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KINGDOM: LEGENDARY WAR [킹덤:레전더리워] NO LIMIT UNIT CHALLENGE

KINGDOM: LEGENDARY WAR [킹덤:레전더리워] NO LIMIT UNIT CHALLENGE

Comments

Mayfly reunion would be the BEST! And I feel you on autotune working and not..... TRUST ME... Sometimes autotune does NOT have a place on a track but there it is... All we can say is BLESS IT haha!

Jessica Holyfield

I'm not completely against autotune but this one was a bit of a miss for me. It's still a great song tho and I enjoyed all of the performances! I really hope for Mayfly reunion some day, at least for one performance. I need mooore of them! T_T

Viviena

This is such a fascinating perspective!!! I can totally agree with so many points made! I know that I am an autotune girly so when I hear it done well I tend to enjoy the vibes of the track more (That's what T-Pain will do you you over the years haha) and when not done well, I get turned off if that makes sense! I appreciated the rawness of the rap unit of Ikon/BOYS/SF9 but both dance units seemed that they had areas of improvement.. In all I'm really happy that we got the type of chemistry we did with Mayfly! We also have to agree that the other team didn't have a choice with who they worked with and ATEEZ got to pick who they did so that may have been a factor especially since there was a connection already made between Stray Kids and BTOB prior to the challenge!!

Jessica Holyfield

I'm so surprised at the comments here. It's the first time I see so many ppl disliking Colors which I absolutely adore and listen to almost every day for over a year! FullDash did a good job but I feel like SF9's guy really brought it down both in delivery and I personally didn't enjoy the overly autotuned part. That said, I wonder how I would've reacted if I didn't see the episode before bc Mayfly chemistry was everything to me and the other team was excruciatingly awkward with each other haha. I have a personal theory about the dance unit. I think that DK very clearly dominated the conversation and came in with the concept ready. Which is fine in itself, not everything has to be an equal collaboration but since he was just one person from ikon I feel like other groups had only one representative out of respect of seniority. I think this was their downfall as if they had more members with their synchronicity or even just numbers (like SF9 mafia performance) they would've taken this round but it felt very empty and disjointed. While I personally love the campiness of Wolf I think it would have really benefited from some kind of narrative or just tightening things up but the separate solo/duo moments made it up for me. I still can name 10 memorable moments from Wolf and only table flip from the other performance. xD

Viviena

Gotcha! Thank you thank you!

Jessica Holyfield

The cinema version is the one they perform in the show and they later releases it as a digital single - they never made a MV for it though

Aislin

Ah! That is a very fun fact to know about the individual stages regarding Minhyuk! When you say cinema version I assume the MV? and not the version they do in the show? Or the other way around haha

Jessica Holyfield

It’s so crazy that as time passes how things can look so different!!! And no fear in being too negative here haha. You KNOW who I am right 😂😂😆 I completely agree that people weren’t utilized as effectively as they could have and personal preference and how the show is formatted also mattered. I’m really excited for the next batch of performances none the less 🙈🙈🥹

Jessica Holyfield

I think Mayfly may have felt more gelled just because the companies for them are pretty hands-off. JYP leaves 3racha to do their thing, Cube literally gave up trying to control BTOB a long time ago, and Ateez was KQ's only group at the time, but they're not the micro managers. YG's music has never really done anything for me and I didn't know why until someone pointed out a pattern and now I can never unhear it. So that could also be why I liked Colours more, because I like Chan's style of composing and arranging. Oh! Before I forget - for the individual stages, BTOB's song is one of Minhyuk's! He said on their post-Kingdom live that he's much more satisfied with the cinema version since it's much closer to his original vision for the song.

Aislin

I love your analogy of Hamlet monologue to RENT 😂😂 it’s one didn’t feel as united for sure and it did feel like the companies were more “controlling” if that makes any sense? Can’t quite put my finger on it but it didn’t feel as organic for the dance and vocals like the rap did ? Excited to see all the individual stages because they look WILDDDD!!!!!

Jessica Holyfield

Thank you so much for your take on this challenge!!! I 100% agree that Colours most likely resonated with the audience more and it was also more tailored to the type of show it’s on!! Both like “F YOU” for sure but I definitely get the lyricism density for sure with 3rachas team! My personal favorite excerpt from the Colours team is Minhyuk and now I know why!!!

