Music / Idols
20111229_seoulbeats_gayodaejun

Thoughts on 2011 SBS Gayo Daejun Act 2

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Written by On December 30, 2011

Act 2 started out with a collaboration between 2PM and Kara. It was cute and it brought back some 1990s, perhaps catering to the fan from that era.  Shortly afterwards we had IU’s performance, where she sang “You and I” and G.NA’s “If you want a love” with B2ST’s Yoseob.  There were probably some uncle fans who wanted to see her “sexy” dance break, but I was happy to see that she chose to sing a duet instead, because that’s what she does best.

Time for the second horde of girl groups with F(X), Miss A, T-ara, and Brown Eyed Girls.  It was harder to choose which group stood out the most because I was torn between T-ara and Brown Eyed Girls.  F(X) did not bring anything new to the table and ultimately I had to choose between the chic T-ara or the confident Brown Eyed Girls. I choose T-ara because they did something new. Don’t get me wrong, Brown Eyed Girls rocked the show, but we’ve seen it before. T-ara not only gave us new dancing, but also gave us a new remix of “Cry Cry.”

Then we have the hip hop performance from Tasha, Gary (LeeSsang), Mir, Hoya, Taecyeon, Jun Hyung, and Dynamic Duo. We have a mixture of manufactured idol rappers versus the organic rappers.  Out of the idol rappers, Jun Hyung seems the most realistic because he fits the persona of rapper.  Also because he actually composes and writes lyrics, he gets bonus points.  Taecyeon and Hoya were awkward; Taecyeon just seemed to just say stuff while Hoya looked confused.

Song choice wise was great with the exception of “Get it In”.  Tasha is a great rapper and singer, but this song did her no justice. Every other song was great and I was jamming out to all the Dynamite Duo songs.  Overall I was content that SBS added the hip hop performance.

Following the hip hop performance, we have a rock-off between FT Island and CN Blue. Both groups sang their own respective songs, and then each band covered an American song accompanied by a girl group. FT Island covered “Don’t Cha” with F(X); while, CN Blue covered “Tainted Love” with the Wondergirls. The winner: FT Island. Song choice I would pick “Tainted Love” over “Don’t Cha”, but Yubin killed the song, literally.  She was off-key the majority of the time and by default FT Island wins.

Lastly before the “kings” and “queens”, we have B2ST.  They started off with each member doing an individual dance with the exception of Ki Kwang due to his injury.  Although the dances were fine, there was definitely a void because B2ST’s dancing shoes, Ki Kwang, wasn’t there to dance with them. Afterwards they perform “Fiction” with Ki Kwang sitting on a chair. Hopefully Ki Kwang heals quickly because B2ST isn’t just the same without him.

Now we hit K-pop royalty and first we have the queens of K-pop (Wonder Girls, Kara, 2NE1, and SNSD).  The win goes to 2NE1 just for CL alone. CL is the perfect example of what a performer is supposed to be, and as for 2NE1 in general even if you hate them or not, they will get your attention.

Lastly we have the kings of K-pop. This list features Lee Seung Gi, 2PM, Super Junior, and DBSK. Picking out the best out of this group difficult simply because everyone was up to par with each other, so I decided to call it a tie.

In conclusion, I liked this year’s festivals. There were some standout performances and there were some lackluster performances, but as long as we are entertained, that is all that matters to me in the end.

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  • O_O

    Just to clarify, Hoya was confused during the Hip-Hop Stage because his mic was malfunctioning the whole time. I honestly would’ve been happy if it was just Tasha, DD and Gary performing Tiger JK’s Monster. With the idol rappers it just seemed like they were competing to see who had the most swag.

  • cutiepie88

    Hip Hop stage I am sorry that was lame Tasha, Gary & DD flawless as usual & I must give props to Jun Hyung cause he was the best out of the idol rappers. I think Hoya mic didn’t work so he gets a pass but Mir & Taecyeon AWKWARD they had no business being on that stage at all ridiculous. The last hip hop stage was 10 times better just sayin.

    I felt this Gayo was like the MAMA awards part 2 only with some differences that’s my opinion. Oh if Big Bang was there they would have killed it! LOL! XD

    • Anonymous

      yup last year SBS rocked the hip hop stage with legit hip hop acts. this year? 

      /sigh

      • Bstar5

        ITA.  I was also baffled as to why Simon D wasn’t there.  With all those idols there should have been a true hip hop stage with Leessang, Tablo, Simon D, Dynamic Duo, and Tablo who all had releases this year.

