Kmusic: JTBCâs ìíŒë°Žë(Superband) Review
Foreword:Â SUPERBAND WAS AMAZING AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED IN MY LIFE. yup
After binge-watching this entire program, I knew I had to write something about it. This show literally took my breath away, this show filled all my senses with overwhelming excitement, appreciation, and respect for every single participant, and the music, THE MUSIC, that came out of this show will forever be some of the most amazing songs I have ever heard in my life. But above all else, this show filled a void, an emptiness, a traumatizing, painful longing in my heart that has been needing some intense healing for a while now.
With all the things that have happened with my singer, Superband coming into my life and being the show it was, with all those amazing artists doing what they did, it was a literal blessing and I justâŠâŠ. I just cant believe they did THAT. They did it and it was AMAZING.
First off, whoever thought to make an audition program for MUSICIANS, SINGER-SONGWRITERS, ARTISTS, PRODUCERS, and just instrument-playing people AND VOCALISTSâŠâŠ.. you are a fucking genius and I am so glad that this idea never died in the shadows and was allowed to come to life on the screens.
What I found so poignant about this show from the get-go was how GOOD THESE AUDITIONS WERE⊠these people came in being REALLYYYYY good at (presumably) one thing like the guitar, or singing, or the violin. These people each had their specialty, they were exceptional music-making people. No one was quite mediocre or ârookieâ, each person had some pretty credible expertise or experiences with music, and that in itself, the fact that we got to start off with these sorts of contestants, is something ive never seen before.
I donât want to compare to other singing shows or the Produce series or whatever else countless audition programs Korea has been churning out over the past years, but since Superband began with this concept, it was already a show that I knew I would LOVE. For the 2 times ive watched Produce, I was always so perturbed by these prepubescent pretty boys frolicking around on stage, barely being able to even pull off a simple note. I just thought so many of them were so TALENTLESSâŠ. But who am I to judge.
I think it really just comes down to preference, and even though I knew very well that idols and k-pop are not even things I enjoy anymore, I forced myself through programs like Produce. But now, with Superband, I felt so HAPPY and glad to be watching and discovering such talented musiciansâŠTHIS IS WHAT I WANTED ALL ALONG.
Even with the very first audition with Ha Hyunsang⊠OMFG UGHhHhh THAT BOI IS SO FLUFFY but so good at the same time⊠I feel like each time I see him, I ACTUALLY just want to give him a hug :â-(( the emotional depth in his singing is beyond describable and im SO PROUD TO HAVE WATCHED HIM GROW !!!!!!
Thatâs another thing I really really realllyyyyyyy loved from this showâŠâŠ.. it was the process of watching these people develop, mature, change, grow with show. Some contestants went through some major growing pains, but it was so heartwarming to watch them improve, not that they were even bad to begin with. And the reversals!! Or the expansions?? The turnarounds?? The CONMEN!!!
AHHhhHHhhh okay im still very obsessed with the infinite amount of talent some dudes had, but before I get to that, let me continue on with those stellar auditions, aka the three genius guitarists, too ;_______; they. Are. So. Amazing. I love them a lot. I think I completely fell for them. And I hate myself. I hate to admit it a lot because I used to ALWAYS shit on dudes younger than me, I disliked basically every contestant on produce that was younger than â99, I thought they were all useless young children⊠but êčìì, ìŽê°íž, & ìíëč, were a completely different story. I LOVE THEM!!! I always had a bias toward a man that could play the guitar well⊠but these guys holy moly, they blew me away⊠they are so exceptional at what they do and the fact that theyre still so YOUNG⊠good lordâŠ..my poor heart was so conflicted but ultimately so happy to have discovered them.
To watch these guys be thrown into that first 1:1 perf, and literally tearing up the stage and setting the bar VERY HIGH from the very beginning of the competition⊠phew⊠my goodnessâŠ. The talent with these kids⊠o myâŠ. Okay yeah, nope im never gonna get over it. The âAdventure of a Lifetimeâ stage will always be an iconic one from this program, and we all know it. Who knew a pure acoustic, musical performance, no vocals included stage would be so amazingâŠ. I LOVE THEM!! Have I mentioned that yet?
