KPOP STAR WATCH: Part 2 of the Battle Auditions

Part 1 of the Battle Auditions
This episode featured three more of Battle Audition rounds with only one left to go.

Group 3


YG's Nicole Curry
JYP seemed to try and show off his ability to speak English by talking to her in the first moments while on stage.... YG noted that it had been only 2 days since she took off a brace from her leg, to which BoA complained about how hard he was working his contestants. I found it hilarious to see Papa YG singing along to Nicole's song.
BoA: There's always a great amount of confidence in Nicole's performances, but her singing abilities aren't up to par so it took away from the performance.
YG: Best attitude and expressions when singing, but singing abilities are weak. Great at one, so weak in the other.

JYP's Choi YeGeun
YG - This song was number one in the audition shows, so the judges will be looking for how original she makes it.
BoA: most refreshing version of Rolling in the Deep; it always sounded as if others were trying to copy Adele but YeGeun delievered in her own style.
JYP: comments about specific music-beat-rhythm-related stuff that I didn't get... its not just her singing that's super talented, but her musical abilities are also very outstanding.
JYP didn't want her to do Rolling in the Deep because now everybody's sick of it but she started singing it and she sounded too good so he let her do it.

SM's 2000 Won
BoA believed they needed a girl voice in the performance so she helped by directly lending her voice to the recording. They've become more determined than ever to show off their true identity, after the last couple of disappointing performances.
I personally think they did a great job with their version of the lyrics.
YG: Anybody will see that their rendition of JYP's Although I Have a Girl... was the best. He added that it was questionable as to whether this performance would be competitive out on SBS Inkigayo.
JYP: What's different about you from all of the other singers out there?
BoA: A fight of ideas is so difficult. Appreciative of how they created a performance that was very much true to their identity.
YG: Just remember that all artists that that same struggle trying to find a new and creative performance every time. its not something that only you!

Results

1st: Choi YeGeun
JYP: There was a brick wall that we hit with both acts; Nicole's singing abilities and 2000W maybe you used all your energy already. But there is a more probability that we can get new ideas than a sudden increase in her abilities
YG's favourite contestant
2nd: 2000W
3rd: Nicole Curry

Group 4
JYP This group has a bunch of bad habits, so the judges are looking for how different they had become.

JYP's Andrew Choi
Boa: We have a problem. I can't watch you as a judge, I can't help but watching you as a girl. Who wouldn't fall in love with you?
YG: His voice definitely improved, but if he had pulled it out as a secret weapon and used it in the end it would've been more impressive.
JYP: He got rid of his bad habits in just a week; usually it should take a couple of months. The fact that he could fix these habits in this such short time was an accomplishment enough.

SM's Choi HeeTae
He was first so well praised, but he started to more and more fall under the expectations. He didn't want to stand on the stage, but he thought again and realized how so many other people were jealous of his opportunity. So he wanted to bring what he brought in his first stage back
BoA -he lacked a lot in his singing abilities, so they just worked on bringing the best of his singing as possible
YG: He plays so well, but why is that his singing doesn't follow?
JYP: his voice has gotten a lot better, his habits from before started showing through near the end of the performance (mkaing faces)
BoA: his voice didn't crack! you improved a lot in those 2 weeks

YG's Seong SuJin
YG -most daring kind of performance;
She's never performed with movement or seduction, she seemed to gain some training with the girl group for how to move
JYP: He was sure that she wouldn't change ever, but he's starting to see how he was wrong (she starts crying!) The beat and feel were all great
BoA: now she's actually interested in the ballads that she sings because it seems like she can actually sing her story

Result

1st: Seong SuJin
2nd: Andrew Choi
3rd: Choi HeeTaek [I'm not a singer, and this is a stage that many singers want to stand on. Thank you; this is just the beginning of my musical journey]

Group5
Each of the contestants got compliments on their outfits but JinWoo seemed cheated out of the opportunity.
BoA promptly turned around and jokingly yelled "HEY STYLIST. WHAT IS THAT?! JinWoo.... go change and come back :(" ROFL

YG's Kim TaeYeon
JYP: Best technique, but worst performance in that your expression is so fake. It feels like watching a musical. Don't act!!
BoA: Your determination to do well took over
YG: I don't know who you really are, so it's hard to tell what you were doing in this performance.

