Boys Planet Recaps

Sassy but not mean

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Hi! This is my site to post recaps for Boys Planet and other large idol-trainee-survival type shows. I hope you find them interesting, helpful, thought provoking, and maybe possibly a tiny bit funny.

For my Boys Planet Recaps, click here.

For my Produce 48 recaps, click here

For my Build Up recaps, click here

All recaps are on hold until further notice.

Thanks for visiting! You're a peach.

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☆ 240329 ZEROBASEONE ELLE Japan Behind-The-Scenes Photos ☆ KIM TAERAE ☆

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Welp...

Hey all! So I was trying to figure out why I was feeling so awful and zapped and miserable and hey, whaddyaknow, turns out I was physically sick. Like really really sick. Emergency room sick. So now I'm recovering and following my treatment plan and already feeling better. And now that I'm feeling better, I remember that when I started this project, I did so with the expectation that I might have no readers at all, and that I'm actually really happy to even have the, IDK, maybe 10-15 readers I actually have. It's really cool to have you guys, even the lurkers. So, no promises on how long it'll take until I'm better enough to write a full recap, but I think I'll be back in a business sooner or later. See you all soon!

[boysplanetrecaps]

taking a break

hey all, I'm just kind of burned out on the blog for now. I may come back, I may not. Take care all and thanks for being along for the ride -- I appreciate you so much.

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 9 Recap Part 2: Flower and Guide for a Subtitle Lite Environment

Hey team! Thanks for coming back to my Build Up recap series. In the last one, I began recapping ep 9 but ran out of space for more photos. With the subtitles AWOL for this portion of the episode, I’ve been doing my best with google translate and my vague knowledge of Korean. I’ve been taking more screenshots than usual to help you connect what’s going on on-screen to the recap, so this will take up two posts (I’m only allowed to use 30 images per post). Anyway, enjoy!

I’m using this video link if you need one.

So, Jay’s team is still mid-preparation. 

Cut to -- it’s evening and the team has gone to a recording studio of the composer of their new song. 

Yes, hello, I am also Team Baekho. Thank you for asking.

The tattoo says “N’abandonnez pas” which is “Don’t give up” in French. So inspirational! I’m inspired. Are you?

Knock knock! The guys come in and say hello. This is composer Lee Beomhoon, also known as Prismfilter.

You guys, this isn’t a top tier producer. He has co-producer and arranger credits, mostly with Seventeen, but it’s not like he’s out there writing hit after hit after hit. Shinsadong Tiger or Dem Jointz he is not. They’re saying that he worked on a lot of famous songs, but it was as a producer or arranger, not as a composer, as far as I can tell. That doesn’t mean he can’t write a song, but just that he’s not as top tier as they’re making him out to be. If I’m wrong, let me know.

He asks them if they’ve listened to the song yet, they say yes, he asks what they thought of it. (Meanwhile, the crawl at the bottom of the screen is advertising a Build Up concert series in June.)  We see them hearing a clip of the song and loving the R&B style. 

Jay is happy that it’s sexy, because Jay knows how these shows works. Get those pants sparkling, lads! 

Prismfilter says the song is understated sexy, like a black rose, “rather than being too red and passionate and sexy.” A “dark sexy.” And they guys are like, ooh so cool. Bitsaeon says, “I was just talking about a black rose!” 

Bitsaeon interviews, “At that time, I was feeling euphoric. I think we can really sing this song well!” 

They’re recording with temporarily assigned parts (says the on screen caption). Bitsaeon sings a line, and Prismfilter says that’s a good part for him. Same for Seunghun. Then Prismfilter -- I’m going to call him PF -- asks Jay if he wants to adlib a bit. 

So he does, and PF says, “ah, perfect adlib.” 

Minseo is nervous because this is his first studio recording session. (I guess this team didn’t do a studio recording for the previous round…?) So how will the maknae do? 

He sings the line “It feels like I’m drunk,” and PF turns around to ask, “Have you ever really been drunk?” and Minseo says, “just once.”

PF tells him to remember the feeling, and Minseo tries again, but more “drunk” this time, then says, “it’s not working.” PF tells him to try sort of forcing the feeling -- I think, the translation is unclear -- and Minseo sort of stammers. Meanwhile, strategist Bitsaeon is lost in his thoughts. Suddenly Bit pipes up and suggests that Minseo could use a combination of “falsetto and sincerity” and PF likes that idea. 

All the hyungs have helpful ideas and Minseo seems thrilled to have such nice helpful hyungs.

Seunghun thinks it should sound kind of “loose” and recommends a review of the rap part to add dynamics to the song. 

Seunghun interviews, “In the last round, I hit rock-bottom. For this round, I’m going to write a rap for the first time to help us win.”  

He meets with a rapper called Xitsuh (서출구). Xitsuh says, “It doesn’t feel like this is your first time doing this.”

Seunghun is so proud of himself, it’s kind of adorable. Also, I love his pixelated dinosaur sweatshirt. He says that he worked on it for several days and he thinks it came out well.  

The guys meet in another unheated room to discuss. There are some mysterious pink boxes on the table. In the words of Han Solo, I have a bad feeling about this. 

Seunghun says, “This song is all ours. The sexiness that we talked about -- I think it has to look good on the outside as well.”

Jay says, “Visuals are also important for a sexy style song.”

Minseo is like, “What can we do to take care of visuals?”

Bitsaeon, Age 28, Manager Man

Bitsaeon says he has an idea -- are they curious to hear it? They’re like, just tell us, we want to know! Their acting is really over the top and I’m feeling suspicious. Bitsaeon gets out… a device. 

Oh no! It's product placement!!!!!

I’m not translating this part. They all try it and presumably talk about how great it is and how it’s making them even more handsome. 

Next meeting. Now they’re in a conference room. Seunghun is wearing his team jacket but he’s the only one. 

They’re gathered for practice when they’re suddenly given a mysterious card -- an evaluation. 

Apparently, six days before the actual performance, they gathered to record practice performances, and this is their evaluation from the other teams. 

“You can check the practice situation” “The teams conducted an interim evaluation”  

I don’t really know what the guys are saying in this part because the on-screen caption just says “Calmly evaluating the other teams’ strategies” and my Korean listening skills are waaaaaay too limited for the task. Sorry. But the gist seems to be that they have to choose high and low tiers again. 

So, what kind of evaluation did they receive? 

All three of the other teams gave them a low tier score. 

Haram says that Jay doesn’t mix with the others -- it’s like he’s just performing by himself. Suhwan agrees: “It feels like ‘Jay and the Boys’ all over again.”

Sunyoul says, “The problem is that only Jay is visible.”

Donghun says, “Bitsaeon is really good too, but he’s buried because of Jay.” 

Bitsaeon reads these comments out loud and Jay is flummoxed. He says, “Actually, we’re a team. So the feedback that people can only see me is not good.”

And that’s when the subtitles come back, mostly.   

Bitsaeon’s like, we got this. 

In the next segment, they’re meeting with a choreographer -- and it’s Monika. She’s on a dance troupe called Prowdmon with LipJ, who you might remember from Boys Planet. They’re super intimidated by her. She thinks that Flower needed choreography, and she imagines a “fatal man” who is putting on cologne and fixing his hair. 

“The sexy point is to be indifferent,” she advises.

They try dancing.

“Hawk-eyes initiated.” 

“You ruined it!” she yells. “Do it again!” 

They try again, but they’re not getting it. It’s really hard and they’re worried. So they decide to practice really, really hard. They’re pulling all nighters, which is so ill advised.

I wish people on shows like this would bear in mind that your body doesn’t work right if you don’t get enough sleep. You can’t learn if you don’t sleep. You study and study and it just falls right back out of your brain. It’s like pouring water into a sieve. Not to mention the fact that it plays hell with your mood and your physical condition, including, you know, your VOICE. If you’re in high school or college, please take care of yourself physically, ok? Plan ahead, study daily, don’t pull all nighters. <3 Thank you <3 

The judges are excited for the performance, in part because they liked the song itself. Well, yeah, being given a decent song sure helps. 

The performance begins.

Full version without reactions

My thoughts: 

You can just tell looking at a screenshot that this team is going to win. I mean, I don’t know for sure. I haven’t watched the rest of the episode and I haven’t been spoiled. But I still know. Maybe I’ll be writing a surprised reaction at the end, but I just don’t think so. This team is winning for sure. 

The song itself? I mean, it’s fine. It’s missing something, but it’s not bad or anything. IDK. It's better than the other songs, based on the snippets I heard on youtube, but it I can't get into it.

Ok, don’t get mad at me, but I didn’t love love love this. I liked it, I thought they basically did a good job, but I didn’t love it love it love it. So if you loved it and came here hoping to hear what was great about it, I’m sorry. You can skip all this.

I love how the petals never stop falling but also don't really build up on the floor. Interesting. And there are never any actually on them, like in their hair or stuck in the folds of their clothing...

A lot of the problem is the song itself, I’m sure. It’s like someone took a song like Guilty and made tea with it, and then tried to reuse the bag to make another song with it, and that song was this one.  

But the rest of the problem is that the dancing changed everything. This is supposed to be a vocal show, and full on choreo isn’t welcome here, in my opinion. 

Jay isn’t as good of a dancer as he is a singer, so his stage presence actually is diminished by the dancing. So now they solved the problem of Jay standing out too much by making him not stand out as much. But that’s not a good solution, because now you’ve kind of lost your star, and now you have four interchangeable members, instead of 1 star and 3 backups. His vocals were also slightly negatively affected, too. He did have a few really lovely ad libs toward the end, of course, but I couldn’t just relax and enjoy an amazing vocal performance like I’m used to doing whenever Jay sings. 

In fact, all four of them sounded slightly out of breath and the worst they’ve sounded the whole competition. I’m not saying they sounded bad -- just that every single one of them has sounded better in every other performance they’ve done. I come to these performances wanting awesome fucking vocals, and I just got really good vocals here. Seunghun sounded more nasal than he’s sounded in a while, and Bitsaeon sounded strained at points. 

I wish there had been more harmony. Also, I wish they’d given more lines to Minseo, too. 

And for what it’s worth, this didn’t make my pants sparkle. I guess I just can’t think of any of these guys as sexy, not even for the duration of the song. I think the concept they were trying to do -- “black rose sexy” -- was just too subtle and mature for them. I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of the kind of sexy I think they could do and basically I don’t think these guys should be doing outright mature sexy. I think they’d do best with emo concepts. Basically, think most songs by TXT and I think these guys could do that. 

But that’s just my take. If you loved it, cool! I’m glad you found something you loved and that made you happy. 

I knew the MNET edit would be absolutely slobbering and it was. I knew everyone would freak out about Seunghun touching Jay on the chin, and they did -- we had to have an instant replay. There are a few more instant replays, too.   

When they’re done, everyone goes nuts, of course.

The editors even put the rose petal filter over shots of the judges table.

The judges are judging based on how good the vocals are while they’re dancing, while I just want them to SING. 

What will their high score be? It’s a 99 from Jaehwan, who just goes ahead and does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. I think the judges were feeling bad after last week, maybe? They should -- they gave them criminally bad scores last week.

Backstage, the other guys just sort of freeze in silence. It’s going to be tough to win this week. 

All the fans cheer and scream, and -- aww, Bitseon is crying, I think. They must have been under so much stress. Poor guys. I like all these guys a lot and want them all to be successful!

Jaehwan says that he felt like he was watching an artist’s performance. That's sweet.

VCG says that Seunghun he knows how to move his body -- and he knows it, that’s why he wore that outfit. Fair! Seunghun definitely did the best with the choreo, from wha tI could see.

Baekho says that maybe it was a mistake putting them first.

And that’s about it for this performance and this segment! 

Thanks for going along with me on this ride, and again, sorry that I couldn't gush about this performance like maybe some of you were hoping I would. I still like the members of this team and hope they make it into the finals.