  • http://twitter.com/chiwawa__ Chiwawa

    More or less all of the performances can be summarized as lackluster, rushed and badly thought out. I was highly disappointed with almost every single performance including 2NE1.
    Perhaps what 2NE1 did right was to skip doing some weird remix and just went up to sing there two songs and have Minzy have a dance break. But I expected a lot more considering this is the only new years show they’ll attend. They had over 6 minutes to create something special that people would remember until next year but they failed to do it because even in a month we won’t look back at this and say that it was amazing.

    For every year since 2008/2009 it feels like kpop is rapidly becoming worse and worse and I don’t know how long I can try and fool myself with that things will become better once again. The Gayo shows was once the biggest highlight of the year but has turned to yet another show because of the lack of time and effort that’s being put in.

    If we take these gayo shows including KBS into consideration 2012 will be filled with dubstep and shuffling and i’m a fan of neither.

    • *-*

      Yet I don’t blame 2NE1, they just came from japan and still put on a great performance. Plus 6 minutes is not really enough for a group that had more than 1 hit song this year. SBS just gave them whatever was left from the time they didn’t give to the SM idols. I was very dissatisfied that was all 2NE1 got for their last performance of 2011 in Korea, and they were probably equally disappointed. 

    • Anonymous

      2008/2009 were the golden years of kpop. Kpop is changing.  Now, almost every group that debuts has to have a certain gimmick or concept: D-cups, interracial, claiming to be acappella (y’all know who i am talking about). In addition to concepts and gimmick, they all want to be the next SNSD, TVXQ, Big Bang etc: Its possible, but, DEFINITELY, not any time soon. Each group that debuts is reminiscent of another group that has already debuted so everything seem duplicated including the performances.

    • Anon

      i recently rewatched the 2008 sbs gayo and it blew this one outta the water.

    • ME

      Oh, dear. I thought I was the only one felt disappointed in one Gayo. I was watching it on new year eve, wishing for something special. All I got was the impression of regular music shows with more fancy background (after seeing other Gayos online, not so much fancy… more annoying and not added extra values to the show itself). 

      Somehow, I could not help feeling guilty though, towards the Idols. Reading your post and comments, there were tons of lack of better organized end of year events that taken toll on the idols and also the fans. They have to performed under minimum facilities and mostly lack of times in preparation. Oh, how well we know some of the top performers flying back and forth, nearest to the Asian countries – some have to take a long journey across the world. 

      They have to juggle the world tours vs snuggle several year end performances. You can tell that they really lacked sleep/rest and not being able to enjoy the shows themselves. You can always say that as an entertainer it is her/his duty keep us entertained – but to what extend? 

      I could not even blamed the broadcast medias who didn’t come up with creative ideas on how to end new year program with differentiate and having blast with it. Why? They won’t even listen, idols brought them money, ratings, audiences. 

      If this was how to end 2011, I am afraid to put high hopes in 2012… 
      And if I feel guilty watching some performances, that should be something wrong with that. If there’s wrong, then I’m not entertained. 

      Sadly, I don’t have any idea on how to make it better…. 
      My best wishes to Kpop idols, hope they have a better year and better work-environment (wish from one worker to another). 

  • Anima

    Although Dongwoo’s definitely the better rapper, Hoya is actually a really good rapper imo, but his mic didn’t work so every time he spoke nothing came out and he kept getting yelled at it from the producers on the sidelines during the performance for forgetting his lines… I think that’s why he looked so awkward. I felt bad for him (or just infinite that day…)

    Taecyeon just needed to shut the hell up tbh, he was just shouting and that smug expression he had, ugh. Gary was the best imo followed closely by goddess Tasha. They should have invited KEBEE if they wanted real hiphop though… dude is flawless.

  • chelle

    SO 2 of the Gayo shows sucked real bad maybe MBC will be better, third time’s a charm.

  • http://www.twitter.com/veiledheart VeiledHeart

    Tasha has stage presence for days so that alone made her the standout. She just knows how to hold a crowd’s attention and get them hype. The mood was totally different when she came out. Out of the idols Junhyung was the best. Hoya’s mic clearly had some problems.

    And that’s pretty much the only part I care to remember. A lot of this just felt so blah. Even acts I love didn’t excite me. There was also a ton of mediocre dancing which just felt even more awkward because of the forced dance breaks and remixes.

  • TmL

    honestly I thought Mir held his own during the hip hop stage. I’ll forever be angered that taecyeon’s name is ever mentioned in the same sentence as hip hop or rap. Tasha was flawless, so was Gary, although I didn’t recognize him with his new hair.

