jo Min Jae's climatic high note blew a fan in the audience away and special host Lee Ki Kwang a second time. I heard Lin's voice again during the chorus when it didn't sound out of place, so maybe Lin just need to sing the right notes so that the overall sound of the group can be harmonized.
I must admit the first time I heard the performance, it was pretty evident that all I could mostly focus on was Jo Min Jae. He was singing like every four to five seconds so he had a lot of lines to sing. However, as much as I like that, I would have liked to hear more balance from the group. There is no doubt that Jo Min Jae is my number one pick at this point. He must debut.
Episode one ends at this point.
I'm going to go ahead to re-arrange my final picks based on episode one so far.
Conclusion: I was basing my decisions on the first watch, but watching this a second time made me have serious second thoughts. The Growl team cannot be underestimated.
My personal group rankings so far:
Growl Team
Growl Team
Breathless Team
Be Mine Team
Initially, I only had Jo Min Jae in my final lineup because I was blinded by his talent on stage. However, I want to recognize Jeon Joon Pyo for being super stable during his performance. Shin Won Cheon also pulled his weight. It wouldn't make sense if I didn't add more Growl members to the final lineup.
Therefore, I have made the following for the time being as I will definitely need to trim this down to the final 7 for my votes:
1. Jo Min Jae (no question)
1. Jo Min Jae (no question)
2. Jeon Joon Pyo (very stable performance)
3. Shin Won Cheon (surpassed my expectations with matching the concept and falsetto singing)
4. Kim Shi On (he is still too memorable in my mind)
5. Jung Jae Young --> Jung Hyun Jun (this is going to be tough as Jung Hyun Jun is now on the brink of elimination from my top 7)
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6. Jia Hao --> We didn't see him yet, but based on episode 2, he is a definite pick.
7. Bing Fan --> We also didn't see him yet, but I will reserve him for 7th
It's tough but I also have Jeong Hyun Uk and Choi Han Gyeol sitting on the sidelines.
In episode two, I have to be even more discriminating because I need to narrow it down to top 7. I just wanted to show you my top 7 before we move onto the next episode's review.
I honestly can't wait for episode two, but I ran out of time. Please look out for my episode two review coming soon. There are still five more performances to watch! Are you ready?
What did you think about this episode? Please leave a comment if you wish to give your thoughts as well.
Episode Links:
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