Ok, see you in the next one, when we see Partners be given a song that doesn't really suit them and also isn't good! whee?

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 9 Recap Part 1: Flower and Guide for a Subtitle Lite Environment

Hey team! Thanks for coming back to my Build Up recap series. In the last one, we finished Ep 8 and in this one we’ll be going on to Ep 9. 

So if you’ve been watching Build Up, you may have noticed that sometimes the subtitles punk out a bit here and there. But for Ep 9, the subtitles punk out a lot. I’m going to write a fairly detailed recap of the beginning of Ep 9 to help you understand what’s going on in the absence of subtitles. I’ll do my best with google translate and my vague knowledge of Korean. I’ll have to take more screenshots than usual to help you connect what’s going on on-screen to the recap, so this will take up two posts (I’m only allowed to use 30 images per post). Anyway, enjoy!

I’m using this video link if you need one.

It’s the morning of the performance, and fans -- nearly all women -- are lining up. 

Since I can read hangul, I’ll try to help you get a sense of what the signs say. Can’t promise to read every single one, but I’ll do a flyover. 

That one girl in the gray jacket and black pants is holding up a sign for Suhwan. 

There’s a man holding up a hand lettered sign for Wumuti in yellow letters, and his friend has a sign for Park Jeup in pink letters. 

Then two girls (both with coffees and great hair!) holding up signs for Park Jeup and Lee Donghun -- ah, best friends! A girl with a sign for Woong. A group of young women, many of whom don’t look Korean, holding up signs for Donghun. More signs for Jeup and Wumuti and Suhwan, and of course a sign for Jay. So many signs for Donghun! A group of fans of Waterfire -- one for Hayoon, one for Wumuti, one for Suhwan. Some Milky Up fans, holding up signs for Geonu and the team as a whole. 

Now the guys are arriving in black vans. They are excited for the show and want to win, of course.

I love them so much

They make their way to their green rooms. Jay’s team still has the one with the horrible yellow smudges all over the walls. 

What IS that? Ewww. 

Also, it doesn’t look like anyone gets to use the big nice room that DoReMiFa had last week. 

Anyway, the teams are all greeted with notes stuck to the mirror.

The note says, “The cue sheet for the semi-final contest was written by the fourth round 1st place team: Milky Up. The Team With No Name.”  

So, we flash back to The Team With No Name choosing the order. 

Geonu is in a s w e a t e r! Yes, Geonu, come back toward the cozy side! And Seohyung is wearing his American flag sweatshirt again. I like to see people wear the same clothing item more than once. It reminds me that they’re just people, you know?

They’re given a note and they pretend to be absolutely astounded by its contents. The show doesn’t translate the note, so….

Here’s how Google Translate translated the note. 

The guys discuss strategy and choose a running order -- they seem most worried about Jay’s team and Jeup’s team -- but we don’t get to hear their final order yet. 

Flash back to performance day. We pan over the audience and see signs that say “I love you Eunkwang!” and “I love you Kim Yong Sun” (Solar’s real name). 

Let’s check in with the judges. 

Baekho has decided to wear a big weird shirt that’s loose enough to fit his muscles in. Must be tough to shop when you are built like him! He and Jeup can go shopping together, after they work out together. 

I got some of these screenshots from later in the episode -- just some point when we could see them clearly. Here’s Solar. 

She’s staying with the denim pants as a top thing. This time, the pants’ waistband is around her neck and the zipper is along her collarbone. You’re the best, Solar. 

So, Wendy looks gorgeous as usual. But um, ok. So, I feel like every time I see Wendy on this show, I have to tell myself, “That’s Wendy from Red Velvet.” When I see Solar or Baekho or Vocal Coach Guy, I just recognize them. But with Wendy, I don’t. I don’t know what’s going on with her, but I can’t pretend I don’t notice it any more. I’m not saying she looks bad; she was pretty before and she’s pretty now. But she doesn’t look like herself. She looks like just any random woman signed to SM Entertainment. Sigh. 

But that said, she does look gorgeous. The dress is maybe not quite the right color on her…? But it’s a pretty color and the cut is flattering. I liked her tousled hair last week, but this smooth style goes better with the neckline of the dress. I’m always happy to see everyone styled correctly. But stylist unnie, please look into color theory. Wendy is a winter (in my opinion) and you’re dressing her in spring colors. 

And as usual, the men sort of rolled over and found a blazer on the floor and put it on with a shirt that didn’t seem too dirty and were like, great, I’m good. 

As for Dahee…

What a goddamned QUEEN. In the far shots we can see she’s wearing black semi-opaque textured stockings. I’m not sure yet if the combat boots have made a comeback, but I’m obsessed with these too-big-for-her gloves. I think she might have topped up her cheek fillers. It’s all good. Dahee, let’s go get froyo! Wear literally anything you want. 

Dahee welcomes everyone to the semi-final. Tonight, the four teams will be performing brand new songs written just for them, and assigned by MNET production monkeys who want to make me unhappy. I assume.

The four teams come out to say hi, each accompanied by their song from last week and wild applause and cheering.  The judges seem happy to see each one, and sort of dance to the music as it plays.

The Team With No Name

Left to right: Geonu, Haram, Seohyung, Soomin

Clothing courtesy of the Bedroom Chair line of fashion, whose motto is Non sordida est; Ego tantum semel utebatur.

Waterfire

Left to right: Hayoon, Sunyoul, Wumuti, Suhwan

Oh no! A terrible incident involving a time machine and a garment steamer took place and now Sunyoul looks like this! There’s nothing that can be done. You just have to wait it out when that happens. 

Partners

You’re going to have to make your peace with the bias that I have toward this team. 

Donghun has a glove on one hand! 

Left to right: Bain, Donghun, Jeup, Woong. (One second later, Donghun has no glove!)

Ooo-oooo-oooh, you got me I-N-T-O I-T. 

This is how I went them styled. This is the best Bain has looked -- the combination of the vest and rolled up sleeves give the impression of broader shoulders and a narrower waist. Woong’s silky suit emphasizes his feminine aspects, which are an asset on a team with masculine members. Instead of trying to outdo them on the masculine theme, he’s leaning into his softer appeal. I love it. And then you have Donghun and Jeup, both looking generally perfect. I feel like it is not impossible that Jeup’s blazer will come off. A girl can hope. A girl named me. Me. I hope that. 

Donghun has really grown on me. Look how cute he is! But stylist unnie, that pearl necklace has really gotta go. 

Jaehwan says to Irene Wendy, “They all look like actors!” Wendy agrees they look great together. Yes, and they sound even better. 

Hunmunjaybit

Left to right: Minseo, Bitsaeon, Jay, Sunghun

I assume the all-white outfits and weird strings hanging from their sleeves will look good when they’re dancing. It takes a good looking guy to pull off all-white, and these are good looking guys and they definitely pull it off. 

Ok, here’s about where the subtitles cut out, so I’ll do my best here. 

Jaehwan says to Taeyeon Wendy, “This gives me goosebumps.” Imagine if you had a BMI of 15 and had bare shoulders, Jaehwan! Imagine the goosebumps you’d feel then!

Dahee says it’s the semi-final and explains that the method of evaluation is:

Judge points - 600

On site evaluation - 300

Online voting - 100 (and additional benefits)

“The online voting scores held from March 9th to March 11th will be awarded to each team as a bonus benefit by converting the number of team votes into a percentage.”

The on-site evaluators can only vote for one team, which means that they’ll vote for their pre-established bias and it’s already a done deal which team will win. Great plan! Grr. I don’t know why I’m surprised. MNET shows are just like this. Deep breaths. 

Dahee asks the first team to come up to the stage

Backstage, Wumuti says, “What will be, will be.” 

Backstage, Woong says, “Wow, I’m nervous already.” 

Up first is Jay’s team -- Hunminjaybit. 

Baekho says, “Oh, they’re going first again, just like last time.”

Eunkwang says it must be because this team makes everyone nervous. 

Karina Wendy voice-overs, “They’ll do well. Every one of them does well, no exception.”

The team comes out and of course everyone goes nuts. 

Backstage with the Team With No Name, Seohyung is like “I wonder why that team is up first!” And Haram is like, ah, we did that! 

Wendy sympathizes with the guys for having to go twice, two rounds in a row. It’s not fair!

The guys introduce themselves, but there’s not really any theme to it. The best part is when Jay pretends not to remember his name and the audience shouts it out for him. 

“Yeah that’s right, baby, I am Jay. That’s me. Jay. You know my name and you know my game. I’m here to win, no time for gin. I’m here to slay, get out my way. I’m Jay I’m Jay I’m Jay I’m Jay.” -- Jay, probably. 

His hair is actually black now, which might be his natural shade for all I know, but I’ve never seen him with it. It makes his Filipino side come out, to me. 

The crowd cheers, they’re handsome, it’s fine. 

s w e a t e r

Suhwan notices that they’re all dressed in white, and Woong, whose team is dressed in black, is like, “oh, we’re opposites.” 

Solar notices that Jay dyed his hair, and we get a before and after. 

I think this is the first time on the show that they’ve remarked on a hair color change. Seunhwan went blonde, and a bunch others changed color a lot -- Wumuti, Yeo One, and Geonu spring to mind. But no one commented on any of those changes. 

Anyway, Jay asks Solar how it looks, and she stutters that it looks good. 

Everyone laughs, but I don’t totally know why. I have a few theories, but the captions just say “Sea of laughter” and “So funny” and stuff, so, I’ll let you decide for yourself. Solar gives him the thumbs up, and he seems genuinely happy to be praised. (That’s what the Korean captions say, too.)

The subtitles tease us that they’re coming back, but they’re not, so we continue. 

VCG asks them how they feel about going first again,and Jay says, in what I think is carefully rehearsed Korean, that he’s going to make Milky Up regret it for putting them first. (Backstage, Haram is like “It’s ok!”) The captions say the judges’ anticipation for the battle is rising.

Dahee asks Minseo to introduce the new song. He says, “Our new song is called Flower, and to sum it up, it’s ‘fatally sexy.’” Oh, so it’s going to win. That’s how these things work.

Backstage, Bain is like, “oh, so they were inspired by watching our performance of Guilty?” Not really. They were gifted this song by a production team who must want them to win. I’m not opposed to Jay’s team winning exactly. It’s just that I want Jeup’s team to keep singing together forever and ever. I already know, without having seen any performances from this round, that I want Partners to do a cover performance of Flower. 

Jaehwan asks if there’s a special highlight of the song, and Seunghun says the vocals are the key point. The audience will enjoy the flavor of both the sounds and the sights. He says originally the song was just filled with vocals, but for the first time in his life, to add dynamics, they had a rap-making challenge. (IDK, guys, just doing my best with these captions.) 

Backstage, Wumuti and Sunyoul are like, what, is Seunghun here to “build up” as a rapper? Suhwan is like, “I guess rapping is in his blood now.” 

VCG says that he’ll be checking on how focused Seunghun is with the rapmaking. Something like that. Seunghun is like I’m going to do my best!

“I will bboom bboom!” - literally what the captions say, IDK

The on-screen caption asks, “What will Hunminjaybit’s stage be like?”We cut back to a few minutes after the results were announced at the end of episode 8, right when this team found out they survived due to the audience vote.

The paint behind him is peeling? MNET, you can’t even afford to repaint these rooms? What is happening? 

Jay is like, “We only survived because we’re popular.” Well, yes, but you’re popular because you’re very, very good. So there’s that. 

Bitsaeon says something that google translates as, “This is the first time I have seen such an unglorious result.” (“Unglorious Result” is the name I’m going to give my next cat.) 

We’re reminded that they came in last in judges’ scores, third in on-site audience vote, and first in online voting. (The only voting did almost nothing -- what saved them was the audience vote.)