  • T Hudson

    the best part of the hiphop stage was seeing all the other artist standing and awkwardly dancing  EPIC !! 

  • Gah

    kaaay. was i the only one who enjoyed taec’s performance in the hiphop stage? i thought he was the most enjoyable to watch. guess there’s no taec fans here.

    anyway… honestly disappointed that the writer only threw in one line for the Kings of KPop. I read through the entire thing and I expected so much for that last part. but i do agree! the performances were at par with each other. (yikes for Super Junior and DBSK if 2PM is finally catching up). each performance had its own highlight. for me, i thought 2pm’s stage was the most fun – especially near the end where they got the fans AND IDOLS to jam with them! so cool – they totally owned it! it was like their own concert. super junior was clean and exciting as always – now i feel like the whole ELF-SM-SBS war is kinda pointless coz i did hear some screaming and faint fanchants for them. lastly, DBSK – powerful as ever. 5 would’ve been explosive but the 2 of them are holding up. 

    • Johnny

      Why would we be fans of Taec’s rapping? He sucks he’s not even into hip hop. He didnt grow up listening to it or rapping on his own. JYP said here u cant sing or dance u can be the rapper.

  • Les

    Although SBS managed to pull off a decent show, what happened behind the scenes should not be ignored. I read a lot of fan accounts from the event (though yeah not sure if everything I read was credible) but i don’t think everything went smoothly for the fans and artists backstage. Contrary to some comments, there was no favoritism coz I think artists from all entertainment companies had their own dose of unfair treatment.

    Super Junior-ELF pre-recording fiasco
    2ne1 fans were apparently mistreated (as per Bom’s tweets)
    MBLAQ fans were commenting about how their oppas didn’t even have a proper dressing room – they were changing at the sides of the stage and stuff (WTF! I mean, really? SBS, how hard is it to put up the correct number of tents? This is MBLAQ – imagine what the rookies had? ugh.)
    Infinite fans also weren’t let inside the venue – apparently only 7 got in? Not to mention Dongwoo’s mishap. =(
    Technical difficulties all throughout Miss A and 2PM’s performance. RAWR. the mics were so low. did they not do soundcheck? >__<

    • Anonymous

      And Infinite’s Hoya’s mic malfunctioned during the rap collab. Dang, it was worse than I thought. Dongwoo’s incident made me angry. He wasn’t really hurt but seriously. And SuJu was whining about having a small room with one couch. Poor Mblaq, though. That must’ve been really embarassing, awkward, and degrading to change in the open.

      GET IT TOGETHER SBS

    • Anonymous

      ouch, it’s that bad? i felt bad for MBLAQ. ;_; when i watch performance cut last year i thought it was the worst already… with cameramen casually walk around and jiyeon omo voice during B2ST stage.

      it’s strange with how inkigayo is my favorite music show…

    • Jen

      2PM didn’t get a proper dressing room too! That was why you could see a bunch of 2pm members hanging around outside the tents in those BTS videos from SBS. 
      here’s the rest of the fiascos: UGH. http://oniontaker.tumblr.com/post/15049308513/sbsgayodaejun11-fiasco#axzz1i5fDY4tj

    • jess1

      Well, some said that EXO who has not yet debuted got their own room while others like MBLAQ and Infinite had to do everything in the hallway.

  • http://twitter.com/Laava90 Lava

    I really enjoyed T-ara’s performance they’re performances have been really great lately ^_^
    I think people took the hip hop stage a bit too seriously tbh, I think it was really fun and I think the idol rappers were just happy to be on stage with such a huge senior artist, you can’t expect them to match up to someone like tasha at least not yet, 3 of the idol rappers are only two years into their careers and have shown improvement so I found it mean how everybody criticized so harshly, I enjoyed that performance =)
    And I think FT Island and F(x)’s collab was really cute >_<

  • Guest

    this year’s gayo was one of the worst i’ve ever seen. the hosting was terrible, there was too much sm lipsynching, too few “big” stages and collabs. the few collabs and special stages were not really very special. the hip-hop stage was embarassing for every single idol on that stage. tasha, gary and dd made that work, the others looked like fools. wtf was taecyeon doing? 

    beg was great, it’s always fun to watch changmin scream and 2ne1 was okay. when one of 2ne1′s poorest perfs is better than 90% of all the other perfs, that’s when you realise what a joke kpop “lives” have become and i don’t even like 2ne1 very much.

