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boysplanetrecaps · 2 months

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Build Up, Ep 5 Recap: The Neglected Performances

Welcome back to the one of the top twenty best Build Up recaps out there! In the previous one, we saw an adoring junior take on his senior. In this one, we’ll talk about the four performances that MNET saw fit to skip almost completely.

So yeah, MNET saw fit to just unceremoniously fly through a total of four performances in less time than they spent on most of the other single performances. I’m so mad I feel like I could spontaneously combust. Where is Junyheok and Yeo One’s fire extinguisher?

MNET spent about a minute per round (ie, less than 30 seconds on each performance) but I’ll go through a little more carefully.

First up is Hyukjin and Jeong Inseong versus Lee Minwook and Jang Intae.

I’ll remind you who everyone is as we go along, since MNET hates all eight of these guys for no reason.

Hyukjin is from an unfortunately VERY nugu group called Fave1. He was in the Power group, V22, the one who sang that heavy metal sounding song. I mean, he frickin’ went for it, I’ll give him that. He wore that red suit on the first day. He performed in the Kajima Kajima (Don’t Go) group, and was made Low Tier just because everyone else did a bit better, not because he did badly. He seems to have lightened his hair a little bit since the Pre-4 round.

Jeong Inseong is from a group called KNK. He was a V6, in the Allround section, and I remember really liking that first performance (my notes just read, “ooh, I like!”). He was in Breath, and along with Hwanhee, was sort of a go-to backstage reaction king during the whole Pre-4 mission. We didn’t hear what the judges thought of his performance one where or the other, but I thought he had a smooth, rich voice.

They’ve decided to sing a song called Still Love You, originally performed by Lee Hongki and Yoo Hweseung. If you watched either You’re Beautiful (the Hong sisters k-drama) or Produce48, you’re familiar with Lee Hongki; he was Jeremy in You’re Beautiful and he was the cool, Japanese-speaking vocal coach in Produce48. But of course, you might know him as a member of FT Island. Hweseung was on PD101 Season 2. Now he is the main vocalist of N Flying, and I think he has a glorious voice. So yeah, I like both these guys.

The song itself isn’t my thing, but that’s fine, it doesn’t have to be. The lyrics are just typical K-ballad material -- “I love you and I’ll miss you and I will never forget you but I nobly hope you’ll be happy” blah blah. You know the drill.

Full version here.

My thoughts:

Overall, I actually like their version better than the original. I’m not a huge fan of the song itself, but I like the way they sing it.

Hyukjin is the weaker of the two vocalists, which is a bummer because I root for anyone who gets less than 10,000 views on his MVs. He still has a very nice voice. He just has a bit of sharp nasality occasionally that kind of spoils his tone. He also could slightly improve his agility. His straining high notes at the end were not… great. On the positive side, he has a really nice natural vocal color when he’s not straining, and he has excellent pitch and breath control, allowing him to hold -- and control -- long powerful notes, as long as he doesn’t push the high pitch too hard. I wish he’d sing more in his lower register, because that’s what I think sounds best.

I really like Inseong’s voice. It doesn’t quite give me the tingles like Jay’s voice, or Neon’s, or Euibin’s, but it’s so nice. It’s just so rich and nice to listen to. He varies his dynamics, singing softly and cleanly sometimes, and loud and powerfully other times. He uses just the right amount of vibrato for my taste. I just think he’s a great singer.

Their harmonies sounded really pretty; you can hear both of them, so they’re blending just right.

Ok, so let’s see what we see on the show.

The editors made sure to include Hyukjin’s not-too-great high notes. Sigh. They get an 87 from Wendy and a 65 from Jaehwan! Way harsh, Tai!

VCG says, “You should have made the best use of your weapons, but since you used it too often, it didn’t seem like a special move.” I assume he’s addressing Hyukjin, and I think I get what he means. Hyukjin kept the emotional level at 11 the whole time, and didn’t really vary up his dynamics. I think that’s kind of how the original version of the song goes, as well, but maybe they could have adapted it a little more.

Poor Inseong. He sang so beautifully. Even if that one high note of Hyukjin’s wasn’t great, poor Inseong got dragged down with him.

Next up is Minwook and Intae.

Lee Minwook is from a group called Newkidd. He was in the Soul group, V9, and you guys, that little performance has been living in my playlist ever since. He wore a bunch of vests, including that bright blue vest that sort of gave gym-class jersey vibes. I really like his voice, but I guess the other guys didn’t because he was tied for 33rd in the vocal check in. He ended up in Something Like That, where the judges praised him effusively and he was chosen as Top Tier.