Jessica Holyfield

Here's my unpopular take on the rap unit challenge - I like Colours more than Full DaSH. Looking at the lyrics, looking at the symbolism, it was more than just Mayfly. Sure Full DaSH was all about saying screw it - but it felt at the time and still feels almost narcissistic in a way. The "fuck you I do what I want" is only good up to a point. Colours is saying "fuck you for making others feel less than themselves because of what colours they show." Maybe that resonated with the audience more, most of whom have probably been criticized repeatedly for something about themselves that they can't change. Maybe it was just down to preferences. As Shindong said - no one lost, it's just that one team did a little better. This was my first introduction to Huta and I remember it taking me back a little. People forget (or don't know) that yeah, Minhyuk is part of BTOB, he's goofy and silly and the "mom" of the group and BTOB's main stripper... but this man was on the underground rap scene for years. He's not a newbie or just playing at being a rapper in a ballad group. Vocals - Mayfly killed it. They chose the right song, with the right voices, and with Eunkwang leading the trio in the harmonies they were going to be unbeatable. Dance. Okay I'll be frank. I am a DEDICATED Wolf anti. I hate the song with such a burning passion. I really do. Eden-ary made that monstrosity listenable for me. Mayfly made use of members, and it was nice seeing every single member of those 3 groups (minus Changsub) on stage, performing and doing their job. It's One's performance really did nothing for me. I'm sure that the Korean audience gained far more out of it - they probably understood the storyline immediately... the way I understood Wolf's instantly. The story of 3 packs becoming one. Start off with skz, then flip to Ateez, then Peniel showing up as the boss, and from there they start blending the groups. Peniel literally hadn't danced hardcore since B.O.D and has had back pain for years (which he just got corrected like a year ago). The fact that he was even able to pull off that solo without looking horribly out of place is already impressive. All of that said - yes I have a bias. I'm aware of it. A few things about It's One rubbed me the wrong way and yes this could have been due to Mnet's crappy editing. Mayfly felt more gelled and just genuinely happy to be performing with each other. (Mayfly was also a bunch of extroverts so ymmv) It felt personally less like 3 groups on a group project and one group with 3 different skill sets. It's One felt choppy and stilted, a group project where only a select few were chosen to do anything while everyone else had to wait on the benches. Could just be me and my bias, influenced by Mnet's edits. I'm glad everyone had a good time and made lots of friends out of it... for me yeah, Mayfly was the winner. They were smart and strategic, tailoring their performances based on what show they were on - any good performer should do the same, like you're not going to show up with Hamlet's monologue to a performance of RENT. They used numbers where it counted on the dance portion, shoved all their producers (and rappers) into the rap unit, and left 3 amazing vocalists for the vocal portion. It's One seemed to be all over the place, not using all of their resources (and numbers) in dance and using too many singers in the vocals while rap treated this like it's SMTM.

Aislin

I got lots of thoughts on this one and I have to say I'm a bit surprised with myself because I genuinely remembered some of the performances being better than what they showcased here now that I've watched them again. Numbers really played a factor here and it just felt like a losing battle for multiple reasons for IKON/SF9/TBZ teams. Again with there not actually being any criteria and also every performance being so different in its structure, its hard to say. I think the vocal team was the only one where it wasnt ambiguous at all why they won. Rap Group; I enjoyed Full Dash way more than group 2 when i watched this for the 1st time and that is still true today. The three of them actually felt like a team and you could really see them just having fun and the song itself was just so good! Mayfly's is kinda forgettable honestly, it just felt a bit awkward and it felt like too much going on when all I wanted was to focus on the song. They did well of course but I think the win should have gone to SF9/IKON/TBZ in my personal opinion. Vocal team; clear winner. The three they chose to sing for Mayfly was a perfect choice and vocal powerhouses and they made a perfect song selection; the song is well known, its by a beloved artist, and sang it well down to the technique, emotions, and working a team. The other team really should have gone with less people. The decisions made for this one could have been better. When I watched the episode for the 1st time, I was actually more excited about their team because the song would make a great performance but it just felt so underwhelming especially when you compare them to the other team. I felt so bad for inseong here, in the ep you can really tell how hard he was taking it and if he couldn't do that note perfectly in practice, someone on the team should have made an executive decision for him to not do the note or at the very least change. Its not just harmful to the performance but to his voice as well. Especially since it was such a critical note too as the music dropped off, once again another poor decision here. Okay Dance team! Overall, I originally liked the trio more but after watching the performances back to back just now after a few years, they were both underwheming in their own ways so if I had to pick a winner, this one would have been the closest to me. The trio felt a bit more empty and they didnt make the best choices in my opinion. When I first watched it, I remember not really following the story in the performance even though I was watching it after they explained the story. It just felt like different sections put together that had nothing to do with each other. Also the random edm parts really threw me off. I wish they utilized more dancers to seem more full and that they had focused more on the traditional and dramatic music to showcase the story better and have it flow more seamlessly. I also agree that there were a lot of dramatic "posing" at times where they could utilize the choreo a bit better. For Mayfly, right off the bat their numbers give them an advantage. Although the song kills me and I was physically cringing at parts of it. I do like that they recorded themselves so that it felt like i was more immersed in it . However, overall it just felt like a basic kpop performance to me (I say that with love as a kpop stan myself). The choreo could have been more complex and although I enjoyed some parts of it, like the part with Peniel and Seongwha or when Felix jumped on wooyoung. I agree with other commentors here that Ateez also stood out to me but with performing with so many other ppl, I would have preferred a more meshed together and cohesive performance. They tended to look a bit messy at times to me and the choreo + different energy levels didnt help. I feel like with numbers it can help hide mistakes if someone isnt up to par but it can really look messy at times if everyone isnt on the same page and it takes me out of the performance. Overall, also pretty underwhelming. I hope I didnt sound too negative, I truly LOVED these performances when I first watched them! Overall, everyone is great and super talented, I just wish better choices would have been made. I know with more time, resources, and probably some more structured criteria, they would be able to showcase their talents better. Enjoyed your reaction as always! Cannot wait for your viewpoint on the following performances with the members back in their own team. I hope my memory doesnt let me down because those I remember being AMAZING!

