queendom 2 (2022), round three: part one
May. 23rd, 2022 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yestodayThe much too delayed vocal and dance unit rankings—from yours truly—have arrived.
One foreword (also serving as a life update), and then I'll get to it: I just graduated—today, this afternoon. It was the worst thing ever. I hated the process; I found it pointless and unnecessarily lengthy. I get it's tradition; I get it's ceremonial, but what I don't get was how overhyped the event itself was… I felt nothing. I felt nothing besides the desire to not want to be there at that moment, but alas! I don't mean to intentionally sound like a cynical, unsociable emoboy, but I am resolved to think that there were no constituents of that whole event that made it truly worth going to—for two hours, in 85 degrees weather—besides, perhaps, sating my parents with some awkward photos.
So, okay, it could have been worse, but I can list an extensive index of factors that made it an unenjoyable experience: having to sit in the football field for the whole afternoon, being cooked under a blazing sun that just so happened to be the hottest of this whole week, all while covered in the ugly gown and more layers of formal attire (what's the point of wearing that if we're draped in a fancy trash bag, anyway?), constantly having to readjust my cap because that thing would try to escape me any time the most minuscule breeze passed by, listening to the pretentious student council girl present her long shit poem (I need to point out this really specific thing that irked me from it. One part went something along the lines of "But it wasn't // But it's not". I hope you can see how uncomfortable this made me. What about parallelism? What about form? The second line was clearly set up to be "But it isn't", following the contraction of the previous line's "wasn't". That had me bothered for the entire rest of the time she spoke, up until I succumbed to the daze of the raking heat again), listening to the other slightly-less-pretentious student council girl give a speech on this school's accomplishments, and—perhaps the worst of it all—I missed the BTOB KCON Chicago Premiere livestream.
We technically weren't allowed to bring our phones, but it's not like they did security checks or anything. The issue was that my dress pants did not have pockets and neither did my suit. (They both have faux pockets, and that made me so mad… god, you sewed on an opening already, why not just make it a real? If this design doesn't include pockets, then don't put on the damn fake ones! What was the purpose!) In the end, I shoved my phone in my underwear, and it worked out very well. I hope Ilhoon and Hyojin in my phone case enjoyed the pleasant view of my cock they had during the whole march to the stadium and the waiting hours.
If we weren't supposed to bring our phones, we most definitely weren't allowed to be listening to music. Guess who slipped an AirPod in his left ear halfway through the march. My sneaky, slippery ass; that's right. I originally was not brave enough to pull something like that until I saw a gay looking person in the line across from me clearly have one in. (I'm, like, certain they're gay, and not because of a functioning gaydar, but because I swear they were the person with an Interactive Introverts jacket yesterday at graduation practice.) Anyway, since I knew I probably wouldn't be able to reach for my phone anytime soon when I got to the stadium, I punched shuffle on BTOB's entire discography, and I let it roll. That music channeling to the one side of my ear was probably the only thing keeping me alive in that field for the following two scorching hours. My mom later told me that the whole fam could see me swaying and vibing all the way from their nosebleed seat at the very, very edge of the bleachers. I was not aware I was that conspicuous. Sorry, the Beats' Japanese songs were playing, and I had no sense of what was going on around me by that time.
Prior to me spacing out, though, was the nervous fretting over my walk up to the front for my diploma and the handshakes with four old men in a row. My cap was already loose because of my tiny head, and it kept nearly flying off whenever a gust of wind approached even when I was sitting in my seat. (In fact, it did fall off as soon as I stood up.) I was fearing for my life I was going to lose it as soon as I stepped up there, in front of the not-superabundant, but still quite plentiful amount of seniors and the crowd of their families. Another thing I was anxious about was my AirPod getting discovered. I originally intended to take it out when it was time for me to walk up, but One Sip was playing, and I couldn't just stop it. (Where are my fellow Christmas album lovers in the middle of May!) I thought that AirPod was pretty well hidden behind a chunk of my hair though, so it would probably be fine, right? Despite my want to write a funny plot twist right now, it actually went just fine. I thought I heard an ostentatiously loud kazoo when my name was called, only to later find out my cousins brought an airhorn. (They also told me they almost screamed "Genshin master." I am ceaselessly glad they did not.) By the time I got back to my seat, it was Beautiful to Me playing. And that's the story of how I was listening to One Sip while receiving my diploma.
