First episode down. They are really hammering down the whole connection between the groups thing and the guardians "protecting" the girls dreams. Kind of bizarre that they decided the groups arbitrarily, but not unexpected. They clearly made groups they thought would bring views. A bit surprised they emphasized the former JYP trainees but didn't even mention SM for the former SM trainees. Especially considering they performed an Aespa song. Maybe the girls have an nda or just didn't want to talk about it, but it's weird because I would imagine MNET would love throwing out SM's name there for clout.
It's interesting they did another evaluation with the signal song, and had the girls practice within their groups before the start of the show. I wonder how the teams for the performance were picked. My guess is the production team chose them trying to maximize interest on their performance. Also always curious about how they decided which song to perform. My guess would also be the production team chose them.
Not a big fan that only the top 9 can change their cells. With how the elimination process is set up your cell is extremely important so I would prefer if the girls had more control over it. Considering they depend on how the trainers evaluate them and that is inevitably fallible and biased. For a first episode I thought the K-pop masters and the trainers did well. Didn't agree entirely with all their opinions, but I'm neither a professional or there live to see the full unedited performance. The most important part is that I felt they were giving the girls more constructive feedback than being needlessly cruel for ratings or being overly nice and not helping them improve.
About the Visual Killer performance of Rumor. I thought Xiaoting did a better job with her expressions than in her solo signal song performance. She still had a few expressionless parts and I wish she added more variety to it, but it's an improvement. She definitely is a good dancer, that is undeniable, if she just nails her expressions her stage presence will explode. Vocally she did fine, nothing too impressive or disappointing. She was shaky at the start but she was doing a very strong dance move and singing live so I'm not gonna harp too much on that. All the three other girls were very shaky vocally the entire performance. Ruowei lost her balance and had quite a few awkward looking dancing moves too. It could be nerves, because it doesn't seem like she is a terrible dancer just a few moments here and there she didn't quite pull off the choreography perfectly. I thought her expressions were very subtle for the most part, so that's something she could improve also. Xinwei sounded like the weakest vocal of the 4. Very raw, off pitch. I would say she is at the same level as Yeseo vocals wise. She did a good job dancing but she looked worried after the intro. Xingqiao was a bit of a disappointment. Even if you say the key was too high for her or that she should be more of a lead vocal than main vocal she was still very unstable even in the non ad-lib parts. Her dancing was a little stiff at parts, but nothing a few months of training can't clean up. She did a decent job with her expressions despite not singing well, which is a plus, but still could be a bit more pronounced than it was. Visually alone they already look like a girl group. 4 very pretty kids, but performance wise 3 of them still need some work.
The Crystal Girls performance had a very similar vibe. Yurina did a good job with the dance and the vocals while everyone else was shaky. I think she did a better job with her expressions compared to Xiaoting but not by much. She has a nice clear tone and did well with her parts. Looks like the PD likes her and at least a few Korean netizens, so for now she is one of the front runners of the J-group imo. I agree with the trainers' take on Ririka. Her lower body didn't look right during the dance. I think she did a decent job with her expressions, but her vocals leave a lot to be desired. She did a better job with the high note than I was expecting but the lead up to it was very unstable. I don't think she ever had proper vocal training until the Nizi Project training camp and I don't know how much she had with Orange Latte so we'll see how much she can improve during this show. Yume did a great job with the dance and had a bright expression throughout. She started well with her vocals but her second lines onwards were very shaky. Wouldn't say she is a lead vocal but she can be a pretty decent sub-vocal if she cleans it up. Hana did a decent job dancing, seemed like she had a feel for singing but she went off key too much. With some training she could be a pretty decent vocal. Really needs to work on her expressions though. She was virtually expressionless. Yuna sounded like the most raw vocally of the group. Wouldn't say quite as bad as Yeseo and Xinwei but close. Her dance was also bit more rough. She did a better job with her expressions than Hana, but a few were awkward and sometimes it looked like she was worrying about her performance. The Rumor stage was basically a Xiaoting showcase and this was basically a Yurina one. I feel bad for the other girls, but at least they didn't get the Chanmi treatment even though there definitely were opportunities for it.
I wonder if the Mallang Kontteok girls decided to perform Black Mamba themselves or if the production crew asked them to. I wouldn't be surprised with either, but in the former case I would imagine the show mentions 2 of them are former SM trainees. I continue to be pleased with Jeongmin's vocals. She has a very nice clear tone with some more advanced techniques. She also did a pretty good job dancing. So far she seems like a pretty good performer and I look forward to her future stages. I agree with what the trainers said about Chaehyun, she was doing fine but once her voice cracked her performance got a little sloppy. It's tough and I feel for the girl, but you gotta maintain composure after a mistake. She has a nice voice too, but I didn't feel like she was as polished as Jeongmin in this performance. I don't think Yunji did a bad job singing but her voice seems more limited. Doesn't feel like she has a lot of range to it. She does her job well within that range but I don't know if she can expand it and become more than a sub-vocal. She did a good job with the dance and had pretty good expressions. This group did well, it could have been better but I think they are all good performers. One mistake kind of derailed Chaehyun and they have their limitations, but their performance was nice.