Bitsaeon says he’s ashamed that the judges ranked them last, and feels bad that they survived when maybe they didn’t deserve to. Not true, my friend. You guys sang really well and that’s why the audience voted for you. The judges were straight up wrong. 

He says he was embarrassed to come in third.  “The next round will have to be do-or-die.”

Ok, I’m out of room for more pictures so I’ll cut off the post here. But you can go right on to the next one! See you soon!

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 8 Recap: Episode 8 conclusion

Hello! It’s time for to finish recapping MNET’s Build Up, episode 8! In the previous one, we saw a team of balladeers sing a pleasant ballad. Now it’s time to find out who won the night, and who will have to pack their knives and go. Let’s do it! 

So, we learn that the ultimate ranking for the night will be determined by the judges, the onsite, and the internet based views. Dahee announces that it’s time for the audience to vote. 

The guys are nervous while the audience votes. The judges wonder what the audience voted.

Now time has passed and the audience seems to have left. Dahee announces the top 2 teams -- it’s DongupJarur / Partners....

and Milky Up

Backstage, the members of Waterfire just sit in silence

while the sounds of their neighbors in other Small Rooms are going nuts celebrating. 

Bitsaeon feels defeated and Minseo is deeply anxious, but Jay is cool as a cucumber. 

Hey, stick with me, kid. Ride the Jay-coaster and we'll ride back up to safety. It's going to be ok. I'm Jay, if you didn't notice. -- Jay, probably

He knows how audience votes work. 

And then, AND THEN, AND FUCKING THEN, THE FUCKING JUDGES SAY 

…that the battle between Milky Up and Partners is “atmosphere versus skill.” They’re openly admitting that Partners is skilled while all Milky Up had is atmosphere. I can’t. I can’t. 

The scores are revealed.

Milky Up has taken first place, despite being voted Low Tier at the midterms!

Haram falls to his knees. His legs just give out from under him.

Jeup, who is classy as well as a genius, smiles genuinely and applauds.

He also pats his teammates on the back and says “good job, good job.” 

We find out that Milky Up ranked first in both the judges’ and the on-site evaluators scores, and Partners came in second in both as well.

Seohyung thanks his team, and Donghun says they finished the performance without any regrets. 

Then something awful happens and Baekho is like “I have something to say” and he calls Bain out for not having abs. 

Ugh. I know in Korean culture this kind of thing is allowed but also Korea has the highest su!cide rate in the developed world so…. IDK, maybe rethink it? A little? 

The judges basically imply that maybe if Bain had also had abs the team would have won and I hate it, I hate it so much, I hate it so so so much.

On a brighter note, team Uptown Funk is super happy and it’s cute.

The guys in Partners are like, “aww, let the babies enjoy the moment.” Not in a mean way, though.

The other three teams come up on stage to find out who is going to be eliminated.

Judge Wendy voice overs: “I don’t feel well.”

Who will come in third? After a lot of wasting time and speculating, we find out that it’s Hunminjaybit, Jay’s team! 

The judges are shooketh. 

Solar is all, “jinjja?” Yeah, really, Solar, really. The audience saw the performance and liked it because it was good. You guys were, I don’t know, waiting for the second coming of Jesus or something. I don’t know what happened there. 

Jay is doing a little act of being astonished by the score. You knew the fans were going to come through for you, you goober. 

Either that or he really needs glasses. 

Jay’s team scored last in the judges ranking, but third in the evaluator’s score. (We are told the various points from various sources -- I’ll go through that at the end, never fear.) 

The fourth placed team is finally announced after lots of Vivaldi and speculation (and a commercial): It’s Waterfire who has survived, while Doremifa has been eliminated. 

Doremifa is like, welp. What’cha’gon’do.

Everyone else is sad. There are some talented singers in this group.

Junhyeok takes the mic and thanks everyone in general. He says he only regrets that this team could only perform together once. 

Yeo One seems cool with it. He is ready to go back to his solo career. 

We don’t get to hear from Waterfire at all and find out how they feel about surviving. Thanks, MNET! Themnet. 

We see a brief preview of next week’s episode and I’m already annoyed so that’s great. 

Ok, so let’s talk NUMBERS.

Here are all the points from this round. I got this from reddit and now I can’t find the post, so I apologize to the awesome Redditor I stole this from. Hopefully she’ll reply to the comment I left on her post so I can find it again! 

As you can see, the online voting score counted almost not at all. It was really just the one-site evaluation that really ended up mattering, since the difference between the highest and lowest judging score was only 30 points and the difference between the highest and second highest audience vote was more than twice that. But I do think it’s interesting that the online voting ranked Drowning so high. I wonder if it was actually kind of bad in person somehow? Like if they messed up in some way? Seunghun interviewed that the performance was “regrettable” in someway, so I do wonder about that. I didn’t notice any specific problems but maybe they’ve done better in rehearsal.

I was also curious about Youtube views. So, I checked the views on all three versions of all five performances, and then I did a bit of math. Well, my spreadsheet did a lot of the math for me. Check it out. 

The percents column is the percent of all views on all fifteen videos. Clearly, Drowning is way in the lead in terms of views, though it does trail slightly behind Guilty in the “full cam” version. As of now, March 23, Drowning’s three videos account for 36.18% of all the views of all fifteen videos. That’s more than a third. Guilty is solidly in second place, 27.71% of the views. The other three together have 36.10% of the views -- less than Drowning has all by itself. 

As for me, my ranking of the performances is:

Guilty

Guilty

Drowning

Uptown Funk

Drama

Gift

Is it weird that Gift came in sixth place when there were only five performances? Nope. 

Well, I may or may not write a rant about how much I love Guilty at some point, but the storm stopped and My Fella wants to watch X-Men ‘97 and eat popcorn, so I’ll see you in the next one! 

[boysplanetrecaps]

Jay can't believe the score

I made another gif

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 8 Recap: Do Re Mi Fa, Gift

Hello! It’s time for me, BPR Unnie, to continue recapping MNET’s Build Up, episode 8! In the previous one, we saw a team with no name cover Uptown Funk and make everyone dance. In this one, we’ll see a team of balladeers sing a ballad. Will that win the night? We’ll find out! Let’s go!

Hey look!

It’s Glasses Baekho™!  He just looked so cute I had to take a screen shot. This show is so great. Isn’t this show great? 

Dahee calls the team up on stage.

They introduce themselves by singing “do-re-mi-fa,” and in a moment of brilliance, Dahee says, “And you have Do-re-mi-fa-SOLAR over there!” (Get it? Do-re-me-fa-so-la.)

Look how proud Dahee is. Hey Dahee, join my improv team! 

Solar jokes back and everyone is having a great time and I wish I were fluent in Korean! I learn two or three words a month so I’ll be fluent in a thousand years, so look forward to that! 

Glasses Baekho™ says this team is the only ballad team, and that they ranked first in the interim check. Ah, so that’s how they earned the right to choose the running order.

Junhyeok has put on a fair bit of concealer and blush, I think. But it looks good. 

We cut back to the interim check. 

OMG, new and different Glasses Baekho™? I want to collect them all! 

Baekho announces that Gwangseok’s team has ranked first place, but the team doesn’t look pleased at the news.

Junhyeok says he’s “more startled than happy” because “they don’t think we’re their competition.” The team thinks that the other guys chose them as the top tier precisely because they are NOT top tier. And… they’re right. 

Hey look, it’s Jeup and Donghun. Imagine seeing them? On this show? There they are! Hi! 

Bitsaeon explains, “Although they said to pick the top tier based on the performance, I think all teams were thinking quite strategically.” 

We see that Bitsaeon’s team was tempted to pick Jeup’s team as the best, but decided not to give them that boost. Soomin’s team would have picked Jay’s team as the best, but again, didn’t, and Sunyoul’s team thinks along the same lines.

The song they’re doing is Gift by Park Hyo Shin, a song released in 2009 that “conveys the singer’s pain and hopes”. 

Sample lyrics:

Whatever others said, I told them I’m not weak, and tolerated such days with tears They didn’t know me, and didn’t even want to listen to what I had to say Left alone in the darkness of the night, one, two, three, I count the stars and in the moment that the morning sky appears… Today, the sky seems like a gift someone left behind for me Under its warmth, stronger than yesterday’s, if you are like me, Listen to this song now, close your eyes, and when you open them once more, It’s going to be alright!!

Ah, if only they had talked to me. I could have told them that songs with a “it’s going to be alright!” messages always (1) get the audience clapping and singing and long and (2) lose. Always. Find me a time that a “it’s going to be alright” song on any Produce/Planet type show has ever, ever won. They often come in last place! I don’t know why. Everyone enjoys them, and no one votes for them. 

Bitsaeon, Donghun, and Soomin voice over things like, “It was a predictable song” and “They did what they’re used to doing” and “It’s the same every round.” 

Donghun’s team must not have picked Yeo One’s team as the top tier, because on the mic, he says “I think we can easily beat you this time.” 

Yeo One has a sassy comeback, but… it doesn’t quite land. 

Junhyeok interviews, “I think we made a bad choice.”

They decide to have an emergency meeting at a… convenience store by the docks, I guess?

I mean, they might as well meet outside since apparently buildings aren’t heated in Korea.

Junhyeok says: “Since we established vocalist image that only does ballad….” And Yeo One chimes in: The performances we've shown could have been quite limited.” They’ve done a lot of emotional songs -- maybe it’s time to freshen things up.

They want to show a bright and fun side and decide to add a bit of movement. 

Yeo One is their performance expert, and he comes up with some basic semi-choreo for them to do. 

They have fun preparing. 

And then… it’s time to perform!

Full version without reactions 

My thoughts: 

Pleasant. 

I don’t know what else to say about it. Everyone did fine -- well, Junhyeok was pitchy on that first big high note -- but it’s like I was forgetting about the performance even while I was watching it. There are a lot of distinctive voices here, but this was just so… aggressively pleasant. 

I think this would have been a great song for a group to perform at the end of a long concert. You know, when they’ve built up a lot of good will throughout the night and everyone’s kind of emotionally spent and wants to have a sort of “credits role” moment as the encore. The group comes out wearing their tour-merch t-shirts and everyone sways. Great. I’m on board. But it’s just the wrong choice for the only song that you can sing. 

It’s weird because Junhyeok said he knew they’d made a bad choice, and they thought they could dress it up with a little bit of extremely lite choreo? I don’t get it. I think they didn’t understand the assignment the way that Jeup did. 

In the MNET edit, everyone likes the performance. 

Wendy does her best to smile with her new lips. 

The judges comment on how nice Yeo One sounds, and what a great voice Gwangseok has. 

Eunkwang has to exchange looks with Wendy and Jaehwan over Junhyeok’s sweet tone.

Everyone is a little surprised and pleased when things brighten up and they do that tiny bit of choreo (lining up and stepping away one at a time). Yeo One gets the audience to wave their arms in unison. 

We see Wendy a lot. She seems to be really enjoying it. 

When one of them say “BASU!” (clap), the audience does clap, but they can’t find the beat, and neither can the judges. Looks like many of the judges have their in-ear monitors out. 

When they’re done, the judges applaud, but Solar looks like she wants to wish herself into space.

Seohyung backstage says, “They tried to give the finale feel, like an encore,” and that’s true, they did, but it just sort of makes you nostalgic for the other performances from the night. 

Donghun, who had his filter shot off in the war, says, “They’re desperate. They’re all on the edge.”

The judges are voting…

… and they don’t look thrilled. 

The high score comes in, and it’s a 94. 

What in the fuckity fuck fuck.

Meanwhile, Jay’s team is just like…. 

I wish the judges could go back and just admit they were wrong about Jay’s team. Don’t any of them even take a moment to think, “Hey, I gave Drowning a 90 or less, do I really want to give this team a fucking 94?” But someone gave a fucking 94. Whatever.