Oh, also, when I sat down, I managed to take a quick peak at my phone. The BTOB KCON Chicago Premiere livestream on YouTube started twenty minutes ago. Gritting my teeth, I coolly closed my phone and stuffed it back in my underwear. By the time I was free, the stream was archived private. Let me in?!
On a completely unrelated note to anything mentioned, I am on day 15 of both my Duolingo and Drops streaks. I wanted to pick these back up to review a bit for a Korean placement assessment, as I'm hoping to test out of the elementary class (and only the elementary class). Besides that, I figured I'd just see how long I can keep it going this time. My previous streak record on Drops was 46 days. I doubt I'll beat that, but who knows.
Now that that's done and over, we're back to the topic. This half-round of Queendom 2 culminated to be the most difficult performances to rank, so far. I suppose this isn't an exceptional circumstance, as there were only three to choose from for each, so each placing held a lot more impact. But still, I encountered some of the most dilemmatic verdicts I've had to decide for throughout this season, and I still don't feel I have enough justification for some of these choices… so, please, go easy on me; I'm insecure about my rankings for this one, as well.
For the record, I made all of my final decisions before viewing the official results. I feel this is a needed disclaimer, this time, before reading onwards because… well.
Round Three: Part One - Vocal
2. 33; Hyolyn and Brave Girls. Choosing between this and 우주를 품은 은하 was the hardest thing I've done in my life. This is a performance to prove that simplicity has the potential to be just as powerful as any incorporated degree of complexity. The storytelling was clear, even with minimalist effects—even with just the two of them. (This is essentially the opposite of 우주를 품은 은하's stage brandishing—which is ironic, considering it was these two stages that caused the most strenuous quandary for me.)
3. 해와 달 (Sun and Moon); LOONA and Kep1er. The harmonization was the glory act of this performance, truly. God, it was beautiful. For so many people, it was arranged wonderfully; their blend is amazing. Chaehyun's vocal control and technique is seriously phenomenal for her age. Unfortunately, I could not remember much else from this performance after it ended. Don't get me wrong, it had its emotional effect on me; everyone was crying, and I understood why. It was the radiant pureness of it all. I was near moved to tears by the end, as well. (Youngeun's serendipitous tear drop will go down in history. Actually, Youngeun in this, in general, will. I had always associated her with the dance position, and yet, she proved to be a perfect match for this job. She is the exemplar of an all-rounder.) This also ended up enabling me go and watch multiple EXO Planet stages of this song, a couple days later—for old times' sake. Many feelings were felt. Round Three: Part One - Dance
2. Ex-it; Hyolyn and WJSN. The compatibility of these three shocked me. Perhaps the former-labelmate-synergy kicked in when Hyolyn stepped foot back into Starship, because that harmony was unmatched. The blend of the props and outfits with the background was thought out with clever consideration. The neon accents reminded me of TO1's Hard Carry from Road To Kingdom! I need to say something, though… Yeoreum definitely stole the spotlight in this—yes, even from Hyolyn. Yeoreum, my little rapper… my fierce, little slayer who devoured. Eunseo deserved more screen time, though. I'm so proud and impressed of the Wujus for transitioning to this unfamiliar concept so well; I imagine after having done predominantly elegant and bubbly dances for six years and suddenly switching up to something intense and aggressive like this must be a trip. Of course, I don't doubt their dancing ability to pull off a new style of choreography, but being able to emanate the right energy and set a brand new type of atmosphere is something that comes less easily without a solid timespan of practice and adjusting. They did great, though! The final product still ended up just fine! There were no particular straying vibes; nothing felt forced or ostentatiously out of place from them. They can't come perfect, but oh, did I love Yeoreum's feisty energy. They were totally giving La Chica's daughters. Also, for the record, this is my favorite song out of the three originals for the dance units.
