[May 7, 2010] KBS Music Bank Highlights + Commentary

OK. Just a little addition to this entire "korean music show recap" thing - a few hours before Music Bank starts I'll be announcing whether or not I'm doing a live tweet on my account, since the show's broadcast simultaneously on KBS World here. If I am, you guys are welcome to @reply me your thoughts and stuff, would be nice to talk to everyone and get more opinions on the show! It'll help me think of stuff to write here as well. OK, let's get to business.

Today's Music Bank was rather good in terms of performance, actually. For some reason almost all the idols sounded good, or decent at the very least. There were performances that really stood out, and performances that were a bit bleh. Credit for all videos goes to CodeMonmonMixes - brilliant to the gazillionth power.

ZE:A - All Day Long

OK. So here we go again with ZE:A - I still have the same problem. It's not so much that there ARE too many guys on stage because SuJu's like 4 members more than them, it's that they don't have a good sense of teamwork and whatnot - they don't LOOK like one cohesive unit. If they did, 9 guys on stage wouldn't be a lot. Their vocals today were quite OK though - nothing to rave about, but they were consistent and at times, good. All in all I'd say it's a PASS this week.

Secret - Magic

Over the past few performances of this song I've been quite convinced that yes, their vocals may be competent but they've still got a heck of a lot to work on - they have the foundations of good singers, the voice, but they don't have all the technique and style to back it up. Today I was rather surprised at their vocals, because they were a lot better than they were last week - it's like the nasal and strained qualities were significantly lessened. If they keep this up, they could possibly be one of the most vocally-strong idol girl groups we've had in a while.

B2ST - Special

OK so apart from the fact that they were in suits today and I fall for anyone in nicely-tailored suits, B2ST were pretty good today - mainly because their vocals were rather good. They didn't sound like they came straight out of the recording, but they've had worse days, so today's performance was good. See? When the vocals are good, everything else about the performance will fall into place. Once again, I know nothing about dance, so I can't really say anything about the choreography apart from the fact that I found some parts a bit strange. Dunno.

f(x) - NU ABO

*sigh* I've tried, f(x), I really have, and I had this tiny little spark of hope that their performance would be strong enough to make the song sound good, but it wasn't. The performance was good alone, it made the song sound better than it was on the recording - better, but not good. Everyone's chanting and whatnot was a little "hinihingal" in Filipino, which means they sound like they're out of breath most of the time, Luna's middle 8 was a bit sloppy and her high note was a bit off, but I'll forgive them for everything since it's their comeback, even if they're supposed to be at the top of their game. From what they've done today, the performance will never be able to carry the song and make it good, but their performances have the potential to get better and better. We'll see.

After School - Bang!

Even After School sounded good today! Seriously. The vocals were still on the nasal side, but they were stronger and sounded more effortless today. Goes to show that they could actually become better singers! Like I said, all Pledis has to do is have the useless members "graduate" and add maybe 2 or 3 girls who can actually sing. As usual their performance was solid, no significant slips, plus their costumes today looked very nice on stage.

Hyori - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Hyori performed rather early today, hmm. I quite like the set design today, it's clean and "tasteful" - lots of white lines. Her vocals were strong today, and once again she has a gazillion backup dancers, but there insn't anything else to say about it, really. It's Hyori. That's it.

Rain - Love Song

Just one song each from the top 3 today - Rain did his stripping and mic-stand kicking song. Just a glittering suit today - doesn't light up like last week's. Like a few of the acts today, his vocals are getting much more comfortable on stage. You can't just listen to Rain though, because if you close your eyes or switch the tab he sounds like any run of the mill solo idol - when you see how he moves and how he sings, that's where he pwns everyone else.

2PM - Without U (WINNER)

2PM seem a lot more comfortable as well. Still not a big fan or them, the song or their performances, but they were OK. Their vocals are still off but not as off as they were last week and I'm actually surprised that they won, but whatever.

I will only be doing live tweets for KBS Music Bank, so only expect a recap of MBC Music Core tomorrow night! Yayyyy.