    • http://www.twitter.com/hipployta Hipployta

      I’m going to Junhyung credit to though…

      • Guest

        sorry, i’m not a fan. he has the most monotonous rapping voice and terrible delivery. he tries a little too hard for me. and when tasha and the others are on stage, well…they make everyone else look like children and even junhyung’s forced swag can’t save him.

        • *-*

          Exactly!!!
           Boy needs to get his own swag and stop trying to be GD.

        • jess1

          This. For me, it’s like looking cool first than being a good rapper. 

    • https://me.yahoo.com/a/zs7ITR93moWQEekTSwzTHR9j1u.Z2xEl0w--#542b8 LoL

      exactly. i thought 2ne1′s performance was one of the best of the night, but to be quite frank, it really bored me.

      imagine how i felt about the other performances.

  • http://www.twitter.com/hipployta Hipployta

    Get It In is Tasha’s latest single so of course she performed that…and her charisma literally changed the entire stage. Does anyone remember which Gayo it was that had all the idol female rappers and Miryo (cause Miryo is Honey Family and therefore not an idol rapper) cover her song and then she came out? That was awesome. Honestly I have Gary as two different people in my mind because I cannot compute Leesang Gary and RM Gary as the same person…it’s just crazy.  Among the idol rappers I give the best on stage to Junhyung…but…does anyone else notice that Mir is turning into Junhyung’s twin? What happened to the cute red bob? 

    • Bad2dbonez22

      THat was MAMA 2009 where Miro, Hyuna, etc. performed Lip gloss then Tasha’s song Payday. Before Tasha came out, Hyuna was like grinding on this robotic props/dancer and it was hella awkward.

      • http://www.twitter.com/hipployta Hipployta

        Yeah…it was the same deal…Tasha came out and shut that stage DOWN…it was epic.  *smiles at memory* Man…I sound like such a fangirl but everything I’m saying is true

  • SHINee52911

    Why no BIG BANG?

    • Guest

      they’re still on hiatus and will not be on tv doing music as a group till their comeback in march.

  • akbfan

    i thought this whole show was a mess..they were so many smtown performances that it felt it was a smtown concert instead of an end of the year celebration

  • Anonymous

    T-Ara won over BEG for me. BEG is awesome as usual… but it’s just… too usual. For a GD performance, I was hoping for something moar. I want some gimmicky Kpop for GD! 

    Overall, act 2 is much more enjoyable for me. At least SM idols play around with other idols this time round. And Yoseob-IU too! I hope some rabid fans can learn not to bash IU when it’s clearly Yoseob who fanboy-ing this girl. Call me some IU crazy fans, but I really think IU should be put in last line-up too. I mean, she’s not a newbie, she sells more than Kara, and she’s Inkigayo MC (okay, this is kinda unrelated). 

    I anticipate MBC Gayo Daejun today with more WGM gimmicks. And those three groups would be performing in Japan right? Heheh. I bet Super Junior will be the closing act. And I always have faith with MBC sound system and camera.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/ほしの-あゆみ/100002113624094 ほしの あゆみ

    2NE1 didn’t wow me at all, a 6 minute hot mess not that the rest of the show was much better except Tasha and Gary. 

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LL4QDJLVFDT2RDIZYBALSE75JE angel29

      But you have to admit that you hate 2NE1… which is why you couldn’t really appreciate them the slightest.  I’m not arguing with you.  Just stating an obvious point. ;) 

      • lay

        LOL. so true. it’s obvious in all this person’s previous comments.

  • usagi_chan1516

    In my case i choose CNBLUE&WG Tainted Love over FT Island&F(x) ..F(x) was lacking a lot, hongki saved that performance because it didn’t make sense to me..it was kind of awkward :S

    • Bstar5

      I love CNBLUE, but I have to give it to FT Island.  I think because Hongki is just a front man he’s more free to work the stage and he works it well; it just gave their stage more energy.  I think the CNBLUE/WG “Tainted Love” stage would have been better if it was just Sunye and Yenny singing.  Their vocals were strong and with just the two of them there would have been more room for them to work the small stage they were on.  Yubin gave off a sexy, edgy rocker chick vibe in the opening with Yonghwa but I think the attempt at rocker vocals didn’t work for me.  f(x) did much better with their vocals for “Don’t Cha”.  Amber was a good choice to be the member to pop out first.  The only issue I had was f(x) really didn’t give off a vibe with their choreography that matched the song.  But in the defense of everyone who performed, given all I’ve read about the BTS of the SBS Gayos this year, I don’t think any of them had much time to practice and put their stages together.