3. KeV1Z; VIVIZ and Kep1er. Okay, listen. This was great. Xiaoting ate. Hikaru has some of the best expression mastery I've ever seen for a rookie, and that finesse was so effectively utilized. Eunbi's energy was unparalleled; she understood the assignment. Umji was fantastic, too, despite her tribulations. The part with her and Dayeon was satisfactorily synchronized. This was just all just fine, but somehow, I did not feel hyped at all after watching it. This feels unfair, even to me, as I can't actually come up with an actual negative attribute to justify their placing at this final position. I simply was not feeling it—no matter how unprincipled this sounds. Maybe they were sabotaged by the choice of song…
So, yeah, I was quite surprised when the real results turned out to be identical as my own. Like, I swear I didn't look at it beforehand and let it influence me! But, then again, it's not like that was extremely unlikely. There's plenty less combinations for a three by three arrangement than the original six by six.
(This whole review also took an extremely long time to type, for some reason. It took four whole sittings across the span of three days. I don't want to think I'm losing motivation already, but I might just be hitting some kind of… um, thinking slump? It's not even a writing slump—I have ideas, and I want to write—it's just that I cannot remember any of the words or phrases I want to use half of the time, and it frustrates me to hell and back.)
Mom:
Sister:
One foreword (also serving as a life update), and then I'll get to it: I just graduated—today, this afternoon. It was the worst thing ever. I hated the process; I found it pointless and unnecessarily lengthy. I get it's tradition; I get it's ceremonial, but what I don't get was how overhyped the event itself was… I felt nothing. I felt nothing besides the desire to not want to be there at that moment, but alas! I don't mean to intentionally sound like a cynical, unsociable emoboy, but I am resolved to think that there were no constituents of that whole event that made it truly worth going to—for two hours, in 85 degrees weather—besides, perhaps, sating my parents with some awkward photos.
Here, I proceed to unnecessary rambling that has nothing to do with the topic at hand
So, okay, it could have been worse, but I can list an extensive index of factors that made it an unenjoyable experience: having to sit in the football field for the whole afternoon, being cooked under a blazing sun that just so happened to be the hottest of this whole week, all while covered in the ugly gown and more layers of formal attire (what's the point of wearing that if we're draped in a fancy trash bag, anyway?), constantly having to readjust my cap because that thing would try to escape me any time the most minuscule breeze passed by, listening to the pretentious student council girl present her long shit poem (I need to point out this really specific thing that irked me from it. One part went something along the lines of "But it wasn't // But it's not". I hope you can see how uncomfortable this made me. What about parallelism? What about form? The second line was clearly set up to be "But it isn't", following the contraction of the previous line's "wasn't". That had me bothered for the entire rest of the time she spoke, up until I succumbed to the daze of the raking heat again), listening to the other slightly-less-pretentious student council girl give a speech on this school's accomplishments, and—perhaps the worst of it all—I missed the BTOB KCON Chicago Premiere livestream.
We technically weren't allowed to bring our phones, but it's not like they did security checks or anything. The issue was that my dress pants did not have pockets and neither did my suit. (They both have faux pockets, and that made me so mad… god, you sewed on an opening already, why not just make it a real? If this design doesn't include pockets, then don't put on the damn fake ones! What was the purpose!) In the end, I shoved my phone in my underwear, and it worked out very well. I hope Ilhoon and Hyojin in my phone case enjoyed the pleasant view of my cock they had during the whole march to the stadium and the waiting hours.
If we weren't supposed to bring our phones, we most definitely weren't allowed to be listening to music. Guess who slipped an AirPod in his left ear halfway through the march. My sneaky, slippery ass; that's right. I originally was not brave enough to pull something like that until I saw a gay looking person in the line across from me clearly have one in. (I'm, like, certain they're gay, and not because of a functioning gaydar, but because I swear they were the person with an Interactive Introverts jacket yesterday at graduation practice.) Anyway, since I knew I probably wouldn't be able to reach for my phone anytime soon when I got to the stadium, I punched shuffle on BTOB's entire discography, and I let it roll. That music channeling to the one side of my ear was probably the only thing keeping me alive in that field for the following two scorching hours. My mom later told me that the whole fam could see me swaying and vibing all the way from their nosebleed seat at the very, very edge of the bleachers. I was not aware I was that conspicuous. Sorry, the Beats' Japanese songs were playing, and I had no sense of what was going on around me by that time.