JYP's Shin JiHoon
YG: I thought about what I would do if I were your father; would I make your do skating or singing? SINGING.
JYP: He told his trainees to write something personal to think about while they perform. She didn't perform thinking about that; she sang too quickly, lost the emotion

SM's Yi JinWoo
She's always performed in plays and stuff, but never had any training or lessons. Her major is architecture, but she became very serious in her desire to make it through
BoA: Secret weapon!
JYP: We lost to SM. It's a lot easier to move someone with a sad song, but it's a lot harder to move someone with a happy song. I think I became your fan
YG: How genuine the singer feels is so important and JinWoo brought it
BoA: Thank you for overcoming the fashion terrorism with your singing

Results

1st: Yi JinWoo
JYP: Neither of you did as well as before, so what we look for is who we would look forward to next time. There was a very little difference but JiHoon won
2nd: Shin JiHoon
3rd: Kim TaeYeon

Next week:

Racoon Boys vs. Yoon JuSeok vs. Kim DongOk & YiJuYeon
and the battle of the 2nd placers to determine the rest of the Kpop Star Top 10.

KPOP STAR WATCH: Part 1 of the Battle Auditions!

PART ONE OF THE KPOP STAR BATTLE AUDITIONS IS HERE!
In this stage of the competition, the judges are to narrow the group from 18 acts to the Top 10 acts that will compete on the live stage. This is a crazy stressful round for everyone because the number of contestants is basically cut in half.

KPOP STAR WATCH: Last casting auditions Pt2

Allllrighty! last round of the last casting auditions! The contestants that made it through this round will move on to compete in the "Battle Auditions", where the 18 acts will fight for the spots in the Top 10. From there, the Top 10 perform every week LIVE. I'm super excited!!!

KPOP STAR WATCH: Last casting auditions Pt1

Casting auditions 2 (Part 1)

AAH LAST ROUND OF CASTING AUDITIONS! The judges each have 6 casting opportunities from their pick of the contestants. This means that only 18 acts will go through, eliminating almost half of the contestants left in the competition.

KPOP STAR WATCH: The results of the first round of casting auditions... Pt. 2

Here we are, second part to the first casting auditions!
Because BoA seemed very focused on creating a super girl group this season, this seems to have dictated a lot of her casting choices. This didn't apply for all of her choices, but that is something she seemed to be set on and it streamlined a lot of what she was doing.

KPOP STAR WATCH: Ha Minseong, Oh Dawon, Seong Sujin

My favourites from last week's episode, which was also the last first round auditions episode.

Ha Minseong (31)
Half Viet half Korean from Germany, many know him as urbangermany on YouTube. He's a professional songwriter and has already done a huge playlist of amazing song covers. Allkpop did a piece on him earlier this year which I totally recommend you to read, because he talks about affiliations with kpop artists in the past. Translating from the interview before his performance: The positive feedback of his Bad Boy (Big Bang) cover on YouTube made him realize that he too could become a singer. He noticed that the judges on Kpop Star unlike judges at other singing competition shows gave a lot of feedback to the contestants about things they actually need to develop as a singer, which led to him to want to audition for the show.
From the judges expressions during the performance you can probably guess that he made it through to the next round. Boa also clarified that when she said he liked guys who sang while playing the guitar last season, it wasn't all guys with guitars that she was talking about. She liked the guys like this guy.
And I like this guy :)

KPOP STAR WATCH: McKay Kim, 2 Thousand Won, Akdong Musicians

Favs so far (age in Korea are counted one more than in North America because at birth you are one years old...):

McKay Kim (20)

How adorable is he? and he composed that song himself. After his performance during the judges' commentary (which is not included in this clip) JYP asked McKay what that chord he looked impressed with was. He obviously passed.

2 Thousand Won (Kim Il-do & Kim Hyobin both 23)

In this clip they explained that they are called 2 Thousand Won because they performed on the street when they were in the 8th grade and all they could make was 2 thousand won (which is almost 2 USD). Kim Hyobin (the singer) was recognized by JYP because he actually sang back up for his concert tours. JYP thought Kim Hyobin performed with him for only 2 stops when he did for 9 stops and about 4 TV performances. They performed JYP's uber popular song "I Have a Girl But..." from 2001, with some new rap verses. They also passed with flying colours.... but we can only hope they'll be able to stick together throughout the competition.