Hot Sauce performance of Kick It was interesting. Youngeun definitely nailed the stage. Right energy, great expressions, her dance moves were on point and she did well in the rap parts. I'm left to wonder though how will she fare in different concepts though. She did already showed she can do strong and fierce concepts but I thought her energy didn't match the signal song and her moves were over the top. She had great expressions so I'm sure she can pull those off on more girlish or feminine songs but I'm curious if she is gonna be able to control her power and about her singing ability. I'm not a huge "obligatory rap section" in K-pop guy so I would like to know how well can she sing. Jia played a good second fiddle. She wasn't as powerful as Youngeun or had the same stage presence, but she did a good job with the dance and had good expressions herself. Didn't quite fit the song as perfectly but was good. She had a little trouble with her breathing in the middle of the stage, but overall did well singing.
I disagree with the trainers on their take on the December Girl performance of Dumdi Dumdi. I'm rooting for Mashiro but I didn't think the performance was too impressive. She danced and sang well, but was a bit too airy and a little shaky a couple times. I think song selection is huge in audition shows and maybe this choreo just isn't great to showcase dance ability. Not too familiar with the original to say that with certainty. Her dance was fine, no big mistakes but also nothing that blew me away. Maybe a bit too safe of a performance. Her expressions weren't great to me. She ranged from expressionless to a very faint smile. I think she did a way better job on her signal song solo cam. Nagomi has a pretty nice sounding voice. She was shaky singing but with some training she can be a pretty nice lead vocal at least. She did a good job with the dance, but again nothing impressive. Did a better job with her expressions here than her signal song.
I also don't see eye-to-eye with the trainers about Shooting Star performance of Pop/Stars. I do agree Suyeon had good stage presence and great expressions, but she was very shaky vocally at the start. Kim Dayeon rap was kind of awkward, but outside of that I thought she had pretty good stage presence herself, and although Yeyoung's stage presence and expressions were lacking I think she did a good job dancing and her singing was very good, might even be main vocal level. If you add up all three had good performances with a few faults here and there. Depending on the level of competition I would either put all three on candidates for top 9 or none because they had very similar levels of performance imo.
Hikaru did a great job with the Burn Crush performance, but she is another girl I wonder how she will do with a not fierce concept. I thought she danced very well on her signal song performance but couldn't bring the same expressions she did in this concept. Also they treated this group like the Xiaoting and Yurina group and I don't think it is the same case. With those two one girl did well while everyone else struggled while this group everyone did well and the other girls didn't really deserve being treated as backup dancers by the editing team. I think Shana had a pretty nice voice. Not perfect but very pleasing and with more training would be a good lead vocal level. Her dance is a little behind the other girls, but not bad. I think both Rei and Kotone did a good job with their raps, danced very well and also nailed the energy and expressions of the stage. Very strong performance from everyone.
I've already talked about the Monster Baby performance in a previous post, but it's impressive they actually did this well with so many girls missing so much practice. Makes me very hopeful what these girls can do with more training. Specially Sein. If she can make her dance more crisp and energetic and work on her expressions she can really shine with her vocals.
The twins felt more like a comedy duo than a K-pop performance. They really are memelords. The song they chose really didn't let us see their dance skills. From their signal song cams I felt Qiao was a better dancer, but we'll have to wait till next performance to gauge. The vocals were very raw. We'll see how they both do after more training but at least I'm sure they got a few fans with their silliness.
The Strong Sisters group kind of confirmed a few of my suspicions about the whole preview drama. It's another performance it would be very interesting knowing if the girls chose the song or if the production asked for it. It's not like CLC is a super well known group or the song. Seems kind of out of left field someone would perform it when Yujin is on the show. Yaning clearly had a concept in mind that she was pushing, which I appreciate her for having more professional view on performances than just singing and dancing which most trainees have. But the script clearly was pushing for that "confrontation" with all the questions about the song, about knowing Yujin was competing, and eventually straight up asking her to say something to Yujin, which you can tell she hesitates to deliver the line but does so at the end. As I said before I don't mind what she said, maybe it wasn't quite the vibe the show usually goes for but it isn't a horrible thing, but having the clear signs this was scripted just makes me feel bad cause Mnet clearly just served her on a plate for the social media vitriol.
Anyhow it's a shame because I felt she did a great job this performance. I wasn't too impressed with her signal song, so this might be another case of a girl that can do fierce but can't do lovely. Chiayi is another girl that continues to impress me. Good dancer, good singer and great stage presence. She also did a great job this performance and I was already impressed with her signal song dance. Can't wait to see what she does next mission. Cai Bing has very charming eyes, but I don't quite agree with the trainers. She danced well but I wasn't impressed with her rap and her expressions. I felt bad for Wenzhe because she clearly has no business being a main vocal. I wonder how that ended up like that. I won't say she would be fine as a sub-vocal because even the more standard lines she was off key, but maybe the pressure got to her and she would have done better. She danced ok, a few stiff moves here and there, but nothing too horrible. Chang Ching clearly struggled with her vocals but she doesn't sound as bad as some of the other girls that have had vocal problems. She danced pretty well but could do a better job with her expressions. This is another group they only really focused on one girl. We'll see if Chiayi manages to grab some attention for her performance despite being virtually ignored.
I hope they release all the performances on youtube eventually like they did for the produce series.
A couple solo performances next episode. Should be interesting.