Going back to the reversals/scamming thing⊠I guess this goes with watching some people growâŠâŠ. I want to give a holy and blessed shoutout to probably my favorite contestant out of this entire show: ì êŽìŒâŠ.. he was such a dark horse. In fact, I donât even remember his audition tbh because he was THAT not-memorable in the beginning LOL (or also.. I believe they never showed his audition to begin with)⊠but he quickly caught my eye as the eps went on because he came out of nowhere and whipped out all (or maybe not even allâŠ) his skills like secret weapons, stage after stage.. he came in as a vocalist, picked up the bass for two the performances after that (all while still singing, too), although having never played the bass formally⊠and then once joining hands with Juhyeok and Yechan, he just miraculously becomes the drummer, because they ultimately decided that they needed percussion in their songs. So from thereon after, since âHold Back The Riverâ, Gwang-il, to me, was literally GOD(ì ) Gwang-il, as he played the drums and SANG TOOâŠ..and may I add, hes not even that old?????? HES FRKING ONLY 2 YEARS OLDER THAN ME WTF;__; the boy got all these crazy blisters while perfecting the drums, but he didnât let anything stop him and he was sucH A SOLID BAND MEMBER ALL THROUGHOUT, AHHHHHH MVP GOES TO SHIN GWANG-IL, YALLâŠ.(also I just found out that hes a trainee from Mystic Story, aka Yoon Jong shinâs agency aka the agency that Iâve been following for many many MANYYYY years now bc a lot of my favorite artists have come out of itâŠ. Wow what is this fate)
And special recognition goes to Im Hyung-bin aka one of the 18 yr old genius guitarists bc he ⊠oh myâŠ. He frking became the pianist and singer by the end of the showâŠ. Omfg⊠yall.. HE is also another infinitely talented soul. AND HES EXTRA FRKING YOUNGâŠ
Besides these two though, there were many many many manyyyyy other people as well that took up multiple instruments throughout the show, or even began singing, or just did EVERYTHINGâŠ.I was so mindblown by this, im still honestly not over it at all.
Because like, is this normal?? Isnât that so unprofessional?? Its already so crazy that this show already starts us off with NON-amateur musicians and artists. But then some of these dudes have never done any other things formally before they got thrown into it; they came into this show âspecializingâ in something completely different, yet they jump onto the stage and do what they needed to, HELLA FRKING WELLâŠâŠ so many of these dudes, you wouldnât know that was his first time playing the bass, playing the drums, first time playing that piano, or first time being on the keyboard AND being a vocal, you wouldnât know any of that unless they mentioned it, unless you watched the show and saw their story.
Because they all pulled it off THAT well.. these people that did these things for the first time ever while being on Superband, they executed their roles so well and showcased such wonderfully exhilarating talentâŠ. IM SO BLESSED TO HAVE DISCOVERED SUCH AMAZING ARTISTSâŠ.
That was one of the biggest feats of Superband for me. The limitless talent that came out of it. I LOVE watching people like this. Their passion for music fuels such undeniable skill and fervor, and when they step onto that stage, they are literally unstoppable. They made music that stopped my time, stopped my heart, in the moment, but literally MOVED meâŠi applaud these people so much. I really do.
Thinking back to it now, the number of stages that came out of this show was likeâŠ. CountlessâŠ. Like⊠A LOTâŠ. Since episode 1, each stage was very well-produced and I truly enjoyed watching each one from the start. This show was just so jampacked overall, although I admit that sometimes it was arduous due to the GRIND that these people were on, presenting stage after stage after stage, and then listening to LOTS of feedback from almost each judge over and over and over, but it was still nothing short of musical masterpieces out there. I really appreciate how STUFFED, how FILLED TO THE BRIM, this show was with dynamic, enjoyable, exceptional performances (and words of valuable opinions & evaluations, too)
I can re-watch many of them, every day, for days on end. I loved it. And can we just talk about how impressive these dudes are for pulling off something new, for taking on a brand-new challenge with a brand-new set of members, time and time again, stage after stage, week after week, until we came down to the 6 solid bands in the last 3 episodes? They constantly had to work with new people, match their music preferences, fill spaces in their music where they didnât exactly have someone they may have needed. They had to compensate, compromise, and ultimately DELIVER, at the end of it all. Multiple times. I donât even remember how many rounds they did⊠was it 4? I think they had 4 rounds of eliminations before they settled into their official bands. But still⊠its crazy impressive to think about how driven and flexible a lot of these artists were, to be creating, producing & then performing despite all the different teams they were getting put into week after week.
ANDDDDDD, despite all the odds up against them like the time crunch, the new collab of members each time, the potential lack of a missing instrument or sound, SO many of these teams still came out with self-written and self-produced songs!!!!!!! I mean, even for the cover songs alone, many were already re-arranging everything & basically turning them into new tracks. BUT WITH THOSE SELF COMPOSED SONGS??????????? Some teams literally started from scratch each time, but busted out some amazing tunes and lyrics and executed very very very impressive stages and IM JUST AKFJAKJFKJBSN howâŠ. Are theyâŠ.. soâŠ. TalentedâŠâŠ I still ask myself each time.