Gabi B.

I can totally agree with you here on that! The rap unit was up there for me and I'm so sad they weren't able to pull a win for it! And ATEEZ really did a good job picking who they did because that Vocal performance KILLED me in the best freaking way possible.

Jessica Holyfield

I agree with you there.. The unit distribution was half the battle. I just wrapped up recording the episode and I wish I was able to pick up their concept more organically without them having to state it because I felt I would have appreciated it more... I also agree that I totally see why Mayfly chose the song they did for dance but I think they needed to beef up the choreo more for it to have felt more supplemented personally.. But I see my suggestion wouldn't even really matter haha.

Jessica Holyfield

Full Dash was SUCH a vibe I swear! Really glad it trended because it SHOULD! I just finished up recording the episode reaction and one of the experts stated that 3racha's team had more thoughtfulness behind their lyrics, and I disagree with that honestly... Both brought their perspectives and I truly appreciated the focus of rap and essence more so than the performance side... I can agree as some people have stated that Mayfly went the route of making it work for the show they were on..

Jessica Holyfield

You are doing a FANTASTIC job explaining yourself!! Way better than what I can do with any other language haha!

Jessica Holyfield

I think with the rap and especially dance unit SF9/TBZ/IKON felt for more like a team then ATZ/SKZ/BTOB. Not that they were bad but the other team meshed together a bit better. It could also be that they had one person from each team which kept a balance when mayfly had distributions with more members of some groups. But for the vocal unit it was the other way around. I feel like having eunkwang, seungmin and jongho on one team is just unfair.

tilly

I think Mayfly made better decisions when deciding how many people should be in their vocal and dance units. The teams had a limited time to get to know each others abilities and learn from each other, so with the vocals it makes way more sense to have less people (just the main vocalists) because it is much easier to learn to harmonize just 3 voices, especially when they have never sang together before. For the dance, more dancers just feels more impactful and I feel like it makes the performance feel more full and it's a bit easier to hide mistakes (especially for people that haven't danced together before) compared to only having 3 main people dancing on stage. I also appreciate that Mayfly used every member in their performances, I'm not really sure why the other team didn't especially when they have The Boyz who are amazing dancers. With the first dance performance, I agree that it was difficult to understand the storyline. I'm not sure if it was clear and easy to understand for the Korean audience (it's very possible that it was which would negate my opinion which is fine), but it was hard for me to follow. I've seen lots of kpop performances and songs that include Korean traditional elements and story telling and I feel like most of the time I can understand what the artist is trying to say/represent even without in depth historical/cultural knowledge, and then anything extra I look up later just adds to the performance. But I would not have gotten this performance without the explanation they gave on the actual episode. For Mayfly I'm sure they chose Wolf specifically to make a clear concept for the performance, but I feel like if they did want to do a cover they could have picked a different song that maybe had more complex choreography or showcased synchronicity better. I know I'm Atiny so I'm biased, but it was also just hard to take my eyes off of ATEEZ because their movements/performance are so powerful and intense. Stray Kids and Peniel did great, but it felt like they either needed to up their energy a bit or ATEEZ needed to bring theirs down a bit lol.

Taylor

I have no idea how to properly explain myself in English. My problem are the boundaries of the challenge, the judging within those boundaries and... I honestly was disappointed that the 2nd performance just screams idol when it was their chance to get respect and they just.... Went the safe route?