Solar, on the other hand, isn’t super complimentary. She says: “The song itself was well suited for the finale. It’s a hopeful song, and you sang it very hopefully, but there was no narrative to the performance, so the hopeful message wasn’t really conveyed.” 

VCG says: “In terms of performances, some share the hope with the audience, while other asks them to witness the singers’ happiness. Your performance was the latter.” The on-screen caption says “It seemed like a performance for the four members, not for the audience to empathize.”  He isn’t thrilled with how they used Gwangseok (I think he thinks there wasn’t enough Gwangseok? There didn’t seem to be enough of anything or anyone!) and says “If you get another chance, show me something deep.”

Eunkwang, who gave the 94 -- and who I think might have been the only one who really liked the performance-- says, “I actually felt differently. That’s how diverse the audience’s ears are. During the entire performance, I felt cozy and overwhelmed. Like I was in the clouds.” He praises Gwangseok and the team as a whole. 

Well, that’s nice that they got some good feedback. I find Junhyeok a sort of touching figure somehow and wouldn’t want him to be completely bulldozed in this round. Life has bulldozed him enough! 

And that’s about it for this post. In the last one, I’ll cover the last 15 minutes of this episode, and do a general wrap up of this round of competition. 

It’s a gross stormy day where I live and I have a sad tummy, so what else am I going to do but surround myself with squishmallows and watch Korean tv shows? My Fella just made another pot of coffee for us, my afternoon appointments all canceled due to the storm, I’ve got my microwavable slippers on, so let’s do this. 

See you in the next one! And have a very Jeup day until then!

[imfactsjeup]

200423 | M Countdown | LIE

[boysplanetrecaps]

he looks good as an ash blonde too, like is there anything this man can't do

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 8 Recap Part 4: Uptown Funk

Hello! You know the drill -- this is my recap series for MNET’s Build Up. In the last one, I covered Waterfire’s cover of Drama by Aespa. In this one, I’ll cover Milky Up’s cover of Uptown Funk. Let’s do it!

It’s Milky Up’s turn on stage now. We see them backstage, doing their little cheer, in English: “Nobody ever believed in us. Show and Prove!” 

They come out and introduce themselves as different flavors of milk.

LTR: Geonu, Haram, Seohyung, and Soomin

Wow, look how funky Haram is! Normally, when people wear a baseball hat, they put the visor in the front, but he’s put it in the BACK! He is breaking loose! He’s going wild!!!!!!

Something awful happens and Geonu introduces himself as banana mlk and asks everyone “If you drink banana milk, will you fall for me?” And  like, everyone is over it, even Just B teammate Bain (“What’s he trying to do?”) and judge Jaehwan (“There he goes again…”) and me, BPR Noona (“Geonu, will you please stop???”). 

But I really love the haircut. 

Dahee comments that Soomin doesn’t look sleepy today the way he has other days, and Jaehwan asks what caused his change of heart. 

Soomin replies that he doesn’t know what the Korean term “change of heart” means -- it must be a “vocabulary” word in Korean, the kind you learn at school, and Soomin probably learned Korean at home from his family. Seohyung leans over and explains, in excellent English, what it means (“a change or a difference in your mind.” 

Once Soomin understands the question, he says something really interesting: “I don’t want to go home anymore.” 

This provides some serious context! Did Soomin want to go home the whole time? Was he unhappy and homesick? Aww, poor kid. He’s so calm and mature seeming that in some ways it’s easy to forget that he’s barely out of high school. It’s hard to be in a foreign country no matter how old you are. He doesn’t 100% speak the language, he’s not used to the culture, he probably doesn’t feel confident about little things like, how do you order at particular restauraunts, or how do you use the subway, that kind of thing. But then on top of it, to be really young and maybe away from your family for the first time, while also being in the high stakes environment of the show -- maybe he was really, really unhappy.  

They say he looked sleepy before, but looking at the pictures now, he looks sad.

It might explain why he came across as kind of obnoxious in some of the earlier episodes. I think we’ve all been there, right? We’re nervous, so we try too hard to act confident and it just comes across weird. 

In any case, the way he says it, it seems like maybe he’s been pretty open at times about wanting to go home…? Because no one is like, “wait, you’ve been wanting to go home?!?” They’re just glad that he doesn’t any more. 

The team promises to put on a good show, and we head into the flashback. This is actually a pretty cute little segment. It’s like an incredibly wholesome teen movie in miniature. So if you’re not in the habit of watching these clips, this is a good one to seek out.

Soomin looks really sad here, too.

Haram, the home-school kid, is going to hang out with the rest of the team for the first time. They want to teach him how to have fun.

Oh no! The terrifying blur is back! This time, it’s eating this poor stuffed animal’s face!! 

They surprise him with a little song  -- “We really wanted to see you! We really wanted to see you!” --and he’s totally overwhelmed. He doesn’t know what to do, so he SHAKES THE HANDS OF THE STUFFED ANIMAL.

Oh god, if this is really Haram’s personality, he’s basically the most precious cinnamon bun of them all. 

He interviews, “I’m an introvert. Honestly, it wasn’t easy at first.”

We find out that he specifically wore his sweater vest because he thought it would make him look cooler for his new friends. “Look how wide my pants are!” he says. “You look good,” Soomin says, kindly, then makes him super uncomfortable by unbuttoning the top button of his shirt for him. 

Haram interviews, “I thought I was on a hidden camera show.” 

Geonu says that when they picked him, they saw the “Young, wild and free nature” hidden inside him. Questionable, but sure!

Then they do a little skit where they pretend that they are just now thinking of doing Uptown Funk for their performance. Geonu asks Seohyung if he can do the deep tone right at the beginning. He says he can. But… can he? 

Haram actually really loves the song, and though at first he’s a bit reluctant, he gives in. He thought he was only suitable for sad and emotional songs, he says, but feels fearless when he's with this team. The other guys put him in some “cool clothes” -- a Metallica t-shirt and jeans. 

Then they have a cool kid disco rave in the living room. Oh, bless all their hearts. 

We cut ahead in time to their midterm evaluations at those round folding table in that high school gym. It hasn’t gone well -- most of the other teams have chosen them as the Low Tier team.

S w e a t e r and sadness

They decide they have to do something about it. They watch a video recording of their performance and Geonu says, “We look like we were forced to do it.” Haram agrees, and so do the others. Geonu encourages everyone to focus on looking happy, whether they look happy or not. So they decide to have a lot more fun. 

Then we get a montage of them having fun. They play games. They hang out at someone’s apartment and have dance-slumber parties. 

They eat tacos and just generally try to have fun. They want to have the best chemistry. 

Now it’s performance night! Backstage, the guys on the other teams aren’t sure what to expect. Sunyoul says that he’s worried about them -- it’ll either go great or terrible. Inhyuk says, not unkindly, “Honestly, this isn’t what Haram is good at.” Oof. 

The performance begins.

Full version without reactions.

My thoughts:

I have really mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, this was super fun and sweet to watch. On the other hand, it wasn’t really a vocal powerhouse performance, and in many ways it left something to be desired. 

I was ready to not like this performance much. Sure, I love Soomin’s vocals and I find both Haram and Seohyung personally quite endearing, but the whole “cool kid” vibe of the team was a bit off-putting. Also, Uptown Funk? What? It’s almost ten years old at this point -- Soomin would have been in elementary school when it came out. Hasn’t it been done to death? 

Counteroffer: I think they could have done a good job with Adore U by Seventeen. I mean, obviously the song they did worked out fine for them and all that, but I think Adore U would have been great for them and fit their vibe. I also really would want them to do Ugly Dance by ONF, even though it's obviously a bad idea. ONF even has a deep voice guy (Wyatt), so there’d be a part for Seohyung to do. I think it would be kind of perfect for their vibe -- a song about just letting go and having fun and not worrying about what you look like. But (a) it’s a song about dancing so they’d kind of have to dance and (b) it’s not a popular song so it wouldn’t be a smart choice to cover it. 

Anyway, we live in this world, and they did this song, and it came out really fun. All the stuff that the audience and judges enjoyed about it -- I enjoyed that too! Soomin’s vocal tone and big smile, Seohyung’s deep voiced sing-talking, Haram obviously having the time of his life, it all came together. Even Geonu’s dancing looked less cringey in this environment. They had the backup dancers and the enthusiasm and it was fun. 

But someone has to say this: vocally, there wasn't a lot here to really get excited about.

First off, Seohyung wasn’t hitting that deep note at the beginning. He was almost a semi-tone off a few times! He also doesn’t quite hit the higher notes in that “bass line” properly, either. He sings it slightly differently each time he runs through it. It’s not good. I feel like I’m in living in crazy land because no one is acknowledging this. He doesn’t really have control over those extremely low notes. 

Next, Geonu’s voice didn’t sound too great, honestly. I don’t want to go more into it because I talked a lot in these recaps about how weak I think Geonu’s voice is and I don’t want to keep dunking on the guy. 

Another problem is that there aren’t a lot of harmonies here. It’s not exactly vocally challenging most of the time. There are the high pitched "woo"s and that's about it.

Haram doesn’t get much of a chance to sing here, either, maybe because he had trouble learning the English lyrics or something. We hardly see him. What we hear of him sounds great -- he had that one big note -- but we don’t see much else. It was nice to see him doing something so different, though. Homeschool kid goes wild!

So, why did they win? I really think the audience just enjoyed getting up and dancing and having fun. This was probably a really long filming day and everyone was tired and stressed out and having a fun, familiar, exuberant, silly song with lots of backup dancers and confetti was just what they wanted. I think this succeeded because of three things: the song itself, Soomin, and Seohyung, in roughly that order.

Yes, I think the song was the main reason they won. I know that just a few paragraphs back I was saying they should have done other songs, and I still kind of think that. It's a paradox, right? I think they shouldn't have done this song even though it's this song that made them win--? But I don’t know if it’s right to win just because you pick a song that everyone likes to dance to, and then they dance to it. 

That said, I should add that when I first watched this, it was late at night and I was tired, and it made me happy to watch it and I watched it twice in a row. So there’s that.

I don’t know, gang. In the end this won, so I guess my mixed feelings about it don’t matter much. 

The MNET edit is absolutely adoring. Tons and tons of reactions and instant replays. We see that Dahee is having fun… 

And all the judges are dancing.

Everyone applauds and the guys are happy. Seohyung leans over to Soomin and says (in English), “We did our best, bro.” 

Dahee says, “I thought the original singer had come to Korea!” and everyone cheers. 

Jaehwan is still dancing, and I’d make a gif of it if it didn’t take me like 20 minutes to make a gif and I were feeling a bit better. I had some rough travel this week, my friends. Anyway. 

It’s time for the judges to actually vote, and the guys look nervous. 

Backstage, Park Jeup says…

“It’s round four. The judges shouldn’t get carried away…” 

I get the impression that at least some people feel the way I do -- that vocally, there wasn’t a ton to evaluate here, and that if we’re supposed to be making a vocal group, shouldn’t that be the point? I mean, think about the close harmonies in Drama, or the passionate vocals (and excellent harmonies) in Drowning and Guilty, and then compare that to this.

But the judges do in fact get carried away and they got a 96 -- from Vocal Coach Guy! Come on, Lee Seokhoon, I expect more from you!!! 

VCG says that their performance was completely unexpected and really good. He says that their live performance was better than the pre-recorded version.

Hey, VCG? Did you take a moment to compare the live vocals of Guilty to the studio version? Because I prefer the live vocals in that song, too. And that was a LOT more challenging of a song to sing. Their live vocals were insane. Just insane. Perfect. 

VCG goes on to confirm everything I’ve said, and I low key want to scream. “Your singing skills matter, of course,” he says, and then goes on to explain that they don’t because “despite the long hours of the shoot, you made everyone who’s tired excited.” THAT’S NOT THE SCORING RUBRIC, VCG.  Your name is VOCAL Coach Guy, not DANCE Coach guy. 