Jang Intae is from the Allround group, V31, and is one of the mysteries of the show. I don’t even know his age. He actually came in last in the initial vote after the vocal check in, with only 5 votes. He was in the Every Moment group, along with Bain and Seunghun from CIX. Unfortunately, I haven’t exactly loved his singing on the show so far. In my opinion, his voice is quite nasal, and he lacks both agility and breath control. Solar disagrees with me, though; she voted for him as Top Tier (everyone else voted for Seunghun).

The song they’ve chosen is Universe by EXO. This may shock and amaze you, but I really like this song. What? ME? LIKE A SONG BY EXO? WHAT NEXT?

Anyway yeah, it’s a great song. Sure, the lyrics are basically the same as those of most k-ballads -- I lost you but I’ll look for you forever, blah blah -- but the chords are complicated and interesting and there’s a drive and power to it that make it feel authentic. Plus they look like this:

Was there ever a more delightful concept than just “they’re dressed for fall and holding steamy mugs”? Sigh.

Anyway, I’d be scared to sing this song because the original was sung by some of the best vocalists in the world, but I really like Minwook, so let’s see what he can do!

Full version

Mostly, very nice, and since my ears can’t help but compare them to D.O. and Chen and Baekhyun and Suho and Xiumin and Chanyeol, for me to say they did well is a big compliment. I do think they were both a bit nervous. This is still really nice, but their soft notes were shaky for both of them.

Intae did better than he did the other times I’ve heard him, and Minwook didn’t do quite as well as other times, so they ended up a balanced pair.

Intae, left, and Minwook, right.

Minwook starts off a bit shaky. His tone is very pretty, but he actually hits the wrong note at about the :27 mark in the Youtube version. If you haven’t listened to the song 1000 times like I have, you may not notice, but I noticed, and I feel like the judges might have noticed too. (I thought about it -- was that a purposeful change on his part? And all I can say is that if it was meant to be purposeful, it doesn’t SOUND it, so the effect is the same.) His belts on the chorus also seemed a little harsh and out of control. But his natural vocal color is really nice, and he has a nice way to him, where he’s not overacting or straining all the time.

Intae was still a bit nasal for my taste, but less so than other times I’ve heard him. He also uses more vibrato than I prefer, but not all the time. He has a lot of power to his belts and

Their harmonies sounded really great, even the ones I think they worked out on their own that weren’t in the original song. I think they were smart to drop the octave right after that one long note.

In the brief glimpse we see of them in the actual show, they look great. We only get a tiny bit of commentary, and it’s from Solar, who gave them their high score of 96. It’s not clear who Solar is addressing, but she tells someone -- maybe both of them -- “you have a great voice, and your manner and style of singing is also good. I think it was even better because you created it together.” Again, Solar is the same one who voted for Jang Intae in a previous round. She just really likes him for some reason. Seungkwan gave them their low score of 78, but we don’t hear from him.

We get the final score, and it’s 543 to 589 in favor of Minwook and Intae. If you do the math and subtract out the high and low scores, the average score of the other five judges was 83 for Minwook and Intae, and it was 78.2 for Hyukjin and Inseong.

Round ten! Ding Ding!

Next up is fan favorite and Boy’s Planet survivor, Lee Hwanhee of Up10tion, paired with soldier and Pixar character Jo Hwanji. Hwanji isn’t dressed as a soldier today; he and Hwanhee are both wearing leather jackets instead, and Hwanhee has decided to a 90s scene girl looking choker. They’re going up against Lim Sanghyun and Taewoo.

Team Hwan-hee-ji has decided to sing Four Seasons, originally by Taeyeon of SNSD. Here’s the Full version on Youtube.

My thoughts:

Ok, I’m not the biggest fan of jazzy singing, but this seems really nice. They seem to be enjoying what they're doing and it comes across kind of classy and cool.

I think Hwanhee uses a tiny bit too much vibrato for my taste here, and he gets a tiny bit shrieky, but it feels like a stylistic choice. Hwanji’s voice is so clean and lovely except for his kind of painful shrieky high note at about 2:57 in to the Youtube version. Neither of them are nasal and both have good breath control and sense of pitch. They also brought bounce and interest into it with their facial expressions and dynamics.

They did a thing where they sang one line back and forth to each other, and it kind of makes sense when you know the lyrics are “We longed for each other / We got sick of each other.” And their cute punchy harmony section right after that sounded great.

The MNET edit is downright cruel. It makes it seem like they did that “trade lines back and forth” the whole time, but that was just one little part. The on screen captions say things like “the two voices do not sound in harmony.” Who writes these captions? What are you talking about?

