queendom 2 (2022), round two

Sorry, I unfortunately can't be normal and get straight to the point. I have to be annoying and give a several-paragraph foreword before doing anything. I do apologize; I cannot shut up (but only literarily).

Yeah, anyway, as I was saying: I watched Episode 2 and Episode 3. I was not too unsatisfied with the official final rankings for Round One. Hyolyn getting the full 10k points flat was wild; my girl is crazy. Although the rankings are fairly different from my own, it's acceptable and believable. WJSN placing second put my heart at ease, at least; I feel less bad.

Speaking of whom, I wanted to note that I did not notice the hourglass breaking at all when I watched the WJSN performance on its own, and that was probably on me… because it turned out even my mom said she saw it. I like to think I'm a fairly observant person, so I'm not quite sure how I managed to miss that heart-stopping moment completely—something to do with the Wujus' faces and my inability to take my eyes off of their features, I propose. Well, at least here is a solid confirmation that the prop mishap did not affect my ranking for them.

Oh, one thing that had me acting like the Dongpyo-squinting-and-pretending-to-clean-his-eyes-in-disbelief video was Hyolyn criticizing VIVIZ's performance for not leaving a "strong impact." Miss Ma'am, were you not the one shedding tears in the waiting room earlier?

Practice outfit Heejin is so hot. Casual clothes Haseul is so fine. Are LOONA going to have a way to make up last round's points? I can't remember if they addressed that... but, like, I doubt they would leave them at a multiple thousands of points disadvantage for the show's remainder, right? You know, especially taking into account the scary Orbits and their tendency to riot.

[Time jump.]

I watched Episode 4! With much effort—due to the amount of homework and fatigue I had accumulated this week, but I did it! I'm caught up all the way now. Who else cheered?

Eunha is my baby, for real. I also, just earlier today, found out her stage name means "galaxy" while on my biweekly inspection of ONEWE lyrics. I don't know how—in my five years of being a Buddy—I did not retain that information before. (Or, if I did at some point, why I didn't latch onto it and managed to forget about it until now.)

Anyway, I'll save my supplementary shit for later. I have but one last thing to say: Brave Girls deserved better.

Round Two

1. Brave Girls. Bitch! I was shocked and appalled when they ended up last place, but that petty rant can be commenced at a later juncture. This concept was everything. Yes, it's not like it was completely brand new, but at this point I think I'm going to have to give up my unofficial theme-originality criteria for these Queendom 2 rankings—since it's dawning upon me that, perhaps, nearly everything that the groups here can possibly come up with has already been done before; I will have to accept that there isn't much left that the girls can do that is unique (unless you're a brilliant, unrivaled genius like Hyolyn... god damn).

Brave Girls took a common trope and refurbished it into something way more revitalizing. Their energy was spot on aligned with the concept, and the story they wanted to tell was integrated suavely and conveyed with utmost zest! This was one of the best usages of props and stage setups I've seen in the entire four seasons of this series. The girls breathed in life, and invented a whole alternate universe to be inlayed, into that performance. It was so good; I kept smiling because I loved it so much and was sinking in how immense of a glow-up it was from their previous stage (which was fun but, frankly, lacking stimulus). They are so hot. I was shaking and trembling from chills the bulk of the time watching. When the saturation returned onto the screen, I was literally so hooked. I'm insanely proud of them for powering through with their COVID-fucked throats and gifting us this flawless wonder. Yuna was killing it everywhere I looked. Yujeong was hitting those moves like rent was due, and she managed to end up paying five years ahead with it. The ending backdrop animation transpired so perfectly in-sync with the falling money—it was like some next-level optical illusion. That was some Nævis magic. And the cards projected above them! We love you, graphic designer. This stage was magnificent to my eyes; I will be watching on repeat. (Genshin-infested brainworm afterthought: this would be like Yelan-core, if her color scheme was warmer—if she was a Pyro or Geo?)
 

2. Hyolyn. The multiple previews and making process that was shown before the performance's airing built up a shit ton of anticipation, and I became genuinely worried that she would end up being my number one again, which will result in the virtue of my rankings being doubted (by no one but myself, because I know nobody is reading this shit, lmao) for upholding some form of Star1 bias. I mean, I am a Star1, but I solemnly swore I will not, to the best of my ability, allow any fandom or ult bias slip into these rankings that isn't evenly spread amongst them all. Amen.