By far, the combo that took my heart and kept it for goodâŠ.. LUCY ;_______;. I never expected to like Juhyeokâs voice tbh, it was a little TOO weird for me in the beginning⊠but watching him perform with Yechan and Gwang-il and Wonsang really brought to life his vocal potential for me⊠that team is literally a combination made in heaven, they have all the right pieces to make ARTWORK⊠their signature sound was so prominent from the very beginning and i was SO HAPPY when I saw that they stuck to the same exact members once the finale came around.
Before the winner was announced, I told myself very honestly that I didnât even care who won because the two teams left over, Hoppipolla & Lucy, were already my two all-time favorite combinations of artists from the entire show, and I was already MORE than satisfied with all the wonderful music and stages that everyone had delivered up until that point anyway. But even with that, I was still thoroughly shocked when they announced Hoppipolla as the winning band LOL I gasped aloud. I thought that Lucy at least had a chance. Or like I guess, in my heart, I assumed that Lucy actually won.. LOL but they didnât.
And in terms of the finale in general, I really would also like to address how I purposely tried really hard to avoid any spoilers and rewatching of performances on youtube before actually finishing the entire series. I tried like reallyyyyy hard, because I wanted to watch the program as thoroughly as possible without spoilers. I HATE SPOILERS. But oh the irony. It was in all in vain anyway.
Once I finally DID finish all 14 episodes, when trying to look for more information/reactions/articles/videos (initially searching in English), I actually struggled SO HARD LMAOOOO bc there was like NOTHING OUT THEREâŠâŠ..i should have known better; this show was definitely NOT catered to the intl. audience (yet?), especially because its in its first season still. There were probably like 2 articles max in English about Superband & it was just about its upcoming premier. Nothing about winners nor results nor anything else i was wary of, anyway. LOLLL THE INTL COMMUNITY DOESNâT CARE; or at least the intl population that DOES care about Superband, is probably reallyyyyyy smallâŠâŠa reddit thread I found was the most substantial discussion I could find, comprised of a few comments max.
And so that brings me to how I always see a lot of comments begging for English subs and everything, but honestlyâŠâŠ.. all I have to say to yall is: LEARN KOREAN IF YOU REALLY WANT TO WATCH THE SHOW THAT BADLY !!!
If after all these years, I could pick up Korean to an extent where I can watch things raw, im sure others can do the same as long as they put their mind to it. Ive been really appreciating how far my skills have taken me LOL not trying to be THAT person, but I just know that if I COULDNâT read or listen & comprehend or type in Korean like I can now, I would be missing out on a WORLD of amazing stuff. E.g. superband. And if anything, I would like to think that this show helped me practice my vocab skills a lot more. Listening to the judgesâ evals after each stage was really enjoyable: I learned plenty of valuable words out of THEIR words.
This show was phenomenal in that all the contestants had total musical freedom. It was soOOOOO refreshing to watch. They got to choose all their music & their teammates in a fair manner (maybe not so much their competition), but seeing them take their passions & what THEY wanted to do with music and laying that all out onto the stage, was so compelling!!! This freedom allowed for countless, ICONIC AF transformations and growth journeys for soooo many of the artists too!!!! I really realllyyyyyyyy loved watching some of them stepping WAYYYY outside of their comfort zones / the image that they originally came in with (e.g. HONG ISAAC HAAAAHAHHA, Jisang, Hyunsang!!), and also watching alllllll those multitalented âscam charactersâ!!! HAHAHA, without this program being as open as it was, it wouldâve been impossible to be able to see such a myriad of sides to so many different people. I appreciate, I really do.
And I really really realllyyyy enjoyed watching all the behind the scenes of each performance as well!! Of course, its normal to give viewers some background story before each stage, but in Superband, we got to see some very raw sides of music-makingâŠ.. these dudes literally lived like hobos in the recording studios, all disheveled and sleep-deprived human beans, but ceaselessly making music because thatâs what they love. I liked watching teams try out a lot of different songs & styles as they searched for THE right one. And then we got to see the final result on stage after the countless discussions and trials behind the scenes. And these processes repeated for months on end. All the contestants are so commendable in this right. The grind was real, and the show didnât try to hide that. I enjoyed this very realistic approach !!
