The showdown of yet another 2 new boy bands: Round 2 - The debut performances

ROUND 2! Live performances matter, and they matter a lot. Can these guys sing? Can they sing while dancing? Can they sing with very little studio tricks? Can they sing in uncontrolled environments? CAN THEY PERFORM? Let's see.


My focus for round 2 will no longer be on the songs - I've done all my bashing and praising during round 1. Round 2 is sole-y for their execution of their debut singles - how they performed, their vocals, how they work as a group.

Children of Empire/Z:EA - Mazeltov

KBS Music Bank January 15, 2010

Z:EA may have won round 1 but round 2 is a completely different game. I think as a whole Z:EA don't know how to manage themselves on stage. 9 isn't a lot compared to Super Junior's 13 but it's still a lot. The thing is, you need to know how to pull off the 'big group' concept by one, being synchronized enough and two, making sure that there isn't too much happening at the same time WHILE sectioning the group to make the synchronization look better. As a performance this wasn't very good - too many sloppy things happening at the same time.

Vocals-wise they've exceeded my expectations. It's enough that more or less the whole group can hold a melody live, it's better that some of them are actually good at it but what really surprised me was that they can sing live. And the chorus is actually a chorus - either they're all singing together at the same time with mics at the same volume or it's made to seem like that. Either way, that's something you don't get from bands very often anymore. There are some very promising voices in this band and although it'll take me ages to recognize them all, once I do I'll find maybe 1 or 2 brilliant voices.

The voices are there, they just need to learn how to perform as a group and clean up all the sloppy execution. Pretty good, actually.

F.Cuz - Jiggy

KBS Music Bank January 8, 2010

To say that F.Cuz exceeded my expectations would be an understatement - they surprised me a heck of a lot. One because Jiggy sounds less pathetic live (THANKFULLY) and two because it sounds less pathetic due to their vocals. I watched the performance on TV (KBS World has live broadcasts on Music Bank) and I was like "whoa, that wasn't that bad" but when I watched it over again before I started writing this, I just listened and was like "oh dear, they can sing". Heck, I don't know why they got a crap song when they can actually sing. They better get some good album tracks OR ELSE. Performance-wise the whole thing was very clean, very rehearsed. You can tell these guys are performers.

The one problem I have is that they don't seem like a group YET. They don't move like the group, they don't sing like a group. All they need is time, I think. If Jiggy didn't sound so cheap, F.Cuz would most probably be a brilliant, brilliant band for me. Gawd I really do hope they get good material in the future because they deserve it.

So now the gap between F.Cuz and Z:EA is quite small, unline B2ST and MBLAQ last year. Both bands can perform, they've shown promise and I personally think they're not as bad as I first thought they were. Yeah sure their singles suck but with the right material there will be magic. Because of that, I was thinking of calling this a tie but after watching over the performances, I think F.Cuz work better as a group and over-all have better vocals. Z:EA aren't that far behind though.

THE WINNER: F.CUZ

That brings the score to 1-1. The deciding factor: their debut albums/mini-albums.

The showdown of yet another 2 new boy bands: Round 1 - The Debuts

If last year it was B2ST vs. MBLAQ, this year it's Z:EA/Child of Empire vs. F.Cuz - and of course I have a say about both of them. Both bands are from lesser-known talent companies (and when I say that it means they're not from SM, YG, JYP OR DSP) but I don't really care if they were from SM or whatever.

Round 1 is the debut - their first singles/music videos. Round 2 will be the first live performances and round 3 will be the first full-length or mini-albums (whenever they come). Ready? OK.

In line with me trying to establish PRN as the blog for critical reviews on kpop, I'll be as ruthless as possible - if you get offended (which you have no reason to be but whatever) just close this tab/window. And don't you dare tell me I don't know anything - I do so just leave if you don't like what you're reading.

Let's start with Z:EA.

Originally called Child of Empire (and they still are, I've heard), the band have been under fire for using the name 'Z:EA' as the hangul is the same as an existing artist. They started sometime last year under the same talent company as Jewelry and performed guerilla concerts all over the place. Their formal debut was pushed back several times but finally a few days ago the mini album was released.

There are 9 guys, NINE guys. Yes, if you're thinking the male SNSD, possibly.

When I first heard the song I was neutral - they're not bad, they're not good. They can potentially get better with their next release and things are looking pretty good. When I saw the video though, I saw a DBSK (Mirotic) AND SS501 (Love Like This) rip-off. It sucks, I mean why'd you copy two established bands (one of whom is a legend in kpop)? But it's not like I care about the video.

The song itself is very generic, it sounds like everything else but it can be bearable with good execution. Sadly, that's something these guys don't have. They do however have the potential. I can't tell if they can sing because once again EVERYTHING'S PROCESSED. Will people PLEASE get over this whole auto-tune crap and start getting back to ACTUALLY SINGING? Like, everyone can sing now with processing, even if they have no right to. They're kinda like what B2ST were last year, only with less visible ability at the moment.

I'll be watching them though.

Now, on to F.Cuz

F.Cuz were the band that everyone got excited over at the sight of pictures but because my focus is the music, I never really checked them out until the video was released this morning. You know what? They're not worth even one ounce of the hype.

I tweeted this morning that Jiggy screams NOVELTY SONG and I still think so. The song is a joke, what kind of self-respecting person who knows anything about music would actually think this is decent? It's cheap, it's gimmick-y in the wrong way and for crap's sake do they seriously think they'd get any respect for making music like this?

It's a joke. But then again GD's the same thing. However GD tries to sound 'classy', it can be both bad and good depending on how you look at it. Now that I think about it, F.Cuz sound like a bad, tasteless shot at Big Bang. Big Bang have class, no matter how novel GD can get, the others are enough to carry the band musically. And do these guys even write their own material?

I'm sorry F. Cuz, even the choreography sucks. The video looks like a bad attempt at 2PM's My Color, and even that wasn't their best. There are no outstanding voices in the band from what I'm hearing, but then again WHAT THE CRAP CAN I HEAR WHEN EVERYTHING'S PROCESSED LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW?

SO of course, Z:EA win round 1. The live performances will tell me if these guys really have any semblance of talent.