Prior to me spacing out, though, was the nervous fretting over my walk up to the front for my diploma and the handshakes with four old men in a row. My cap was already loose because of my tiny head, and it kept nearly flying off whenever a gust of wind approached even when I was sitting in my seat. (In fact, it did fall off as soon as I stood up.) I was fearing for my life I was going to lose it as soon as I stepped up there, in front of the not-superabundant, but still quite plentiful amount of seniors and the crowd of their families. Another thing I was anxious about was my AirPod getting discovered. I originally intended to take it out when it was time for me to walk up, but One Sip was playing, and I couldn't just stop it. (Where are my fellow Christmas album lovers in the middle of May!) I thought that AirPod was pretty well hidden behind a chunk of my hair though, so it would probably be fine, right? Despite my want to write a funny plot twist right now, it actually went just fine. I thought I heard an ostentatiously loud kazoo when my name was called, only to later find out my cousins brought an airhorn. (They also told me they almost screamed "Genshin master." I am ceaselessly glad they did not.) By the time I got back to my seat, it was Beautiful to Me playing. And that's the story of how I was listening to One Sip while receiving my diploma.
Oh, also, when I sat down, I managed to take a quick peak at my phone. The BTOB KCON Chicago Premiere livestream on YouTube started twenty minutes ago. Gritting my teeth, I coolly closed my phone and stuffed it back in my underwear. By the time I was free, the stream was archived private. Let me in?!
On a completely unrelated note to anything mentioned, I am on day 15 of both my Duolingo and Drops streaks. I wanted to pick these back up to review a bit for a Korean placement assessment, as I'm hoping to test out of the elementary class (and only the elementary class). Besides that, I figured I'd just see how long I can keep it going this time. My previous streak record on Drops was 46 days. I doubt I'll beat that, but who knows.
Now that that's done and over, we're back to the topic. This half-round of Queendom 2 culminated to be the most difficult performances to rank, so far. I suppose this isn't an exceptional circumstance, as there were only three to choose from for each, so each placing held a lot more impact. But still, I encountered some of the most dilemmatic verdicts I've had to decide for throughout this season, and I still don't feel I have enough justification for some of these choices… so, please, go easy on me; I'm insecure about my rankings for this one, as well.
For the record, I made all of my final decisions before viewing the official results. I feel this is a needed disclaimer, this time, before reading onwards because… well.
Round Three: Part One - Vocal
1. 우주를 품은 은하 (Galaxy That Embraces the Cosmic); VIVIZ and WJSN. Let's start with the vocals themselves, then move on to the other components of this stage. It was Yeonjung's voice that took the cake for this one. Each part was well-distributed among the girls. I think choosing Eunha for the killing "네가 좋아" of the bridge was an ingenious move; she's a fairy (and, I've never made this connection until now, but Eunha embodies Jieun's aura perfectly. Maybe that's why they so unhesitatingly decided on her). Yeonjung unarguably outshined; oh, she was scintillating. She, alone, tied the final knot to render this unbeatable for me. I love what Eunha said: "Her voice just explodes like a refreshing soda"—because those power sustains! That high note! I saw fireworks burst into bouquets before me. While Soobin had the weakest prominence, she still made her solo section memorable with her elegance (her flip of her dress in the wind!). I know she had some trouble with the high key during preparations, but her practice paid off, and she managed to keep her own space afloat between these two great scene-stealers. All three of them had a boldly outlined significance to the performance. (Soobin was on thin ice—the boldness of the ink was fading—but she still managed to maintain her relevancy. I love you, Soobin!)