At this point, after drowning myself in this show for a few days straight⊠(those episodes are LONGGGGG, close to two hrs each) ive literally spent every night, and basically day, too, watching all the cuts that jtbc uploaded on youtube over and over and oVERRRRRâŠ.. ive also been watching some Superband concert clips, from when the entire final 6 bands went on a domestic tour and performed together for several concerts!!
THAT OPENING STAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLESS THOSE PEOPLE THAT CAUGHT IT ON CAMERA BECAUSE IT IS LITERALLY SUCH A PIECE OF MUSICAL HEAVEN, omfg the energy on that stage IS SOMETHING ELSE⊠IF I WERE THERE IN PERSON I PROBABLY WOULDVE CRIED INSTANTLYâŠâŠ. lee juhyeok, kevin oh, chae bohoon, im hyeongbin, kim youngso, ha hyunsang, lee chansol, and kim woosung, all the guitarists/ vocalists lined up in the front⊠(hearing each vocalist sing a line each made my HEART HURTâŠ.I LOVE THEM SM) then the bassists, lee jonghoon, kim hyungwoo, kim hajin, jo wonsang, clustered up AND HAVIN A TIME all by themselves, and the three epic electric guitarists, yang jiwan, kim junhyeob, and Zairo, literally held SUCH stage presence⊠on the drums: kang kyungyoon all the way to the right, and red haired hwang minjae in the middle, and the super in-sync, traditional drum banging bois, choi youngjin, shin gwang-il, a-il, & jung gwanghyun, all 4 of them bouncing up and down in the back like intense oompa loompas LOL THEY LOOKED SO CUTE, and the string bois!!!!! Shin yechan & benji on the violin next to hong jinho on the cello; yechan and benji started off sitting down but as the song goes on they literally WENT AT IT HAHAHA as expected of two of the most high-energy musicians. On the piano, lee na-woo, the classic icon himself starting off the entire intro, and next to him hong isaac the transformation legend himself on the keyboard + his super distinctive voice!!!!!! And of course, d-pole with his much-expected little music break in the middleâŠ.. in fact many of them got ICONIC solo time: kang kyungyoonâs drumming part, kim hyungwooâs super duper solid bass, minjaeâs powerful beats, kim hajinâs LOUD ass bass, lee jonghoonâs legendary slap finger bass playing, jo wonsangâs super ting-y, classic bass section, and yang jiwanâs loud ASS ELEC GUITAR TOO, omg they were all so cute, pointing to each member & hyping them up as it was their few seconds to shineâŠ.AND THOSE COLLECTIVE VOICES???? HEARING ALL THE VOCALISTS SING TOGETHER ONE BY ONE⊠OH my gosh it was soooooo GOOOODDDDDDDâŠ. just watching all those dudes literally have THE TIME OF THEIR LIFE on stage (literally an ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME), the energy was off the charts⊠I loveeeeee seeing them so happy, making eye contact with each other, jumping up & down, rocking out, laughing with each other, all while playing their instrument, so fervently, all 27 people on the stage, connected by one songâŠ. Theres SO MUCH OVERFLOW of talent in one freaking place, that song sounded SO MASSIVE just thru the video I cant imagineâŠ.. if I were actually there omfg⊠thatâs an actual BAND Like A HUGE FRKING BAND⊠AHHHHHHHHHH a really legendary stage.. the finest of finestâŠâŠI can literally watch this opening on repeat without getting bored because I just loveeeee the concept of all of them being together like that :â)))
After watching member after member, team after team get eliminated, seeing them like this on one stage with such happy expressions and making a beautiful piece of music like that o MANNNNNNâŠ. This showâŠâŠ has really done something to meâŠ
I appreciate every contestant SO MUCH and I wish I could watch everyone be together FOREVERâŠ.because knowing how artistically talented each person is on their own, to watch them join together is like the avengers times 72737446352 or something, its just talent & skill plus talent & skill stacked onto even more skill & talents and just an INFINITE amount of potential AND THATâŠIS LITERALLY.. THE POWERâŠ. OF A BANDâŠâŠâŠand of great ass music.
This show was GENIUS TO combine so many musicians from so many different backgroundsâŠbut watching them work together to make pure art, that is so frking rewarding and heartwarming and I feel so blessed to have witnessed it all.
The genres and potential were literally limitlessâŠâŠI think this is what encompassed Superband for me, this is what made me enjoy it SO damn muchâŠ. I think ive finally run out of things to say⊠this piece of text is quite a mess, not very polishedâŠ.. but I was hasty in recording my thoughts & emotions before they left me, so I tried my best.