Ahem. God, her voice... her voice. My heart was palpitating. She is ludicrously hot; I was about to pass out. The transition to Paint The Town was infinitely well-arranged, and that left an impact on me simply because of how many abhorrent song merges we've seen recently in some of the other performances. With the focus on those vocals and that live belting, I think it's safe to say the climax(es) of the performance would be defined as the jaw-dropping high notes and growl notes. The starting scene was unarguably creative and a sight to behold; I can only imagine being the audience seeing it in person. But, a minuscule backfiring effect of it was that it overshadowed other important parts of the performance, specifically the beginning—before we manage to recover from the reaction of shock. Of course, it was an instantly engraved impression, but I have an idea to make the intro even more memorable beyond the unexpected stunt: the suggestion of incorporating a hoop into the choreography during bits of the first section. This way, that prop can even serve as a longer reoccurring theme and, overall, help the performance feel more neatly stitched together. But anyway, that wasn't even a nitpick; that was just a vision I had on what could have possibly made this masterpiece even better. Hyolyn knows how to hype a crowd, and that was really what sealed the deal at the end. What's a more effective way to commit a show to everyone's heads than to get their brain juice flowing directly into the music's and dance's energy? Hongseok called her Beyoncé if she was Korean. I resonated with that statement. The one, singular thing I can point out in this performance that I did not take fancy to was the neon green backdrop during the first chorus of So What. That did not match any of the color palettes in use nor was associated with the Catwoman concept. I'm not sure what went on there. The flaming "I'M SO BAD" text at the end was glorious, though. That damned green was probably the only thing that resulted in her placing below Brave Girls on this list: one trifling flaw versus no flaws—it had to be like this. (In a way, I'm kind of glad she had one attribute I disliked, otherwise these first two places would have been that much harder to determine, and a mental collapse would be in session.)
 

3. VIVIZ. Theirs was my second most anticipated performance after Hyolyn's. The glimpses of their outfits shown during the cuts of the trio sitting in the waiting room were indubitably eye-catching. I still think they have the most stunning costumes yet. I need to kiss that designer, actually. The performance itself was every ounce as lively and flamboyant as the outfits and makeup were set up to be. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, as the overall flow did feel a very fast-paced and borderline dizzying. The amount of cuts to different locations all over the stage was a tad disorienting, maybe even overwhelming. But the thing is, that may have been the point: a dazing, intense whirl of roses and flamenco. While I do wish they had more organization in the sequential structure of the performance, rather than throwing everything at us at once, but that's not extremely detrimental or anything. Though it left the performance without a real climax (since the majority of song felt like the climax), the flurried rush didn't take away from the enjoyment and striking quality of the stage too much, especially if you're just here to see some epic dancing and visuals.

The dance formations were breathtaking; they were perfectly ideal for something like this and incredibly impressive for being pulled off by only three members with the support of backup dancers. (The list of people I need to kiss grows: besides the designer, we are now adding VIVIZ Unnatural stage's choreographer.) I'm sure we were all a bit crestfallen when Eunha's lifted fan kick visibly didn't turn out as successful as planned, but that's okay; the distributed emphasis throughout the whole performance (that I talked about earlier) works in their favor here, and that little part doesn't stand out as much as she probably thinks—since the entirety of the song was spellbinding from start to finish, resulting in our attention being dispersed evenly among the whole thing. So it's okay, Eunha! You did fine! Overall, the surface-level visual appeal of this stage—the props, the outfits, the theme, the colors, the petals—was bewitching on its own. So ignoring the more meticulous analysis, I can firmly say that it was a charm to witness! 

 
4. LOONA. Here it is: our Kingdom/Queendom season's token musical themed performance! I love the lighthearted musical concepts that this show provides—they have a lot of leeway in how they can be executed, and it's a joy to see how the group interprets it each time (I enjoyed all of the past instances I can think of right now: VERIVERY's Beautiful-X, BTOB's Blue Moon, and Lovelyz's Wow, the lattermost being unforgettable because it made me physically start weeping from the raw wholesomeness.) LOONA placing the dance break at the start, rather than closer to the end, was unique remix on the typical structure that these performances usually conform by, so that was nice to see! Not to mention, that choreography was great, as well—it had all of the effervescence this concept required. The costumes were cute—I noticed that the rapid outfit change feature seems to be a popular trend among this Queendom season; I can also see that trick getting old soon, if the upcoming rounds continue to incorporate it, but LOONA used it effectively by making it a core focus, rather than a randomly inserted stunt. This works well for the storytelling element of a musical concept. Hyejoo slayed. Yeojin ate. Chuu's expressions are perfect, my little actress. Gowon and Haseul are adorable. Hyunjin is so pretty.The selected song being Shake It was so essential to this; I can't imagine there being a better-fitting song. Shake It was tailored to this stage, and this stage was tailored to Shake It. I literally have nothing bad to say about this. It seriously pains me how they somehow ended up in the lower half of the list, still. They deserve higher—I thought they would be at least second place after I finished watching this, but that was before I saw remaining stages... I think, the top three just spoke to me more. I swear I loved Shake It, and I love LOONA so much. The competition is just harsh as hell this season. I have evidential hope that they will be within the upper rankings in one of these near future rounds to come!