VCG also praises Seohyung’s low voice, which is fair. Aside from the stuff at the beginning that was off key, his low voice stuff was in fact a lot of fun.

Eunkwang compliments Geonu for not being cringey this time. It really feels like the judges are grading based on effort and improvement.

Backstage, Soomin and teammates congratulate teach other for their success.

And that’s basically it! 

I know that I've been a bit negative and cranky here so want to repeat that I really did enjoy Milky Up's performance. If this was Boys Planet I'd be delighted by this. Soomin has such a gorgeous voice and I want to keep hearing him sing, and I think Seohyung’s deep voice brings something really special to the team. The performance was super fun to watch and I’m not saying they should have gotten criticized. I just don’t think this team displayed their skills here very much and it’s criminal that they got such a high score. I’m pretty sure that if they had gone first, they would have gotten a much lower score. The judges were just tired and punchy. Sigh.

Thanks as always for reading my recaps. You’re the best! <3 

Take care and I’ll see you in the next one, when we cover team DoReMeFa! 

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Ep 8 Recap Part 3: Waterfire's Drama

Welcome back to my increasingly unhinged recaps of MNET’s Build Up! In the previous one, we all got pregnant, whether we have uteruses or not! In this one, our ears will be both blessed and challenged. Let’s talk about it! 

LTR: Hayoon, Sunyoul, Wumuti, and Suhwan

So, the team comes up on stage and Dahee asks leader Sunyoul about their name. Sunyoul explains that he and Hayoon are “like water” and Suhwan and Wumuti are “fiery” so their team tries anything, whether watery or fiery. 

Backstage, Woong points out what every person in the room is thinking: “When water and fire mix, the fire dies!” In my opinion, they should have called themselves Steam, since that’s what is created when water and fire mix, and steam is powerful. 

Wendy says she’s heard that the team had trouble choosing a song, and Suhwan says that since they were the leftovers they didn’t necessarily have a shared musical style. We’re reminded of how they were the ones left. Aww! It’s especially galling since they all have gotten great reviews and have won top tier and stuff like that. 

I mean, I think I know why Hayoon and Wumuti were left for last. It’s just that neither of them really meets the Korean standards of male beauty. I’m not calling them ugly, but Hayoon looks like a real Korean person, like someone you’d actually see on the street, which is not what K-idols look like. And Wumuti -- please forgive me for saying this, but Wumuti’s face is sort of unusual looking. I think he’s had a bunch of fillers put in there and it just looks a little odd sometimes. I love his personality so, so, so much and I think he has a lovely singing voice. But yeah. Neither of them would qualify as a "visual" in a kpop group, to the best of my understanding.

As for Suhwan, he easily might have been picked earlier if things had played out differently, but also, I think he kind of lacks sex appeal. Maybe if he got a different haircut it would help. 

But even though they were left for last, Wumuti’s optimism is unflagging. He’s like, great, they expect nothing from us -- but we’re going to do great anyway. That’s what I love about Wumuti! Remember back on Boys Planet when his whole team on Switch was pretty sure they’d get eliminated, but Wumuti kept working his hardest to get the performance ready? And then he cheered from the audience for the performance like he was their biggest fan? He’s such a sweetheart. 

Back in Sunyoul’s Small Room of Serious Decisions, he tells his team, “Since we were the last ones left, let’s be the last ones left on Build Up as well!” Heck yeah!

If you don’t love Sunyoul, you’re wrong. 

We skip ahead to something we haven’t seen thus far -- the round four interim inspection. 

I love how they put a bunch of round folding tables in a high school gymnasium and had Baekho and Eunkwang just sit awkwardly to one side. That's that MNET budget showing again.

Team Waterfire is nervous to perform at this evaluation. They had a lot of trouble choosing a song and eventually decided to sing Drama by Aespa just as a placeholder, I think. They should have asked me! I have an Exo song for all occasions! 

Ok, hear me out, hear me out:

I think they would have done great with Young by Baekhyun x Loco. Yes, it has a lot of rapping, but Hayoon is actually a fantastic rapper. And I can also imagine his vocal tone sounding really cool on the choruses. Plus, there’s also all those tight, crunchy harmonies on the bridge that would have made use of their skills. Not saying it would have won the night; just saying I would have enjoyed it a lot.

Alternatively, they could have done Blooming Day by EXO-CBX. All four of these guys are charming, and charm is what this song needs. They could have done the “can I be your boyfriend?” stuff with aplomb. They could worn jeans and soft looking t-shirts and looked like they smelled like clean laundry out of the drier. They could have offered Dahee flowers and pulled heart shaped confetti out of their pockets. They could have had some backup dancers, and done a little bit of choreo here and there. Tell me I’m wrong. 

Or, or, if they really really wanted to do a girl group song, why not Wow Thing? Bright, cheerful, flirty, perfect. Hayoon could do most of the Soyeon parts, Wumuti could be Seulgi, Sunyoul could be Sin B, and Suhwan could be Chungha, more or less.

Drama is such a weird choice. It’s one of those weird Aespa songs that isn’t so much a “song” as it a series of noises accompanied by choreo. I’m not saying I don’t like it. In fact, it is on my “angry kpop” playlist that I listen to whenever I’m mad. I love the “trauma, I break trauma” bit. I love the idea of just embracing drama. Too often, girls’ and women’s issues are dismissed as just drama. We’re told to hold back under threat of being labeled "dramatic," and it’s like, no, you WILL listen to my concerns because I am NOT scared of that label. 

But I might be putting more into the song than is really there. As it is, the lyrics barely make sense. There’s probably some Aespa/ Kwangya/ naevis lore that explains what the hell they’re talking about but I do not have the time to invest in that. Also, there isn’t really a tune? And it’s mostly rapped? And it keeps talking about "my girls in the back," which sounds weird when men say it...? I don’t know -- I could probably think of 50 other songs that would have been better than Drama. It feel like they wrote the names of 1000 kpop songs on pieces of paper and pulled one at random out of a hat.

Anyway, this is the world we live in -- the one where they’re singing Drama.

They sing for their fellow contestants at this midterm evaluation, and...

... Bain is all of us. 

The reviews are poor -- Yeo One is like, yeah, my team could easily beat this. So they decide to turn things upside down.

s w e a t e r

To symbolize their intentions, they go to an action school and, I don't know, jump on trampolines.

A true feat of strength and agility!

They learn a lot and um, they become better... performers? question mark?

And that brings us to performance night!

Full version without reactions

My take:

I really respect the hard work, skill, talent, and time that went into this. Every note that was sung was perfect in terms of pitch and rhythm. All four of them sounded great.

But I didn't like it very much.

Did you watch Road to Kingdom? Pentagon did a weird cover of Follow by Monsta X. Hui did the remix himself and it was very dramatic. It also wasn't fun to listen to. The charm of the original song, and the tune, was surgically removed. The soundscape they made was impressive but it actually kind of hurt my ears at points.

I don't know where kpop groups got the idea that wearing military inspired outfits and singing harsh, discordant songs would be charming. I know a lot of them do it, but I wonder if fans actually *like* it?

For me, the part at the beginning where Suhwan and Wumuti are sort of "talking" to each other was incredibly cringey. Like I had to turn it off and try watching it later.

In fact, in general, Wumuti's spoken word rap style makes me want to evaporate. Sorry, friends.

The weird discordant harmonies hurt my ears sometimes, too.

On the positive end, all the singing was technically very good. Suhwan in particular stood out for me as having a strong, confident voice. Sunyoul sounded sweet and light. Hayoon added a bit of spice at times, and also demonstrated that he can clean his vocal tone when he wants to, which is a valuable skill. And Wumuti held things down as the ideal lead vocal. Their harmonies were on point -- they hit these little bursts of crunchy 3- and 4-part harmony that were truly impressive.

But like, why? Why do this? Why sing this song, and why sing it this way? Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

I also have to comment on how awkard Suhwan is on stage. Even in the ending pose, when the other three look over their shoulders at the audience, Suhwan just sort of turns his head to the left and looks off into the distance.

I showed My Fella first the original version of the song and then this cover, and he said it was like a whole new song, and then added, kind of embarrassed, "But I mean, I didn't like it. I didn't like how it sounded. I felt like the original song had this "mean girls" energy to it, but this just sort of didn't make sense." He specifically picked out Suhwan and said, "This guy looked so awkward standing there, and then when he actually sang, I thought, oh, so that's why he's here." So some mixed feedback there. He and I don't always agree on stuff, but we sure as heck agreed here. (I don't tell him my opinion on stuff before I show it to him -- I like to hear what he thinks.)

For comparison's sake, here's Hayoon's ending pose:

It's actually really good. He manages to bring an almost sexy energy to it. Hayoon is an interesting guy -- the dichotomy between onstage and offstage Hayoon is so bizarre. But it's cool.

And Wumuti...

PLEASE STOP DOING WEIRD THINGS TO YOUR FACE LIKE PUTTING STICKERS ON YOUR NOSE and fillers in your cheeks and lips

The MNET edit emphasizes how amazed the judges are, and they have every right to be.

Eunkwang can't believe the harmonies.

We also see a lot of shots of the audience who look amazed. But like, are they amazed at how good it is, or are they amazed just at how different it is?

When the performance is over, the audience cheers loudly, the judges applaud (Jaehwan stands up) and the guys backstage say things like "This team did a good job" and "The vocal composition is well organized." But it's not like, "Wow, I loved that."

The judges vote, and we get the high score: a 95 from Jaehwan.

Honey-badger Jaehwan don't care.

Well, he's a judge. He gets to vote how he wants.

Dahee asks Jaehwan about his score, and he says that he thought it was pre-recorded vocals at first. That's fair -- their vocals were technically perfect. He also thinks they had good teamwork and harmony, which is also true. Unlike in Jay's team, where Jay stood out, there wasn't one person who stood out significantly more than the others. Jaehwan also compliments Suhwan's vocal fry, which makes everyone try their own.

There's also a lot of praise for Hayoon, who says "thank you." VCG repeats the way Hayoon says "thank you" in a high-pitched tone that verges on mocking, though I don't think that's how VCG meant it.

Ok, before I go on, I have to say that I'm absolutely bewildered at the judges' response to the performance, because I feel certain it can't be how most people honestly feel about listening to it. I have a theory, though, if you'll take a short walk with me.

I work as a tutor for people who have to take difficult tests. Something I've noticed is that certain types of high-scoring students sometimes talk themselves out of the right answer because it's "too obvious." The reason it seems obvious is that it's right and they're good at it, but the right answer is boring to them, and they can imagine a whole convoluted explanation for how the other answer would be right if you squint and look at it from across the street.

I kind of feel like that's what's happening to these judges. Their ears tell them "this is unpleasant to listen to" but their brain is bored by things that sound nice at this point, so they convince themselves that the obviously good performance is not as good, and that this highly technical display of vocal skill is preferable.

VCG says he gave them a high score because "I thought if you sang a ballad, you would kill it." See what I mean? He's grading not based on whether or not he actually enjoyed THIS performance that he just watched. He's grading based on some imaginary thing he's making up as he goes along.

I tell my students all the time: Just answer the question in front of you. I want to tell these judges: Just grade the performance you watched and listened to. Just that. Just. Do. That.

Anyway, that's about all we get for judges' feedback. No kind words for Sunyoul or Wumuti at all, which is a bummer.

So here's a nice picture of Sunyoul, whom I adore.

No mention of who specifically did the arrangement (I feel like it was Wumuti, don't you?). No comment on the song choice or the "girls in the back" or anything.

So, that brings us to the end of this recap! Sorry if this was your favorite performance of the night, but also, I'm glad that someone liked it, since I like these guys as humans and as performers and I know they must have worked so hard on it. I really wish I liked it.

I'll see you in the next one, when I cover Uptown Funk by a team with no name! Just no name at all.