Akdong Musicians (siblings Lee Chanhyuk 17 & Lee Soohyun 14)
This duo (from the first episode) live in Mongolia, where their parents work. They came to Korea for this competition but have already captured the attention of the nation with their original piece titled "Don't Cross Your Legs". They originally started off singing "Breathe" by Miss A (with Miss A in the audience!) but were stopped by JYP because after being impressed with their musical interpretation of the song he was too curious about their original piece. They were much loved by the judges and the general public because the lyrics are witty and fun (and kind of hard to translate with the same effect). It was revealed in the beginning of the second episode that their song was the top searched in many of the Korean search engines after the first episode had aired. The song was composed by Lee Chanhyuk (the brother) and essentially is about the static feeling in when you cross your legs for too long.

Survival KPOP Star Auditions is back!!

Survival KPOP Star Auditions is back!!

Just in case you missed or even avoided KPOP Star Auditions and its impact during the last year... you really should revisit it. It may have been 'just another audition/singing competition program', but it was really truly awesome with all of the young talent that turned up on the show. Kpop Star was really more of a mission to find young talent and exploit go on this journey with them of learning and training to become professional singers and performers. Korean vocal wonders like Lee Hi and Park Jimin debuted out of this show, and other artists like Su Pearls and Lee Seunghoon were brought to fame.

If you did watch KPOP Star and did not know they have a YouTube channel... you've also been missing out. They began to upload the performance clips aired on the show separately onto YouTube almost halfway through the first season, and they seem to be doing the same thing for the second season but right from the beginning. The noteworthy performances from last week are on their YouTube and should be checked out.

I'm going to end this post with a song by Jenny Suk, the first auditionee on the show. She's freaking awesome and I know people will take the judges' side because they are the industry professionals and blah blah blah... but people, KPOP Star is still a show and you have to take things into perspective. What would have happened if this girl went on in the competition? I really do think she's meant more for shows like The Voice or American Idol.

Jenny Suk - Parables

Golden Girl Lee Hi

If you hadn't watched Survival Kpop Star Audition that started late last year and wrapped up early this year then you have definitely missed out. If you have, OMG WASN'T IT SUCH A GOOD SEASON?! I can only hope that the second season - which is to premiere on November 18th - will be half as good as the first.

Second-place Lee Hi (actually pronounced [Yi Ha-yi] or [ee ha ee]) was signed on with YG Entertainment and has captured everyone's hearts with her feature in Epik High's 춥다 (It's Cold) and her official debut as a solo vocal wonder with her song 1, 2, 3, 4. In the music video, her acting and dancing is kind of awkward but that was made clear during the show so it was kind of expected. Her voice on the other hand is absolutely amazing and I think it's wonderful we get to hear that kind of voice from Korea, and from a girl so young. I do agree with the complaints that the makeup jobs in the video make her look way too old (she's only 16) but at the same she's so adorable with her shy smile and her being so petite :)

1.2.3.4


Here's her debut performance on SBS Inkigayo. She's definitely a lot less awkward and she totally upped the sexy on this one. And the super fast wardrobe change? Magic of video editing my friends :)

1.2.3.4 debut performance

The winner of the show, Park Jimin was signed on with JYP Entertainment and also her debut early October. She debuted as a duo called 15& with Baek Yerin. I think she received the short end of the stick despite her winning the show, but I also think it was appropriate considering the style of her voice compared to Lee Hi, as well as her age. I also think JYP took it as an opportunity to get Park Yerin off the trainees list - she seems quite shy and inexperienced as a singer/performer and it probably would have been difficult to find a  chance to debut her at such a young age.

I also find it amusing that Park Jimin is probably the only one that can pronounce 15& as "fifteen and", considering her perfect English pronunciation. Everyone else around them (except for JYP himself and the Wonder Girls) would probably be pronouncing it... pi puh teen an duh (basically just butcher everything up into consonant-vowel pairings and you'll get a Korean accent).