As for the other elements I wanted to note: I love this song—perhaps that had a subconscious influence on my ultimate preference towards this. This song has began reminding me of Sunyoul, due to the sheer amount of times I've listened to his cover, so when I was watching the episode and heard them settling on this song, I impulsively perked up. When they performed it, I was even more overjoyed to hear they were able to replicate the same, exact uplifting energy of the original song! I also thought the stage setup was very attractive. Yeonjung on the swing, the pinwheels, Eunha between the blooming trees… they're so pretty. (I later found out that this was not a universal opinion, though—for example, my mom thought it was "太花了，太粉了"。And, okay, I respect that, too.)
2. 33; Hyolyn and Brave Girls. Choosing between this and 우주를 품은 은하 was the hardest thing I've done in my life. This is a performance to prove that simplicity has the potential to be just as powerful as any incorporated degree of complexity. The storytelling was clear, even with minimalist effects—even with just the two of them. (This is essentially the opposite of 우주를 품은 은하's stage brandishing—which is ironic, considering it was these two stages that caused the most strenuous quandary for me.)
Their voices go surprisingly well together, despite the contrasting timbres. Minyoung's throat clearly still wasn't in the best condition and was therefore unable to reach her maximum potential during the stage—which is a shame, but she pulled it off alright. I imagine the high note was what would've been the most worrying moment, but she hit it! During the harmonization, Hyolyn kept her on track, and mostly everything went discernibly smoothly. It was all very sweet, from Hyolyn encouraging her throughout the recording phase to Hyolyn guiding her through the duet. This makes it sound like Hyolyn was hard carrying this entire stage, but I swear I appreciated Minyoung's performance, as well—especially knowing that she was fucked over with COVID-19 not even that long ago. Anyway, the final hug was what got me; it was so precious and so intimate. It's so raw… yet so mellow and warm. They poured their entire youths into it; you could hear in Hyolyn's voice how personal this was. There was just so much emotion packed into this, and of course, part of it was thanks to Jiyoung's original lyrics, but their arrangement—and execution of it—was tremendously powerful. Hyolyn knew what she was doing when setting this up. I love Hyolyn because she always as a set vision on what she wants and will work her ass off to produce her visualized, unshakable result. If it wasn't clear to the viewers already, Exy's words spilled the precis: "I think that's why she wanted to perform with someone her age. They were looking back at each other's youth."
3. 해와 달 (Sun and Moon); LOONA and Kep1er. The harmonization was the glory act of this performance, truly. God, it was beautiful. For so many people, it was arranged wonderfully; their blend is amazing. Chaehyun's vocal control and technique is seriously phenomenal for her age. Unfortunately, I could not remember much else from this performance after it ended. Don't get me wrong, it had its emotional effect on me; everyone was crying, and I understood why. It was the radiant pureness of it all. I was near moved to tears by the end, as well. (Youngeun's serendipitous tear drop will go down in history. Actually, Youngeun in this, in general, will. I had always associated her with the dance position, and yet, she proved to be a perfect match for this job. She is the exemplar of an all-rounder.) This also ended up enabling me go and watch multiple EXO Planet stages of this song, a couple days later—for old times' sake. Many feelings were felt.
1. 퀸이 나 (Queen Is Me); Brave Girls and LOONA. If there's anything consistent about me, I happen to always be a sucker for camera filter effects. Resultantly, this was gripping to my brainworms from the get-go. It was reminiscent of Brave Girls' MVSK stage—the neo noir, the femme fatale—and you know how badly down I was for that performance. Anyway, Hyejoo, I love you. She was remarkable at expressing what this song represented, and her visuals were indescribably immaculate for a concept like this. Eunji was inexplicably the cornerstone of all this, typing every portion together with her talent. Everyone just looked so good. (Though, I do think they fucked up Yves's makeup a bit—she looked more like a flower fairy than a sexy nocturnal cat—but that's besides the point.)