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Ep 8, Part 2: 💖Guilty 💖

Hello and welcome to another Build Up recap in the series! In the previous one we saw a team rock out! In this one, we’ll see a team get sexxxy. I have a lot to say! Let’s do this! 

We start off with the team coming out on stage as usual and greeting everyone. They joke that Donghun and Jeup are the parents and that Woong and Bain are their sons #1 and #2. 

Left to right: Bain (Just B), Donghun (A.C.E.), Jeup (IMFACT), Woong (AB6IX)

Their name is transliterated Dongupjadur, I think? It’s written in a really stylized way and my hangul reading skills aren’t quite up to it. 

As they’re coming out, the other teams backstage wonder out loud if the guys will be showing their abs -- specifically, if Jeup will be showing his abs. When I was watching this episode for the first time, I didn’t know that Jeup showing his abs was that a thing that could happen. I was like… What? Jeup? Abs? Tell me more!  

Ohhh.

등 부시러 갑니다 = “I’m going to break my back.”

So you’re telling me that he just looked like that? Under his s w e a t e r s? THE WHOLE TIME?

Anyway, the team is going to… perform? A song? Something like that. What? Yeah, a song. This is a singing competition. I remember now. 

The judges say that the combination is unexpected, and yeah, it kind of is. They’re all good, but aside from Donghun and Jeup singing one song together, no one in this group has performed with anyone else from this group so far on this show. So… what is the unifying concept? Why did Jeup pick them? You guys. YOU GUYS. I have so much to say. More on this soon. 

We flash back to them meeting… on a… I don’t know, staircase. A big wide staircase. 

Just like, a good staircase to have a meeting on, you know? We’ve all had meetings on big indoor staircases, why am I even explaining this?

Woong asks Jeup why he chose Bain and himself. 

s w e a t e r

Jeup basically answers that Bain and Woong are good singers and he wanted to work with them and make a team that can do anything. Hmmm. 

On a first watch, I wondered if maybe the real reason was that he wanted a group full of debuted idols? Bain is from Just B, Woong is from AB6IX, Jeup is from IMFACT, and Donghun is from A.C.E. But that just doesn’t seem convincing, does it? Ok, like I said, more on this soon. 

The guys do a little skit where they pretend to be choosing a song together, but it seems obvious when you watch it that they already know what they’re doing, and what they’ll be doing is Guilty, the song by Taemin. That’s a ballsy choice! A choice full of balls! 

Ok, a little bit about Taemin, in case you don’t know him well. He’s a member of SHINee, the same group that was once home to Jonghyeon who we talked about a lot during the 2x2 round. Taemin was only 13 when he debuted, and at the time, he basically couldn’t sing. At all. Like, at all at all. He was there to dance -- and boy can this guy dance -- and to be a cute maknae.

Over the years, a combination of a lot of hard work and some really good vocal training has made him a quite good vocalist. He also absolutely, positively drips with charisma -- both as in the sense of “star quality” and in the sense of “sexiness”. If you have never listened to Move or Want, you’ve been missing out, so rectify that ASAP. 

Guilty came out in October of ‘23, shortly after Taemin came back from military service. He’s said in interviews that he drew inspiration for the album from a book called Erotisicm by a philsopher named George Bataille. A summary of the book: “Bataille challenges any single discourse on the erotic. … Investigating desire prior to and extending beyond the realm of sexuality, he argues that eroticism is ‘a psychological quest not alien to death.’” Well, ok then! So that’s the book that inspired him. What about the song itself? Well, the lyrics could be summarized: You know you want me, baby! 

In other words, my friends, the song is a fuck song. And boy, do fuck songs do well on shows like this. Consider Boys Planet, if you will. Songs like Love Killa were always going to beat songs like Home. Team Over Me was always going to place ahead of Switch. 

In addition to being a fuck song, Guilty is a good song, but I don’t know if it’s fucking good, if you feel me? Something about it -- I don’t know, I didn’t fall in love with it the way I did with Move and Want. In fact, the day I first watched the episode, I had actually skipped Guilty  when it came up in my shuffle. Twice. Don’t get mad at me sometimes I have to hear some EXO or I’ll die okay? 

Alright, back the episode. Where were we? Oh yeah, the guys were pretending that this was the moment that they chose the song. The show reminds us that Guilty, with its attention grabbing choreography, is a popular “challenge” right now, for idols and just anyone who thinks their belly is flat enough. (Hwang Soyeon, where are you?) 

Woong points out that they really have to do the up-the-shirt-neck-grab move -- and he’s right, I mean imagine doing Gashina and not doing the finger guns? Some choreography is so connected to the song that you can’t take it away without missing it a lot. They also know, though, that they have to prioritize good vocals. 

Next question -- should they all show their abs? The immediate answer is yes, but -- and this is really interesting to me -- Donghun gestures to his ab area and says “I’m going to wear Heattech in here.” I did some research and can’t find anything on singers traditionally keeping their abdomen warm in order to sing better, though it doesn’t seem completely crazy. I have a chronic illness (endometriosis) and I know that heat is really great therapy for a lot of things, but I just have never heard of singers doing this. 

Plus, go with me on this -- even though in their little skit Donghun is the one who appears to suggest Guilty as their song, he apparently hadn’t thought through the necessary ab exposure or he wouldn’t be bringing this up now as a possible issue. See what I mean about it just being a skit? I’m pretty sure that Jeup had already picked out the song when he put the group together and then for some reason had to make it look like someone else was suggesting it when they filmed this scene. 

And poor Bain is like, um, guys, I don’t *have* abs. Bain isn’t skin stretched over muscles like most kpop idols, it seems. That’s ok, Bain, I still love ya! I sure as hell don’t have visible abs. He says he thinks he needs to work out, as if it’s possible to go from not having abs to having abs in like, two weeks. Sorry, dude, that is not happening, or at least, not without doing something super dangerous for your health.  

Anyway, luckily for the team, they have a leader who can also lead them in personal training.

The show gives us some good shots of Jeup’s bod, and in the interest of thoroughly covering this topic, I’ll take a screen shot.

What can I say -- I’m a hard worker. (That’s what he said!)

Then the guys go work out with Jeup and he does fucking leglifts hanging from a bar the way you’d lift a single finger.

“It’s easy,” he says. “Just hang on. And just put your legs up.” Sure. Just do that. Just. Do. That.

They all take a turn doing this incredibly difficult advanced move. Woong asks Jeup to hold him up from behind and says “I feel like I’m going to die,” but he can do it. He has abs already, anyway.

Donghun also needs Jeup to hold him up, but he can also basically do the move. 

It turns out that Bain absolutely cannot do the move -- he can’t hang there and he can’t lift up his legs. So the whole team helps him.

I think it’s supposed to be funny? It’s a weird combination of horrible (because Bain is the butt of the joke) and oddly wholesome (because they’re all approaching it with kindness), but it’s also kind of wrong, because “abs start in the kitchen,” meaning, that it’s much more about whether you have abdominal fat than whether you have abdominal muscles. So all this work will not actually give him visible ads unless he, IDK, does this for two hours a day and also doesn’t eat, which is a bad thing to do. 

They also do some rehearsing at BR N  W MUSIC, whatever that might be! 

And that brings us to performance day! Right before they perform, Yeo One backstage says that Donghun drew his abs on with a marker. Hey, man, don’t blow up his spot like that. 

It’s time to perform, which means it’s also time for a commercial! 

Full version without reactions

Alright, I want to talk about the performance itself and believe me I will but first, get your tinfoil hat ready because I think I know why Jeup picked out this group. It became clear to me as I watched the performance and did some thinking.

It’s because

Jeup is very smart

Jeup knows what a mostly-female survival-show audience loves best is sparkles in their pants

Jeup selected the other three guys on the show that can pull off a sexy concept most easily. 

Look, I am not saying that I find any of these guys besides Jeup particularly sexy when they’re just goofing around. But they’re all sexy when they perform! Or rather, I should say, they create a sexy mood. Let me explain.

Have you ever listened to a sad song that makes you tear up a little, even though you’re not actually sad about anything in real life? Or maybe a song kind of makes you feel inspired and lifted up? Into the New World by SNSD does that for me. Or maybe a song makes you feel snarky and sarcastic, like Wife by G-Idle. It’s like that, but with sexiness. You get to live in a sexy world for a few minutes, without it being focused at anyone or anything in particular.  

To put it differently: it’s like they emit the smell of baking cookies, only instead of baking cookies, it’s sex. You breathe it in instead of actually… having it. 

Woong, Bain, and Donghun can all do the sexy concept. Not everyone can do sexy. In EXO, for example, I’d argue that Xiumin and D.O. struggle with sex appeal in performances, despite their beautiful faces; that’s part of why a comeback like Obsession was only possible when those two were away in the military. Suho can kind of do sexy on stage, but that’s helped by the fact that to me he seems the sexiest off stage. I don’t know, I guess it’s all subjective of course, but “doing sexy” is different from “being sexy” and both are different from actual sex.

So yeah, Bain can do sexy, abs or no abs. That’s why his whispering “like a river!” in River worked. 

Woong can do sexy, as you can tell if you watch AB6IX perform. 

And Donghun can do sexy, despite being kind of not sexy at all in real life. 

Jeup knows that he’s a Kai/Hyunjin/Kang Daniel/Baekho/Wyatt type, and he knows that he has to give the ladies sparkles in their pants. That’s why he had to ditch Suhwan, despite Suhwan’s strong vocals. He needed a group that could be his backup sexies as he hit us full bore with the force of his sexiness. 

And boy can this boy do sexy. I actually learned how to make gifs in order to make this one:

Just Park Jeup stroking his mic stand lightly all the way down, while Donghun hits a high note. Jeup is a fucking genius, and yes, I mean that. He knows exactly what he’s doing. It's funny because I later on noticed that all of them are doing the microphone stand stroke, but Jeup is the one who the editors decided to highlight, and I mean, come on. Yes. He does it best. 

The ab reveal was fine. I think Jeup is sexier just staring into the camera, but that’s just me. Here are some gifs to delight you:

Did Woong tear his shirt?

As to the song and the performance itself. 

I am now the world’s foremost expert on this song as I have listened to it approximately one million times in the past few days.  I listen to it the way I listen to an EXO song -- noticing each new voice (“ooh, that’s Jeup! Ooh that’s Bain!”) and enjoying it. 

And in my expert opinion, this was PERFECT -- the perfect choice of song, the perfect group, the perfect performance. There were high notes for Jeup to croon, whispered parts for Bain to whisper, emotional parts for Donghun to emote, and sassy parts for Woong to sass. And they all did their jobs. 

I almost don’t even want to analyze their various vocals because I just love this so much, but I also do want to because they were so good. First off, if you listen to the studio version that was released and compare it to the live version, the live version is actually better. Seriously. There isn’t a note out of place here. 

GOD but my Bain is SO GOOD. I am so proud of myself for picking him out at the start of the show as my main pick. He’s so good. His voice is just perfect. His adlib at 3:16 in to the Youtube version is so gorgeous. His technique is so clean, with no closed throat sounds or a feeling of being out of control of pitch or anything like that, ever. No nasality that I notice. Just the perfect amount of vibrato. It’s just perfect overall. His vocals are my favorite on this team. 

Woong’s vocals are obviously not powerful and perfect like the other three’s but he adds this sassy contrast to the others. I wouldn’t swap him out for anyone else. He slightly reminds me of Woongki from Boys Planet -- offstage, not sexy at all, in fact kind of feminine seeming. And then give him the right concept (Supercharger for Woongki) and you see what he’s capable of. 

Jeup is an absolutely top tier vocalist in addition to being a gorgeous man. I don’t know if I have anything more to say than that. It’s just like, yeah. Did you hear it? You heard it, right? I’m getting used to his vocal color and liking it more and more.

Donghun does a great job here too, obviously, especially in providing harmonies with the lightest touch imaginable. That’s a real talent. In fact, I think my favorite part is from :39 to :47, when Jeup and Donghun climb up that lazy scale together. It’s like a hand moving up your leg to your thigh. It’s really something. 