5. WJSN. Ah... there is a convoluted mix of feelings revolving about this subject of matter in me. I am super conflicted because there are multiple very good parts in this beautiful mess. I don't hate it. I most certainly do not hate it. To address the elephant in the room first: yeah, the song and concept were a catastrophic mismatch—I'm not going to spend too much time berating that, because I'm sure others have already done that part in roasting through and through. The stares in the audience were akin to being parallel to the live reactions on Lovelyz's season one Ah-Choo stage... which is not exactly a good thing. I don't understand why they didn't go with Apple, the perfect complement for a sexy witchy concept? Or maybe even MAGO could've suited it with the right arrangement. Sure, Navillera is iconic and loved by all, but there was really no point in using it if you've decided to butcher the instrumental. Oh well, I could see where they were coming from though—like the butterfly animations to relate back to the origin of the word 'navillera'—and horrible song choice aside, they ate, for the most part! The beginning and ending scenes were well-developed: the intro reminded me of ONF's The We Must Love, and I have a feverish attachment to that performance for... reasons. So, I'm going to have to ask you to excuse me on this one slip of external personal bias. Yeoreum's solo dance break was phenomenal though; that's my baby! In fact, I did like a lot of the dance breaks in this. The Wujus reinterpreted Navillera into a distinctly hardcore choreography-focused performance, which is, like... okay. Great—not what I would have liked to see for Navillera specifically, but—like, alright! We'll go with it: so, Navillera is a banger noise song now with powerful dance breaks. The dancing was great. My noise music lover ass even quite enjoyed the instrumental (though, the yelling was a bit extra, LMAO). They had a very good formula for a stage; unfortunately, the solvent was volatile with the solute—the base substance was incompatible. I imagine I could have loved this performance a fat ton if Navillera wasn't the song it was interwoven with. Sorry, I said I wasn't going to use this time complain about the song choice like everyone else, but I ended up turning back to that at the end anyway, didn't I. Whatever, I'm still rooting for these girls. Like LOONA, I have hopes for them to shoot back up the ranks.

6. Kep1er. What was going on here... Okay, you know what, let's start off with a positive note: here are the things I liked! The bubble hoop idea was unarguably the most notable aspect of this whole thing. Hikaru is so talented; I have immense admiration for her. She and Dayeon ate. Yeseo is cute. The equipment used at the dance break to help make the choreography look floaty and weightless like they were underwater was creative. That's it, I think. Um... good job to the girls; I can tell they prepared hard. The fault lies more in the... composition itself, rather than their skill—or their mishaps—so don't worry about that. See, overall it was cute and cheerfully summery (my sister called it 'the beach one'), but the framework was wack as hell. Rollin' was not necessary. That forced switch-up was so uncalled for; I was borderline traumatized by it—and this is coming from a Next Level and O.O enjoyer.

I would like to clarify that their unfortunate placement in this ranking was not affected by Yujin's or Dayeon's accidents to any significant extent. Yujin's was not that obvious, as she didn't have any center dancing parts: at the dance break itself, she was located at the edge of the formation where no one's attention is really directed to, so I don't think it had much negative impact on the performance as a whole! As for Dayeon, I highly respect her professionalism and reflexes to recover so quickly and reach her spot just in time for the final pose. It's a shame that she fell at the very last moment, though, right when it was almost over. While, these incidents didn't affect my personal judgment, I can understand how guilty they both felt, knowing that they couldn't showcase their absolute best… I want to hug them. </3 But, anyway, as I was saying, this mashup was despicable. There were no real outstanding sections besides the two seconds of the bubble hoop feat. Most of it was bland, to say the least, and agitatingly awkward, to say the most, which should be a difficult label to achieve on a song this bubbly and easygoing, yet alas. They really tried it with this concept. I can tell there was a vision, but it did not work out. This is so mean to say, but I feel the need to be candid: on this list, there is a very thick wall between WJSN's 5th and Kep1er's 6th place.

I need to learn some self-constraint and stop making these ridiculously long. Even besides time and energy issues, I should really be making these posts about the same length just for consistency's sake, but my brain says "no!" I'm growing increasingly worried that the evaluation for Round Three will be even longer... This is just a forewarning; however, I will be consciously trying my best to limit the paragraph lengths.

On another note, for fun, here are my mom's and my sister's rankings!

Mom:

1. Hyolyn (THE HEELS?! "她唱歌方面实在没人能跟她比。她真的是很全面……"）
2. LOONA
3. WJSN
4. VIVIZ (He didn't pick [Eunha] up properly. It was the guy's fault.)
5. Kep1er
6. Brave Girls

Sister:

1. Hyolyn ("I like this one. She's not shaking her butt.")
2. LOONA ("The party one!")
3. VIVIZ
4. Kep1er (It reminds her of Barbie.)
5. WJSN
6. Brave Girls

「 — opening + round one — round two — round three: part one — round three: part two — final — 」