If MuBank has 3 "nominees" for the top spot, otherwise known as the top 3 of the week, Inkigayo or Inki as I call it has what we call "Take 7", which is essentially the top 7 of the week. The show also has a limit as to how many times an artist can win with a certain single/song - if you win the maximum amount of times you win what is called a "triple crown", meaning one single can only win the show/chart thrice.
Since the show has essentially the same performers as MuBank except for a few changes, I'll follow a similar order. Also, Epik High performed today but I won't include them as I know nothing about rap/hip-hop. Aish, let's just get on with it. Video credits go to the brilliant CodeMonmonMixes@YT unless stated otherwise.
F.Cuz - No One
OK. F.Cuz, again. Their performance today was so-so - the vocals were OK but they were just drowned out by the backing tracks 70% of the time so I can't really get a lot from the raw vocals. I noticed, this song just goes on and on and on and on and refuses to stop - in the worse possible way. Seriously. It's not like Sorry Sorry that gets stuck and you HAVE to hum it, this is just annoying.
YT: UnknownCarrot300
U-Kiss - Mworago
The performance today was tight. Again with the backing track ruling majority of the song but you can tell that some of the guys in the band can really or remotely sing/hold a melody. Tight performance, group dynamics in check, and a few questionable wardrobes are all present. Oh, and Dongho looks like a 3 year-old today. I'm sorry.
YT: UnknownCarrot300
BEAST - Shock
I missed BEAST, I really did. Their vocals today weren't very good and the backing track started to piss me off by the chorus but the song makes up for it. A bit. It still has hints of being cheap-ish, which I hope they lose once they get a bit more famous, but the production is superior to that of the boybands in their league. That and they're pretty good performers, actually. I just hate the cameraman today as well - he has GOT to learn how to hold the thing still. aish.
2AM - I Did Wrong
This is 2AM's last performance of I Did Wrong, so I assume they're expected to do damn well. I wouldn't say the vocals today were spot on because they were far from that, but compared to a lot of the other acts today they were definitely superior. And the short break before everything explodes a bit was done quite well. The backup dancers are really strange, but over-all it was a good performance. Good vocals make for most of a good performance.
After School - Bang!
Ah yes, After School. Still loving the song with the straight-up rhythm section and all, but the costumes today just distracted me. What the crap are those two THINGS near their necks? But that aside, their vocals today are still bleh, probably more than MuBank last Friday, but they still know how to perform. Good performers + bad vocals = not that good performance. I'm sorry, but this is music and you have to get the music part down as good as, if not better, than the performance part. Just a bit more, maybe a few graduations and a few new members who can sing?
SNSD - Oh!+Run Devil Run
OK, I won't talk about Oh! anymore because I just can't stand it. No more. It's crap and I'll leave it that that. The mics today were crap too - their already sub-par vocals were hardly audible, I'd preferred them to be audible, no matter how crap they are. Bunch of scaredy cats - the sound engineers, not the girls. The performance as a whole was decent - nothing to rave about, nothing to bash (other than what I've already said). Oh, and I like Yoona's dress today. hahah.
2PM - Don't Stop Can't Stop+Without U
2PM's comeback on Inki today wasn't really any different from the others - cages, warehouse-ish thing, pseudo-stripping, some acting here and there, dancing, mostly bad live singing, rapping, rapping and more rapping. The hooks were a bit, I heard more fan chants and screams today and the explosion of rain was pretty nifty but they're not really convincing me at this point and I don't think they ever will. That's life I guess.
Rain - Love Song
And the award for the most guyliner and mascara in one sitting goes to... none other than Rain. Dude, you look great without it, why bother? But anyway. His vocals today are pretty decent, but he's always been a "pretty decent" singer anyway. And whoever the sound engineer was for today's show should be shot - everyone, including THE Rain (and we'll get to Hyori later), sounded like crap. If we're to talk about vocals alone he'd probably just pass, but as a performer he's very good. I know I said it already but he has a certain aura on stage and a mind-blowing command of it - listening to him on recordings are fine and live-able, but seeing him perform is just something else.
Hyori - I'm Back+Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (WINNER)
Hyori wins today's Inki and she won last week's too - triple crown next week? I like that she doesn't just stick to the same pre-single performance then the single with varying outfits - the pre-single stuff change and she really jazzes things up, makes an effort. The dance breaks today, even if I know nothing about dance, were smoothly done on the music-side, and her vocals may have been crap but I think everyone's were. FIRE THE ENGINEER! I personally don't like her choice of wardrobe and her over-all style 'coz it's not my taste and I think she's trying too hard to be GaGa 70% of the time, but it does look like something she'd do, based on her previous stuff, and she sells it so what the heck.
Next week I'll be doing recaps of all 3 music shows - Music Bank, Music Core and Inkigayo. Yayyy!
I love that you're doing this! Live performances, when done right, are my favorite part of promotions :D
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you that everybody sounded junk today, which is odd because in my opinion, Inki is pretty good with the sound engineering.
Great work and keep it up!! I like that I can watch the videos and get commentary on them at the same time.
Hahah. They show just how good acts are, why wouldn't I do it! hahah.
ReplyDeleteUgh. Someone fire the engineer.