My biggest regret with this show is that I didnât watch it sooner. (what is really ironic is that it took me FOREVER to start the first ep, despite having tonssss of time on my hands⊠I had it open on one of my tabs for the longest time, but I lowkey grudgingly, eventually, forced myself to finally start it LOL..(thank god I rly did tho) I watched it 2 months after the finale, which is⊠kinda late? If I had watched it while it was airing, all while I was still in korea, I feel like I wouldâve been EVEN MORE in love, even more fervent and passionate about everything. Digging thru old vids & watching things from contestants before they came out onto the show, seeing the artists they were, I couldâve easily gone and seen them myself probably⊠goddamnit I probably couldâve gone to the superband finale live show, if I had known.. I COULDVE VOTED IN REAL TIME⊠not that I couldâve brought myself to do it anyway, probably lolâŠ.. but basically, if I had known of this show WHILE I was there with them⊠I donât know, I couldâve been a lot more active as a fan, I feel like..
Now im back to my original roots: crying in front of my laptop screen and tap-tapping away at my keyboard as a I rant to no one but myself. Being in korea made my appreciation for all kinds of artists, all my beloved ones, EVERYONE, a lot more tangible.. but being back in America⊠it all becomes hidden into the depths of my heart, once againâŠ
PHEWâŠâŠI think now is a good time to mention my favorite stages⊠as I mentioned before, the Lucy AND pre-Lucy lineup will always hold a really special place in my heart so basically all my faves include their stages LOL
âSwimâ cover by LUCY(ì ìì°Ź, ìŽìŁŒí, ì êŽìŒ, ìĄ°ìì)
âHold Back The Riverâ cover by ì ìì°Ź, ìŽìŁŒí, ì êŽìŒ
âAdventure of a Lifetimeâ cover by ìĄ°ìì, êčìì, ìŽê°íž, ìíëč
âëê”Ź ììâ cover by ìŒëčì€, ë°ì°Źì, ì êŽìŒ, ê°êČœì€
âCastle on the Hillâ cover by ììŒ, ííì, ë
žë§ë, íì§íž
â1000xâ cover by ììŒ, ííì, íì§íž, êčíì°
âOne More Lightâ cover by HOPPIPOLLA(ììŒ, ííì, íì§íž, êčìì)
âCry Birdâ cover by LUCY
âViva La Vidaâ cover by ííì, íì§íž, êčìì
âFind You Againâ by People on the Bridge(ìŽì°Źì, ìíëč, êčì€í, ê°êČœì€, êčíì°)
My favorite funny moments:
âìŽêČ ëŹŽìš ì§ìŽìŒ!!?â - mellow kitchen (the stealing of the 3 kiddo guitarists)
âokay letâs be honest, you canât even hear the bassâ - shin hyunbin 2k19
Hyunsangâs fam: ììŒ the mom, íì§íž the dad, êčíì° the hyung
âidk if im allowed to say this but it looked like zombie movieâ - yoon jongshin, as they all gathered around the cello man
âI thought to myself, isnât that cello expensive tho..â - yoon jongshin as youngso slapped & tapped jinhoâs cello for percussion
Ah-ilâs iconic castle on the hill pose
Zairoâs luck with member choosing lmao
HONG ISAKâS DANCING in âTime of My Lifeâ LOLLL IT GETS ME LAUGHING EACH TIMEEE (& all his nicknames, like eungalchi lmaooo)
Benjiâs âYO-RO-BOON HAM-KAY HEY-YOâ during âWoo-ingâ
Gwanghyunâs âdo-doom-takâ
Gwanghyun calling Gwang-ilâs drum skills equivalent to that of a middle school bandâs LOLLLL
**I watched Moneâs radio appearance on Arirang Radio where Benji is the host, and they were an absolute MESS LMAOOOOOO THEY WERE HONESTLY ALL REALLY FUNNY THOUGH.. they kept roasting the crap out of each other and laughing their asses off and man⊠it was gr8 time and it was really cute to discover that Hong Isaac is now a part of one of Benjiâs radio shows too!
One important question I have for this show though: where tf did all the females go? Why was there no female presence at all in this show, I have no clueâŠâŠ :/
At the end of the day, this show reminded me once again, how to feel happy and excited because of music. how to let great music fill my life with undeniable joy. Being able to look forward to listening to these songs every day, definitely had lifted a small part of me that has been down for all too long. I really appreciate, I am very grateful for, I just⊠im so thankful to have discovered this show & all its wonderful masterpieces & the beautifully, magically, PASSIONATE artists behind it allâŠâŠâŠ. I needed this in my life at this point in time, I really did.Â
Thank you for coming to be, Superband.