We find out that their high and low scores were 79 and 69 respectively. I don’t get what the judges are annoyed about. It just feels like they were tired and cranky here in tenth round, really. Because 79 high and 69 low feel punitive. Are you really saying that they were worse than Woong and Seokhwa? Yeah, Hwanji had that one bad note, but come on.

Wendy gave the high score of 79, but we don't get to hear from her. VCG, who gave the low score, says “I couldn’t hear the lyrics. ‘I’m good at this’, ‘this is how good I am,’ ‘This is how high I can go and I can sing a little jazzy,’” he says in a mocking tone. “I think it was a performance that only showed your skills.”

Genuine question: Were they not supposed to show their skills? What were they supposed to show? I’m confused. If they hadn’t shown their skills, you would have said “I wanted to see your skills.” What was bad about showing their skills? What is bad about showing that they’re good at this?

Also, I am far from fluent in Korean, but I could compare what they were singing to the lyrics I found online and I didn’t get lost along the way, so they were pronouncing it well enough for *me* to understand them.

Hwanhee and Hwanji take their bad scores with grace. Hwanhee has been on dozens of these shows by now and is just like, sure, whatever.

Next up is Lim Sanghyun and Taewoo. They both performed in the Beautiful group. I enjoyed Sanghyun’s soft, gruff tone, but couldn’t quite get behind Taewoo’s “YG” style with its sharp, nasal tone and swaggy affectations.

They’re singing Downpour, the song I.O.I. used as its sort of “goodbye” before it disbanded. The lyrics mark it as a fairly standard k-ballad about a breakup, comparing the sadness of a breakup to a temporary downpour, but it has a lovely melody. Fun fact: It was co-written by Woozi of Seventeen!

Full version without reactions

My thoughts:

I still am not really on board with Taewoo’s style of singing, though I think it would have a time and place. It’s not that he’s a bad singer; it’s just that I don’t much like the manner of his singing. He does this little sigh thing at the end of each line that is very YG feeling and not something I like, and he is unpleasantly pitchy on his falsetto and shrill when he employs his mixed register. Note to note his voice can sound really different, and some of the ways it can sound is nice, but he’s affected and stylistic when I think his natural color might be his nicest voice.

Also, why don’t people open their eyes? What is this singing with your eyes closed thing so many of them do? And I’m aware, they probably don’t have completely closed eyes, but if that’s how it looks on camera, then… they should be aware of how it looks, right?

Sanghyun is still more my style. His voice is just so soft and pretty in a smoky kind of way. He does kind of drop off at the end of lines sometimes, but not all the time, so I won’t hold it against him or anything. Sometimes his voice reminds me a little of Baekhyun’s, so that’s a compliment, right? I really don’t have a lot to say just because it’s such a nice voice -- not nasal at all, not pitchy, good breath control. None of the bad things, all the good things.

I do actually think their voices sound nice next to each other, but I wish Sanghyun had a different partner.

In the MNET edit, we see a few moments with the caption, “A stage with very different voices but good harmony.” They get a high of 100 and a low of 85, so it’s pretty clear that they’ve won.

We can’t see which judge gave them which score, but I assume that Solar may have given out the 100. We get to see her saying, “When different people come together like this, a truly unique team will emerge. That’s what I felt watching the performance.”

The final score is 641 to 515, which is just… ouch. That means that Hwanhee and Hwanji got the second lowest score of the whole round. It was just unnecessarily harsh for no raisin.

If you take out the highest and lowest scores and find the average of the remaining scores, the other five judges gave Team Hwan-hee-ji an average score of 73.4, and gave Sanghyun and Taewoo an average score of 91.2.

Well, I’m so glad we spent so much time watching Geonu and Soomin make up a handshake, and watching Inhyuk and Joohee smack talk, and had instant replays and reactions drag things out the whole time, and wasted time with people wondering what the score would be just seconds before the score is actually shown, etc.

Imagine if we’d used that time to watch the SINGING on a SINGING SHOW that would have been TOO MUCH SINGING FOR A SINGING SHOW PLEASE I only want to watch people MAKE UP HANDSHAKES AND SMACK TALK ON MY SINGING SHOW The word “SING” stands for “SMACKTALKING IS NOW GOOD” and “MUSIC” stands for “MAKING UP SHAKES IS CRUCIAL” I guess

Why do I watch these MNET shows?

Oh yeah, that’s why.

Ok, I’m going to cut it off here for now, and my next post will be an Elimination Special! See you then!