BaoziBang (Tali)

This round made me petty as fxxk. As much as I love 3racha and Co - with the premise of putting on a "rap performance" as someone that appreciated the culture behind it... It made me super happy that full dash trended and went number 1 and they even performed it at kcon. I usually don't like the whole Idol vs rapper thing but... I don't know how to explain it? Without the whole "rap" thing I wouldn't have minded as much but the comments of some people pissed me off... You'll see what I mean in the episode...

BaoziBang (Tali)

The dance unit is totally up in the air to me haha! Including your exact points you made, both groups had some underwhelming moments throughout which makes it a tough call haha. Curious about the results when I watch tomorrow!

Jessica Holyfield

alright. dance is up. I have limited knowledge and am definitely biased, because ATEEZ is my ult group and they're amazing dancers and performers. But I do have to say, I didn't feel there was a clear winner in this battle... so, the first group, I really appreciate the acting and the traditional influences and the more elegant and interpretive approach. love the imagery. But I don't get why they needed to have a very basic and common sounding electronic flashing light part. that really threw me off and it felt displaced to me. I get there was a mood and atmosphere change, but they could have expressed that very differently. second group: I love love love they recorded all their own vocals (added with Hongjoon's 사랑해요). the song is kinda cringe, but we'll just ignore that. I also liked how they split up the groups and when there were duos dancing, it was 1 from ATEEZ and 1 from SKZ. Peniel's part... was alright, in my opinion. I get he needed to do something, since he was not in the rap unit and they needed someone to fill the spot on the dance unit, but yeah, he definitely was the weaker link 🙈 (I feel bad saying that because I love the dude) In general, this feels a bit less polished and clean and I guess I had higher expectations for them specifically on the difficulty of the choreography. and San needed to calm down in this one. he's definitely sticking out quite a bit😅

Rochella Duijs

I think that Bang Chan was able to get away with it the same way KISSOFLIFE was able to get away with theirs because the lyrics on the bottom left showed the Korean form but I see his English/Korean lyricism coming in to play haha

Jessica Holyfield

I 100% agree with you regarding hearing other peoples perspectives! I love that people like you are able to present such a great viewpoint to where I am able to also grow and see things from a different viewpoint! I really think the vocal units were leaning to one group already and I wonder if the first team may have known that and tried some extra risks? I'm glad that we get this incredible ballad from these three... Exceeded my expectations!

Jessica Holyfield

Completely agree with you here on all points!! It really did feel that our ATEEZ/BTOB/SKZ team was thinking about the SHOW they were on, which helps with refining the type of unit to make. For this challenge, this honestly feels the most personal preference out of them all I have encountered for SURE!!

Jessica Holyfield

alright, going to start my notes on the vocals. tbh, I know a ton more about rap and vocals than dance 🙈 (which is why I love watching your content, because I'm learning a ton and looking at everything from a different point of view and seeing things I never noticed before) so for the first group, I was a little bit confused about the distribution of the vocals (and distribution of members). Especially after Inseong's high note (I feel sooo bad for him every time I see/hear it), but I think there were others with stronger and more stable vocals that could have easily hit that, so I'm not sure why he ended up with that part. They definitely had a disadvantage to begin with, going up against the other group that has some stronggggg vocals, so perfect distribution was the key to maybe winning it. I really don't get why not all members participated in all the challenges and it never got explained or anything. they could have also done more with harmonies and then we get Love Poem and I can listen to this anytime and just... swoon and enjoy the vocals and harmonies. gives me goosebumps every time. basically no bad comments (I also maybe a tiny bit biased because Jongho is in my opinion 4th gen vocal king). it's amazing. it's top tier. the three of them are just a perfect match. and Seungmin's voice flip near the end is just amazing. Jongho's power notes are amazing. Eunkwang's adlibs and runs and just general senior guidance that was heartwarming. and I'm really sad this is not on spotify, because I would have streamed the shit out of this.

Rochella Duijs

to my knowledge, Full DaSH is basically them saying Fuck That Shit (it kinda sounds like that when saying fast and in Konglish). and Bobby has in the lyrics 'running away from that bullshit' which I think they do silence him on (he doesn't silence himself I think). so in a way a bit weird Bang Chan did get away with saying shit 🤔 EDIT: also, with rap Stray Kids has 3RACHA which is a rap producing pre-debut unit (Bang Chan, Changbin and Han Jisung) that are also the main producers for Stray Kids, so while Bobby has a lot of knowledge and is very well known for rap, 3RACHA also has a lot of experience with it OKAY LAST EDIT for the rap portion: I think the second unit really produced thinking about the show they're on. they really had in mind that it needed to be a performance. the first unit definitely thought of it as raw rap, not at all thinking about the true format of the show and what for examples experts or public would really want or expect. so it really depends on the type of rap you preference. the raw type, or the polished produced type

Rochella Duijs


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