See, Jeup is a genius. Everyone else kind of leans forward, like Donghun on the left. But Jeup keep his head up and just looks to the side, while leaning back slightly and tilting his pelvis up. He GETS it. How can someone look as tasty as Kai while also singing as well as Chen and not like, be the most famous person in Korea? I don’t get it. 

I think I’m going to be cheering for Partners at this point. I just want this team to release a whole cover album with them singing like, IDK, Taemin’s entire catalog. I want this team to manifest. Just more singing like this. 

EDIT: I just showed this performance to My Fella and he said, "So that won, right? That had to win. That made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up." My Fella is the best, isn't he?

Counter offer: I don’t really have one. This was the right song. Hoo boy. But if they had to pick out a song for next week (and I don’t think they do, based on what I think its next), I’d recommend Touch by NCT. There are lots of kinds of sexy, and they’ve already done the vaguely menacing kind of overt sexy, so next is the “boyfriend in jeans” sexy level to conquer. Alternatively maybe they could do Playboy by EXO (another song written by Jonghyun). It’s overtly sexy but in a jazzy flirty way instead of in an aggressive dangerous way. 

Ok, so in the MNET edit the focus seems to be mostly on the shirt lift moment. There was a cute bit where Jeup the Genius gently strokes his collar bone area, as if to remind everyone of what’s under his shirt, and backstage, Wumuti is like, “hey! I was promised abs!!” 

Wendy is impressed with Bain’s vocals

Jaehwan needs an adult!

So when they’re done, of course the audience goes batshit while the judges applaud. Jaehwan stands up and Wendy gives a thumbs up. 

Backstage, the other guys have mixed reviews. They seem to think that this was pandering to the audience, but I think that’s unfair. I have been *listening* to this performance for days. Just on repeat while I’m on the plane or driving my stupid rental car around. If I could listen without watching or watch without listening, I’d much rather listen. I love this performance vocally, truly, I do. I respect the sexy cloud they generated, too. That’s not easy to do. 

VCG compliments Woong and he lets out the cutest, goofiest grin. 

The judges vote, and the highest score is revealed: It’s a 95 from VCG. 

Seems like they’re pretty surprised by that. 

Backstage, Haram says to his teammates that he’s not surprised by that high score. “You can’t ignore the sense of presence,” he explains. That’s the name of my next Jeup x reader fanfic -- “The Sense of Presence.” 

VCG explains his grade. “I felt that the skills of reading the song for singers who have been on stage was different.” He also says that Donghun really understands the stage and how to change up his voice based on the flow of the performance. 

Eunkwang says that the team had good teamwork -- that they divided the parts properly and worked well together. 

Solar praises Woong, and he grins again. 

Wendy asks about the killing part -- “Did you all work out together?” Ha ha! 

VCG asks how they feel the ab reveal went -- did they get the response they were hoping for? I mean, if they were hoping from high pitched squeals from all the women -- and most of the men -- in the audience, then yes. Hilariously, Jeup can’t help but be honest and say that they had difficulties with that in rehearsal because their abs weren’t being revealed properly. They had to really work at it. I find the idea of them conscientiously making sure that their abs showed when they lifted up their shirts to be so funny. It’s this sensual move, and here they are like, “Is my shirt lifting properly? Let me adjust the angle. Hmm, I might need a different shirt. I think cotton slides more easily than poly blends.”

Solar’s like “it showed really well, don’t worry.” I mean, we know she was looking.

”Hey Solar, I know you do a bit of pole dancing. I do that too, on the side. It’s great for the abs. Want to hang out and work on our abs together? I know a lot of cool moves that will improve your balance and control. And abs. We can do ab lifts and drink supplement smoothies and then take pictures of each other for Instagram.” -- Jeup, probably 

Backstage, Soomin wonders if his team should also show their abs, and Seohyung continues to be everyone’s favorite when he says:

“It’s kind of weird to reveal abs while saying MILKY UP.” 

Dude, it’s kind of weird to do anything while saying MILKY UP. In fact, it’s weird to just say MILKY UP. I hate it. 

And with that, we reach the end of this segment! We didn’t hear a single word of praise for Bain or Jeup’s vocals. Fuck that shit, man. 

In the next post, we’ll visit with Waterfire, Wumuti’s team, who are doing a cover of Aespa’s Drama. See you then! 

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Ep 8 Recap: Part 1, Drowning

Hey there, Builder-Uppers! Let’s recap some BUILD UP! Heck yeah! In the previous post we awarded some Brappies. Also, since the last recap, as you may have noticed, I’ve learned to make gifs!  I hope you’re extremely proud of me. Now let’s dive in to our next mission -- the One Team Mission!

We find out that Gwangseok’s team was allowed to pick the running order for some reason. I guess we’ll find out why toward the end of the show? First up to perform is …

Hunminjaybit, the team consisting of Bitsaeon, Minseo, Jay, and Seunghun. This is obviously a particularly strong team in a field of strong teams. The camera pans the audience and we see tons of girls holding up signs with Jay’s name, but there are also signs for Seunghun (and a bunch of other contestants).

What is Dahee wearing? 

Well, she’s wearing… this. 

It’s a pair of full-on combat boots with a sparkly mini skirt and cold shoulder crop top. Why NOT wear combat boots with a sequined mini skirt? Literally no reason not to. Fuck heels. They ruin your legs and hips. Keep being you, Dahee. We love you. 

Let’s check in with the judging panel, since I kind of skipped that part at the end of ep 7. (BTW, you might want to watch this cute video of a moment that didn’t make it to the final edit of the episode -- there aren’t proper English subtitles but basically Eunkwang flirts with the audience by doing a cat pose, then the audience makes everyone else also do a cat pose.) 

Wendy took her hair extensions out again and she looks like she is ready for her senior portrait, but like, in a gorgeous, high-end way.  

Solar is wearing a pair of khaki denim pants backwards but as a top. I mean, yes.

Jaehwan’s hair is much darker, and he’s wearing a sweater-ish cardigan. It doesn’t quite count as a s w e a t e r, but we appreciate the effort. Also, anything is better than the leather vest/bolo tie combo from last time.  

불끈 = hot  불 = fire and 끈 = string . I’ll let you decide what this is supposed to mean.  

Glasses Baekho™: +2 on the glasses, -2 on the weird leather jacket. We came here to see s w e a t e r s and failing that, s h o u l d e r s . Still love you tho. 

Anyway, back to our team! 

LTR: Minseo, Bitsaeon, Jay, Seunghun

The team introduces themselves and Seunghun gets the loudest cheers, but they all get cheers. Minseo is asked why he looks so happy…

…. which makes sense because he really does look very happy! 

He says he’d be so happy if he could debut with hyungs he likes. Aww! It must be pretty amazing to go from being a solo trainee -- not even signed to an agency -- to someone who is working with three debuted idols, one of whom consistently is voted in top place.  Whether this team wins or not, this will be a fun ride for him and be great exposure for the future, and no way Minseo doesn’t get signed when this is all over.

We jump back in time to… this.

They’re there waiting for the Easter Bunny, I guess? Minseo is shy, but Jay strikes up a conversation, and Minseo confesses that he’s a big fan of Jay’s and the others. He’s obviously super excited to be here.  

Wait, what are these pictures on the wall behind Jay? What IS this place?

Seunghun and Bitsaeon arrive finally, carrying big bags.

Bitsaeon mentions how he worked with Jay for Dangerously, and that he worked with Minseo on Bad News, but it’s his first time to work with Seunghun. They want to build up teamwork. 

Minseo has a big fanboy crush on Seunghun too. And Seunghun has brought “team clothes” - - that’s what was in the bags. They’re jackets that come in two colors and are terrifyingly, mysteriously blurry in spots. Wonder what that’s about? What is this creeping blurry menace, infecting so many scenes in this show?

The guys decide to pose for a bunch of photos, and I’m guessing now that they’re in some sort of photo studio or soundstage or something -- maybe it’s a place people rent out to make Youtube videos, or do cam-girl stuff.

They try on silly costumes and take photos and get to know each other, which is sweet.

Then they sit down to pretend to decide on a song (that they already decided on a while back). 

Bitsaeon pipes up to say that pop would be too predictable, and it seems like everyone really respects Bitsaeon’s strategic mind so they go with his proposals. They want something sentimental, and Seunghun suggests something sentimental but with a strong rock beat: Drowning by Woodz. 

This is a good team. They're all strong singers and a few are very popular. I think Jay is a double edged sword, in that he definitely has his haters. And his haters HATE him. But judging by the early ranking, he is arguably the most popular person on the show, at least among the voters. I think they’re all handsome…? Certainly none of them seem like they go totally against Korean standards of beauty. Really, I think this is one of the strongest teams on the show, and a strong contender to win.

The song they've choen...? I'm a bit "enh" about it.

So, to back up, let’s talk a little bit about Woodz. His real name is Cho Seungyoung and he was originally part of one of Yuehua’s earlier boy bands, Uniq, which has been on hiatus since 2018. As a soloist, he goes by Woodz. You might remember him from his time on Produce X 101; he went from being ranked 67th all the way up to 5th place in the finale, so he was actually part of X1 before it disbanded. These days, he is a successful singer-songwriter who makes music that doesn’t feel exactly like kpop, partly because it often has a more guitar-driven feel. I quite like Woodz and think he’s doing cool things in the kpop landscape. My favorite song of his is definitely Feel Like. 

Drowning is about an unhappy relationship that the singer can’t quite let go of, even though it’s causing him a lot of pain and anger. 

Sample lyrics:

Even though I'm madly in love, I'm so tired of the eternal arguments And you're still leaving me first

Raindrops have been falling from the sky all day, Going down my face to my chin So I can't breathe

The dance in my heart calls me more and more

Oh, I'm drowning, / It's raining all day, I can't breathe /  Oh, I'm drowning You're taking my life from me

It’s all very emo and if you like this sort of thing, it’s a perfectly fine one of those.

So the guys do their rehearsing, and time passes, and it’s performance time.  

Full version without reactions

My thoughts:

Jay was great as always. 

Wow, Minseo is really good.  

This song is just like, 10-20% boring. 

Ok, hear me out. Hear me out, hear me out, hear me out, gwaenchanh-a, mwo eottae. 

Their performance was really good, and it’s not like I disliked the song or anything. But it just didn’t ring my bell. I guess they were trying for something that was basically a rock ballad, but this one was just a bit repetitive and not catchy enough. Like it was the right *vibe* but not quite the right *song.*

Drowning is clearly influenced by late 90s alt-rock, like Radiohead and Sonic Youth. I mean, to me it sounds almost like a clone of Creep by Radiohead, but with like 10% I Alone by Live. Anyway, it doesn’t do much for me, but I had my 1990s alt-rock music phase already in life and I’m good now. 

Counter proposal: I think that if they were committed to a rocky feel, they should have done 0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You) by TXT. Imagine something kind of like this, but with four *really* good vocalists? (I’m not saying TXT aren’t good vocalists, but they aren’t S++ tier like the guys on this show.) Am I right? Wouldn’t that have been amazing? 

Or even better: They should have gone a different route and done Touch It by EXO. It’s the perfect combination of sexy and crowd-rousing, with plenty of opportunities to show off gorgeous vocals, and I think all four of them could have pulled off the concept.  

Anyway, we’re living in this world, where they sang this song, so let’s take it for what it is. 

They looked great -- moody and be-leathered. The backdrop of water looked great. And taken as a whole, without nitpicking, this was great. I’m not excited to listen to it again right away, though. 

LTR: Minseo, Bitsaeon, Seunghun

Seunghun, king of the opening notes, led things off with his rich, textured voice. He sounded great for most of the performance, and his high notes toward the end surprised me. Good work, Seunghun-a. Also, smart choice to get out the guns.

