K-pop is at the top of music production. The first series has 5 kpop groups and 1 solo artist battle it out for the title of queen.
The series is also an interesting window at the South Korean mindset . Respect for your seniors is a given.
The girls put everything they have in the performances and there is some real talent at display.
They also present the show with 2 MC's I the guy Mc is out of place in a show run by girls.
They also applaud each other performances , while there is an interesting segment after the perfor,naces. Who did better and more importantly who did worse.
Now this would have been a 9 without an obvious flaw. And while not everyone does it when one does it , it does make you wonder who else is doing it and it interferes with the engagement.
This makes it more of a production show , hence the title, than a dance and singing show. And there is the horrible, it's time for a commercial after already pausing for 30 seconds and the winner is ..... You are save to fastforward a minute when that sentence is uttered... They really should stop doing that
There is some other stuff that is questionable as well like the point scoring. And the extra 7000 votes from outside.
This gives current popular groups a huge advantage and almost impossible to make up.
But to me that is not the reason why I view it.
The first episodes had the contestants rework one of their original songs. And the second episode they had to cover one of the other contestants.
Anyway I would much prefer it when nothing was lip synced even if the singing wasn't flawless. Anway i still rank it higher than most things I start watching because like I said the music production is second to none.
For example G-idle's leader thought process is explained for the first performance. And you also notice that it is a process of hard work , and trial and error. Well it is because so already has an idea about what it should sound like. So to gzet that out of someone she can't always express it and the other person and her look for it together.
Anyway I strongly recommend watching this if you like music, dance and performance. And it is also good to see what high level of production can be achieved by the stars.
Stars they really are. There is one who is a klutz in dancing but through her hard work she gets there in the end as well.
Edit
The second season was a mixed bag. Not because of the contestants but there was less thought put behind it. Also not putting an upvote in , didn't help at all. The scoring system is all messed up. Because of that I only rate it a 5. And the 5 points all go to the groups and Hyolin.
The spinoff or the third season called queendom puzzle is filled with talent. However In the first two episodes there are issues with the editing. The end performance of episode 1 is actually the end performance of season 2. And there seem to be more tricks in the editing.
The cruel part is the voting however. With 28 people in total 27 votes are cast. And some don't get the votes they deserve. It is clear there is already strategic voting happening.
This is clear as one contestant pointed out.
The cruel voting hads left me wondering as suicide is a topic in the entertainment industry in South Korea and Japan. Being downvoted by your fellow artists is not at all that amusing.
There is correct downvoting. Not being able to remember the lyrics or just lip syncing is criticized hard.
However. If your shoe strap snaps , that will lose your points as well. The first two episodes puts it at about a 5.
What is obvious is that all these contestants are hard working . I have huge issues with the self evaluation here. And it seems very objective. Oh she is in mine position I have to downvote her. Oh she is a teammate's position I have to downvote her.
Election systems are a a problem in our world as well. We vote based on conjectures. And in the highly competitive KPOP world I find it is more hurting than rewarding.