Perhaps this one gained particular favor because it was so different from the other two: it's more focused on slow, controlled movements and sleek charm rather than the wilder appeal of KA-BOOM! and Purr. This type of graceful and fluent dance is arduous to get fully synchronized, simply due to the lack of sharp movements and a defined beat integrated into each move, as every component slides into each other like one fluid motion; hence, the angles and tilts of your limbs are extra emphasized here, and any small deviation will appear to be a major obtrusion. Even with an increased difficulty on that part, they looked really uniform and organized. Monika's tiger coaching was fruitful, indeed.
2. Ex-it; Hyolyn and WJSN. The compatibility of these three shocked me. Perhaps the former-labelmate-synergy kicked in when Hyolyn stepped foot back into Starship, because that harmony was unmatched. The blend of the props and outfits with the background was thought out with clever consideration. The neon accents reminded me of TO1's Hard Carry from Road To Kingdom! I need to say something, though… Yeoreum definitely stole the spotlight in this—yes, even from Hyolyn. Yeoreum, my little rapper… my fierce, little slayer who devoured. Eunseo deserved more screen time, though. I'm so proud and impressed of the Wujus for transitioning to this unfamiliar concept so well; I imagine after having done predominantly elegant and bubbly dances for six years and suddenly switching up to something intense and aggressive like this must be a trip. Of course, I don't doubt their dancing ability to pull off a new style of choreography, but being able to emanate the right energy and set a brand new type of atmosphere is something that comes less easily without a solid timespan of practice and adjusting. They did great, though! The final product still ended up just fine! There were no particular straying vibes; nothing felt forced or ostentatiously out of place from them. They can't come perfect, but oh, did I love Yeoreum's feisty energy. They were totally giving La Chica's daughters. Also, for the record, this is my favorite song out of the three originals for the dance units.
3. KeV1Z; VIVIZ and Kep1er. Okay, listen. This was great. Xiaoting ate. Hikaru has some of the best expression mastery I've ever seen for a rookie, and that finesse was so effectively utilized. Eunbi's energy was unparalleled; she understood the assignment. Umji was fantastic, too, despite her tribulations. The part with her and Dayeon was satisfactorily synchronized. This was just all just fine, but somehow, I did not feel hyped at all after watching it. This feels unfair, even to me, as I can't actually come up with an actual negative attribute to justify their placing at this final position. I simply was not feeling it—no matter how unprincipled this sounds. Maybe they were sabotaged by the choice of song…
(This whole review also took an extremely long time to type, for some reason. It took four whole sittings across the span of three days. I don't want to think I'm losing motivation already, but I might just be hitting some kind of… um, thinking slump? It's not even a writing slump—I have ideas, and I want to write—it's just that I cannot remember any of the words or phrases I want to use half of the time, and it frustrates me to hell and back.)
Just like last time, here are my mom's and my sister's rankings for each, because why not?
Mom:
Vocal
1. 33; Hyolyn and Brave Girls
2. 해와 달 (Sun and Moon); LOONA and Kep1er
2. 해와 달 (Sun and Moon); LOONA and Kep1er
3. 우주를 품은 은하 (Galaxy That Embraces the Cosmic); VIVIZ and WJSN
Dance
1. Ex-it; Hyolyn and WJSN.
2. KeV1Z; VIVIZ and Kep1er.
3. 퀸이 나 (Queen Is Me); Brave Girls and LOONA.
2. KeV1Z; VIVIZ and Kep1er.
3. 퀸이 나 (Queen Is Me); Brave Girls and LOONA.
Sister:
Vocal
1. 33; Hyolyn and Brave Girls
2. 우주를 품은 은하 (Galaxy That Embraces the Cosmic); VIVIZ and WJSN
3. 해와 달 (Sun and Moon); LOONA and Kep1er
2. 우주를 품은 은하 (Galaxy That Embraces the Cosmic); VIVIZ and WJSN
3. 해와 달 (Sun and Moon); LOONA and Kep1er
Dance
1. 퀸이 나 (Queen Is Me); Brave Girls and LOONA.
2. Ex-it; Hyolyn and WJSN.
3. KeV1Z; VIVIZ and Kep1er.
2. Ex-it; Hyolyn and WJSN.
3. KeV1Z; VIVIZ and Kep1er.