XOXO

BRP Unnie/Noona

#mnet build up #bpr recaps build up #build up mnet #build up #up10tion #lee hwanhee #knk #newkidd #Inseong #Jeong Inseong

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boysplanetrecaps · 2 months

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Build Up Episode 2 Recap: Something Like That

Welcome back to my recaps for the MNET show Build Up. In the previous one, we covered the performance of Tomboy from episode 2. In this one, we’ll continue with episode 2 and cover the performance of Something Like That. Let’s do it!

So, this song is originally by a woman named Park Hwayobi, whose is often known as just Hwayobi. She’s been called the Korean Queen of R&B and she’s credited as a singer songwriter, though I don’t know if she writes all of her songs or just some of them. She’s been putting out music pretty steadily since 2000, with her most recent song coming out in 2021. I think she’s currently mired in some sort of contract dispute with her former agency, and that might be why she hasn’t put out any songs in a few years.

The song Something Like That is apparently also known as What’s Going on. I found a video for it on Youtube, which apparently was filmed on a potato and then recorded on a piece of Laffy Taffy for posterity, so watch it at your own risk. Musically, it sounds like a song Toni Braxton might have sung in the late 90s or early 2000s. Lyrically, t’s a breakup song, kind of akin to Don’t Speak by No Doubt. Sample lyrics:

After walking some distance/ You'll turn around to give me a glance won't you / With that, just like the old days / You'll come to me and hug me with a smile won't you?

You really liked me once, you had treasured me so much / No, I'm going to believe / that something like never seeing you again / will never happen

Though the song itself is pretty old, it’s been covered many times, as the editors of Build Up point out, including a 2023 version sung by Paul Blanco, who I know nothing about but appears to be male. In other words, this won’t be the first time that men sing this song.

The judges joke a bit about how difficult the song is to sing, noticing as if for the first time that all the songs are hard. I mean, isn’t that the point?

Flashback to the beginning of the mission. We see a little montage of all the groups meeting each other, shaking hands, being a little silly, getting to know each other.

Then we see Team Something Like That and they’re just sitting there, looking kinda beige.

Finally, Taehwan from Vanner, the most colorful of them, asks everyone about their ages, so they can establish their pecking order.

Left to right: Ma Jae Kyung, Kwon Euibin, Taehwan, Lee Minwook

Turns out that Taehwan is the oldest, at 30 years old, and Minwook is the youngest, at 24.

We didn’t see much of any of these four in the first episode, so here’s a brief recap of who they are. See my Episode 0 recaps for more info on everyone.

Jaekyung used to be the main vocal of a group called Romeo, performing under the name of Kyle. He was V25 and I didn’t love his super nasal tone and wobbly vibrato, but maybe he’ll surprise me next time!

Euibin is a trainee who has been on other shows. He was V35, and I thought his voice was sweet and pretty, but he strained on some of the higher notes and occasionally got a little shouty.

Taehwan was shown on camera a ton in episode 1, but we didn’t hear much from him. He’s from a group called Vanner that actually seems to be on the up and up. He was V13 and I thought he sounded a bit pinched and nasal, but he has a warm, textured voice -- a lot of talent, maybe less training.

Minwook is from a group called Newkidd. He was V9, a ballad I actually kind of liked. He sang completely live with apparently just a guitar, and I liked how much warmth he put into his lower notes. I didn’t get to hear much belting or upper register, but I liked what he did already a lot.

It’s kind of interesting that Jaekyung and Taehwan are in this group together, since they were both in groups that competed on Peaktime last year. But they might not have met during that competition, since it was group based and they might not have mixed.

Keeping with the theme of seeing very little of any of these four, we see almost nothing about them during their rehearsal period. They’re portrayed as boring and stiff and pale when they meet, and then we go almost immediately to the performance, with the on-screen caption, “What would the emotional ballad Something Like That be like interpreted by these four?” It’s dripping with sarcasm. Thanks, editors. Theditors.

Taehwan, their leader, introduces the team as Four J, and they all make J shapes with their legs.

LTR: Kwon Euibin, Lee Minwook, Taehwan, Ma Jaekyung

They explain that the name is based off their MBTI -- they’re all “J”s.

Backstage, Jay Chang says he’s also a J/Jay, and when Solar says “I love J,” Jay says, “Thank you!” making Geonu laugh.

The members introduce themselves one by one, starting with Euibin. He speaks in a kind of monotone, saying, “If you hear it once, you’ll remember my voice”. His words appear as a caption on-screen with periods in between each syllable, and the editors add a pixelated noise, as if he’s a robot.

Backstage, some of the guys are laughing, but I don’t think it’s mean spirited. They say, “he’s so nervous!” and shout that he’s cute.