Minseo’s voice is somehow almost as textured as Seunghun’s but sooo much smoother and cleaner. I’ve liked Minseo’s voice a lot since the vocal check in when he sang that Adele song, and it still sounds excellent. He does this thing where his vibrato is so gentle and delicate that it almost physically touches your ears. It’s --dare I say it -- D.O. esque. God, I hope this kid debuts in a real group, and soon. I’m almost hoping that this group doesn’t win because I know that it’ll end up like EL7ZUP and I’d rather that no one here is subjected to that. 

Bitseon’s voice is so changeable. At times it sounds gentle, and at other times, it sounds almost operatic. He can put a ton of emotion into it without it becoming cloggy like he’s singing a K-ballad, and that adds a lot of fullness to the team’s sound. Yes, he has my least favorite vocal color in this group, but that’s not an insult to him so much as a compliment to the others. 

Jay can’t help but dominate anything he does. On top of his gorgeous vocal color and power, he also just seems really comfortable on stage. If I had to pick a top tier here, it would be Jay, no question. The high notes in the chorus seemed just a tiny bit out of control for him and here and there he had this shrill shrieky tone that wasn’t my favorite, but that was just on one or two notes. Overall, he was fantastic, baby. 

Incidentally, I showed my fella this performance, and he said, “Wow, it has to suck for those other three guys to have to be on stage with that guy” -- and he pointed to Jay. “That guy is so good he makes everyone else seem bad.” So there you go! 

Harmony wise, if you listen with an uncritical ear, it all sounds good, but there are times when you can’t hear everyone who’s singing. I think the biggest problem is actually Bitsaeon -- his harmonies seem to be the most unbalanced. It’s not a deal breaker or anything, but you come here for the analysis and sweater jokes and I’ve already made the sweater jokes. 

Regardless of the nitpicks, I think that taken as a group, I think these four work well together. Jay picked three people whose voices would go well with his own, and they all go well with each other, as well. They also all look great on stage.

In the MNET edit, everything seems to go smoothly. 

The judges are into it!

When the performance is over, while the audience is applauding, the judges mutter to each other about how good Seunghun was -- most likely because at this point they expect this kind of thing from Jay and were surprised by Seunghun’s high notes. But if you were new to this and just watching the show, you’d think that no one even notices how good Jay is.

The judges have to vote, and only the highest vote will be revealed. And it’s....   a 90? For the highest score? That seems really low. The audience shrieks in dismay. 

Even Solar is shocked! If only… there was something… she could have done about the scoring? If only she had the power to ensure there'd be a score higher than 90...? But nope, she could only watch helplessly, I guess.

Backstage, the members of the other teams are feeling a bit puffed up now that Jay’s team has gotten a kind of low score. Suhwan thinks that it’s because one member, presumably Jay, drew most of the attention, it didn’t feel like a real team. I think that’s probably true, and might explain the low-ish numbers. I guess Jay chose “visual” members (who can sing) over charismatic* members (who can sing), forgetting, perhaps, that he himself has a lot of charisma and needs stagemates who can keep up. Minseo is a fantastic singer but is sort of lacking in that department. Bitsaeon and Seunghun fare a bit better but Bitsaeon communicates earnestness and Seunghun communicates effort, while Jay just communicates the song. 

*I’m using “charismatic” in the general sense of the term, not the way it’s used in Korea (as a rough synonym for “sexy”. 

I think that’s sort of the deal with Jay in general, the thing that explains both his popularity and his haters, and partially explains why Koreans don’t tend to warm up to him as much as the “global” audience does: he has only one persona.

Consider Kai from EXO. Onstage, he’s Kai, the sexiest and most confident man alive. Backstage, interviewed by the hosts of the music show, he’s tugging on his costume and holding his arm over his abdomen to hide his bare midriff because he’s shy. Or consider Changbin from Stray Kids. Onstage, his persona is confident rapper with American-style swag. Offstage, he’s earnestly talking about how he wishes the cords in his neck would stand out more when he raps because he thinks it looks cool. In general, the performer is distinct from the persona.

But Jay just is Jay. He’s a confident fuckboi offstage and a confident fuckboi onstage and there’s not anything, not even Jay, can do about it. So when he’s performing, he’s not putting on a persona and then having the persona perform the song, the way most k-idols do. No layering required here. It’s just Jay singing a song, like it or not. 

And we know the judges like it, from past experience, but no one seems to be saying so right now. Instead, Glasses Baekho™ -- the one who gave them the 90 --  compliments Seunghun, saying that it’s obvious he worked hard. He also compliments Minseo‘s “newly revealed’ vocal tone. I wonder why the judges never bothered to go back and listen to the guys’ vocal check ins? They were all about 90 seconds long, so we’re talking about an hour to listen to all of them. Maybe if they had done so, they’d know that Minseo has always been this good. 

Eunkwang says the team was well synced and all the members are good individually, but some harmony didn’t come together as well as could be hoped. I guess I agree with that, sort of.

God, they all look so unhappy. Look at Minseo -- or don’t, it’ll break your heart.

They leave the stage, wondering if that’s their last performance on the show. Bitsaeon, the unofficial leader, says that they did well and that if they survive they’ll do better next time. 

They gather for a group hug. Good job, team. You did well. I think that 90 was criminally low but if the audience vote figured into it -- and I think it will -- they’ll be fine. 

I have watched the performance over and over and can't confidently claim that I know what went wrong in the scoring. It may have been the fact that Jay stood out too much, but if that's the story they wanted to tell, then the editors could have included some commentary about how good Jay was. It may have been that they didn't dig the song, but if so, why didn't they talk about the song choice being a problem? Mostly, I just think the judges always score the first song lower than the others, and that's dumb. Hey, judges, maybe work on a fucking RUBRIC and use it to score so that you're not just picking a random number between 70 and 100.

Ok, I’ll wrap this one up here, and I’ll see you in the sexy one next one! And let me know what you think about my counter proposals. Do you think that they should have done I Know I Love You instead? Or maybe Touch It? Or something else? Tell me!

[boysplanetrecaps]

just keeping my readers happy

💖 here you go, you weirdos 💖

check out my post with my full recap of this performance

or check out my Build Up recaps

[boysplanetrecaps]

this is the first gif I've ever made

I'm really proud of myself

[boysplanetrecaps]

The BUILD UP BRAPPIES, 3x3 Death Match edition

Time to take a another brief break from my MNET Build Up Recap Project to hand out some BRAPPY Awards for Excellence in the Field of Excellence! In this post, I’ll be giving out BRAPPIES based on how everyone did in the 3x3 Death Match Mission. Let’s go!

Before we dive in to the BRAPPIES, I just want to say thanks again for being part of this! I enjoy shows like this more if I spend time on them, because otherwise they just sort of go in one eye and out the other, so thanks for hanging out with me while I do.

Favorite Performance Overall

And the BRAPPY goes to...

Bad News!

I mean, my overall favorite (Bain) on a team with two other favorites, performing a great song by my favorite rookie group…? And doing well? And all three of them surviving? YES! 

Favorite Song Discovery

This was tough because there were two really sharp contenders -- Nakka by Akmu, which I have had stuck in my head since I watched the show, and Enough by Hoppipolla, which I listened to in a one-hour loop twice through while working online. 

And the BRAPPY goes to…

Nakka by Akmu!

“Wow, BPR-Noona chose our song as the one she was happiest to find out about via watching Build Up! That’s such a surprise because I’ve never heard of Build Up or BPR Noona! But I guess it’s nice to win another award. We’ll put it on the shelf with the others and then eventually turn it into a cat toy. We’ll get a cat just so we can make it a cat toy. Thanks!” 

Favorite Performance of a Song I Don’t Like:

I’m going to give this one to Pray. I find the song itself a bit meh, but their performance was impeccable. 

Honorable mention: Fever 

Best stage outfits:

And the BRAPPY goes to…

Jeup’s team, specifically, Jeup! 

Jeup, would you like to accept the award?

Oh, you don’t want it?

That’s cool, it’s just an AI generated image anyway. See you later! 

Worst Stage Outfits:

Team Sweeties, with their paper towel blazers. 

I just don’t understand the thinking. There had to be other white outfits that wouldn’t have looked quite so… absorbent. 

Oh no, Sunyoul, don’t look at me like that!

Ok, I’m sorry. I’ll give it to Neon’s team instead. Neon’s sweater was inexplicable, and they all just sort of look like they’re wearing whatever they happened to be wearing today. 

Oh no, they’re sad now.

Well as long as Sunyoul is happy, I’m happy. 

Performance Helped Most By Song Choice:

And the BRAPPY goes to….

Team Underestimated for Enough.

I think these are all really great singers, and I also know they didn’t even win, but I think that this song is part of what helped them almost make it, and what weighed in to the judges’ decision to save Woong. 

Performance Hindered Most By Song Choice:

And the BRAPPY goes to: Team Forest! It seems obvious that the song was a bad choice overall and allowed only Sanghyun to really sing well, which was bad for the team as a whole. But hold on, team Forest -- there’s another Brappy coming your way….

Teammate Most Screwed Over By a Teammate:

And the BRAPPY goes to: Neon and Taewoo! They were both royally screwed over by Sanghyun, who would not go out of his extremely limited comfort zone and then managed to get all three of them eliminated. Thanks, Sanghyun! Thanghyun. 

Don’t worry, I’ll mail those Brappies out to you soon. 

Team Most Screwed Over By The Team Itself:

And the BRAPPY goes to...

Team Maknae!

Don’t get me wrong -- I think this was a great team. All three of them are great singers and their voices blend well. I just think judges are biased against young members and automatically discount them. If they had been split up amongst different teams, I think they would have had better outcomes, and we might have able to keep Joohee somehow. 

Biggest Glow Up from Previous Round:

And the BRAPPY goes to…. Seunghun!

Seunghun looks great in a suit and that shade of ash-blonde suits him pretty well. (I think he looks even better with his original dark hair, but still, he is just looking great over all!) 

Honorable mention: Bain

I think this is the best he’s looked this whole series. As his hair gets less orange, he gets more handsome. 

Best judging face

So many great nominees for this one! 

Wendy during Fever

Solar during Pray

VCG during Bad News

Eunkwang during Forest

Baekho watching Geonu dance:

And the BRAPPY goes to…

This was tough, you guys, but I had to give it to Baekho for just… expressing the truth about Geonu’s dancing. 

Hey, how do you feel about this blog, Baekho?

Aww, you’re so welcome! Anything else?

Oh, if you have to go, you have to go. Sorry your shirt fell off. See you later!

Most Irritating Judging Moment:

It’s a tie: (1) when they gave the win to Team Taco over Team Maknae, and (2) when they decided not to save Neon. Fuck that shit. 

Honorable mentions: Not saving Park Joohee.

Best Sweater:

And the BRAPPY goes to…

This fuzzy delight, worn by Jeon Woong! 

Honorable mention for obvious reasons:

Team That Seemed To Have the Most Fun:

Obviously, Team Taco. 

Team That Probably Cried The Most:

The BRAPPY goes to Sunyoul’s team, since they had to change from Piano Man to Drawing Our Moments at the last minute.

Biggest Coat-tail Rider:

Geonu again. 

Baekho, what do you think?

Yeah. Yeah, I know. 

Funniest judging moment:

And the BRAPPY goes to…

When Baekho told Jeup he’ll “lose his muscles” if he keeps crying. 

I feel like there’s a certain… theme to my BRAPPY awards? But I can’t quite put a finger on what it is. 

Oh, Jeup put a finger on it. Thanks, buddy. 

Best Dahee moment:

The moment she decided to wear this. Whatever this is. 

I love her. 

But also when she was so happy for Team Badnews when they got so much praise from the judges:

Ok, that’s it for the BRAPPIES for this round!

See you soon! <3 Click here for the next one: Drowning.