Next is Ma Jaekyung, who says he wants to serenade us. He says he’s a former member of Romeo.

Taehwan introduces himself as the main vocal of Vanner and says he’s a human cider. Ok, let me explain. In Korea, a “cider” is a soda like 7up or Sprite, not the alcoholic apple juice. In slang terms, the feeling of the word cider is of refreshment in general, especially if someone says something that perfectly expresses what you’re feeling. Here’s more on that, if you’re interested.

Baekho asks Taehwan if he went on a survival program recently, and Taehwan confirms that he did, with a smile. Baekho says that Taehwan’s grades on that show were good, and yes, they were! Vanner actually won Peak Time. We see a clip of other contestants approaching Taehwan during the first episode to congratulate him on Vanner’s win.

Baekho says, Your team already has a reputation for good singing…? And Taehwan says that he wants to be known personally for his singing. He’s a cutey, isn’t he?

Lee Minwook introduces himself as “Sweet but full of ambition -- Lee Minwook of Newkidd.” The judges ask him why he came on the show, and he says that his group debuted during Covid-19 and have never really done any proper team activities. Everyone says “waaa… aigoohh”

It’s almost as if these guys have really interesting backstories, MNET? And maybe we could have spent some time getting to know them?

Oh, but we’re not going to do that? Just going to briefly show a few still images of Newkidd and then go straight into the … oh, no time, here we go!

Here’s the link without all the reactions.

My thoughts:

Oof, what a cheesy arrangement, with bad sound mixing that was actively fighting the vocals. But the vocals themselves were mostly pretty fantastic. Lot of good stuff here.

Minwook was occasionally slightly pitchy at the start, but he warmed up and got better as he went. He had a lovely vocal color, with sweet high notes. His belts later on in the song were fantastic. Really, really great stuff.

Jaekyung was a lot less nasal than he was in his teaser performance, and none of that ultra-wobbly vibrato. Just a really great performance.

Euibin may well have been quite nervous, because he was pitchy and nasal for his first two sections of singing. His vocals got cleaner and cleaner as he went, and we could hear some of the excellent technique and lovely vocal color that must have earned him a spot on the show. That one belt toward the end, during the key change, was amazing. His last line was a tiny bit pitchy again, though. Also, he never varied his facial expression.

Here’s Taehwan. Uh oh, guys, I think I have another bias. Slightly older with an appealing smile? Check. Voice that gives me shivers? Check and check. Ok, his first line or two were maybe slightly pitchy but then he got into it and it was amazing. I’ve listened to this a few times, not looking at the screen so I’m just hearing the voices, and every time it’s Taehwan’s turn I’m like ahhhh. Like when you stick your cold feet into the warm water of a jacuzzi. Ahhh. I know I said in my initial write up that I didn’t think he had as much training as some of the others, but I take that back. This guy knows how to sing. I know I’m not saying anything of substance but I just like his vocal color so much.

All four of them are great, and Jaekyung and Minwook are excellent, but Taehwan is superb.

Side note: what is this weird liminal place they’re performing in front of? Just this mostly empty room with egg-sized raindrops beating down on the garage door sized windows.

The MNET edit lets us know that all this singing is good.

Soomin likes the singing. I think. I guess?

Solar likes the singing. I think. I guess?

We hear some instant replays of Euibin’s big note during the key change, but otherwise they’re pretty restrained.

When they’re done, the judges applaud, and backstage, the boys wonder who could even be chosen as top tier in a group where all of them were so good.

Jaehwan leads things off by praising how smooth and effortless Minwook’s singing was as he went through the song.

Baekho tells Taehwan that this is the first time he’s really heard Taehwan sing, like really sing, and he was so happy to hear his real real voice. VCG agrees.

Eunkwang points out that Euibin did a great job with those high notes in the middle, but that the first two sections he sang were a bit disappointing. Ok, for once I agree with Eunkwang. Mark your calendars.

We don’t hear anything about Jaekyung, good or bad.

So who will the top tier be?

Baekho votes for Euibin. VCG votes for Taehwan. Solar, Eunkwang, and Jaehwan vote for Minwook.

I can’t be mad at it -- he did an excellent job. Congratulations, Minwook! You deserve it.

See, Taehwan says congratulations, too!

Minwook says he really didn’t expect to win. He’s stunned. He says it’s his first time winning first place and that it’ll probably be one of the most important events of his life.

Then we have a preview of awfulness to come. Sigh.

The next song up is going to be Sum (Breath). I’ll see you then and there! Thanks as always for reading. <3

#bpr recaps build up #vanner #newkidd #taehwan

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