  • martian

    I was so.. bored. I skimmed through the first 15 secs of every perf and though okay this was shit and just decided not to watch any of the full performances at all. 

    • martian

      Although I enjoyed 2ne1′s perf at least they didn;t dance around like it was a normal music show broadcast. It felt like a bit of a concert, they rocked out covered the stage they were given and didn’t just dance. I feel like they are what performers should be. These stages really showcase what else groups have other than dancing to their songs. Its easy to learn choreography and practice it and perform it 3153527356854 times. 2NE1 definitely have the stage presence that everyone else lacks cause they bring the performance to you while the other groups just seem to choreographed and awkward. :S

      • martian

        The hip hop stage was a hot mess at the beginning.. it hoguth you were joking when someone said Hoya looked like he had no idea what he was doing… and yerh he looked EXACTLY like he had no idea.

        • unknown

          its because his mic didn’t work thats why he looked like he had no idea what he had to do

  • beautifulnightmare

    2ne1 stage presence is their asset which most group lacks. I admit, It may not be their best performance but it was far better that the other performances of the night. Still happy atleast they represented YG. Hope bigbang and other YG artist will join next year Nothing spectacular .. It was boring most of the time.

  • 123

    I laughed through 2ne1′s performance. The four of them dressed like they could own a salon together or something. Im the Best bored me and was pretty messy… Ugly got better but eh. 2ne1 didn’t impress me at all, none of the girl groups did actually. They all sounded the same. 

    • Cc

      but u saw their perfomance until end too..

  • Jenna

    Yoona looked stunning as an MC but thats it. The whole concert was boring, messy, and there was nothing memorable. And boy Wonder Girls sounded really bad. Sexy version of Be My Baby? I’d rather not hear it again. 

    • Cheng

      “Sexy version of Be My Baby? I’d rather not hear it again. ” — totally agreed .. Sohee’s voice sounds sooo .. annoying: ..

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LL4QDJLVFDT2RDIZYBALSE75JE angel29

    2NE1′s performance may have been consistent with their other performances but it did not seem to bring anything new to the table.  There was nothing exciting about the SBS performance that I did not already see in the other previous performances.  And I’m a big fan, if you get my drift.  I shouldn’t be complaining because they were good, and better than most IMO.  It’s just that I was hoping for something a tad different.

  • Anonymous

    The whole show was a mess and 2NE1 wasn’t up to par with their past Gayo performances. I love CL and all, but I feel like Minzy was the one who carried that performance. CL’s been looking a little uptight on stage lately and she seemed to be screaming a lot during this performance. I felt like she didn’t enjoy performing it all… Minzy, however, looked and sounded amazig, and seemed like she was enjoying the performance. I think she’s really growing into her own. She’s a lovely little thing :)

  • Bua

     For Ft.Island and CN Blue with girl groups, I pick CN Blue cuz though Yoobin is out of tune but Sunye and Yeeun saved them gracefully while all f(x) members were super awkward with this rock music esp. Victoria’s expression near the end of the perf. Just awkward and out of place.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002153660657 Fatin Cyrus

    there’s a lot SM perf’.. sometimes i feel like i’m watching smtown.. it quite dissapointing me… 
    why..? is sm need more money..? yes, u can do that but plez don’t make a messy stage…
     ican hear lipsync are everywhere in their performance… don’t get me wrong,  i love sm but it seem unfair with the other companies…..

    • Bstar5

      I loved SM Orchestra but I don’t think SM should have opened the show with the performance they had.  I love music shows where the opening is so huge that it just gets you excited for the rest of the show and that performance just didn’t.  A surprise opening is the best kind.  Big Bang surprising everyone by opening the show would have been awesome.  And we already know SBS loves them so that would have been the one network to do that performance.

  • Angel_in87

    2NE1 in general even if you hate them or not, they will get your attention.

  • Pg13247

    It was so disappointing to see so many of the performances were just like the weekly stages except in a nicer place. Many of the groups couldn’t even bother doing something a little different.There wasn’t nearly enough collaboration between the senior groups. The rookies all did something together, but not some of the older groups.

    I always thought it would be fun to see one of the groups shuffle all of their parts around so people would have different lines than what they would usually sing. The choreography would be ruined but they could just skip it and just walk around on stage hyping up the audience.

    Example: SNSD for the boys: Jess/Tae/Seo = Rap Yuri/Hyo/Yoona/Soo/Tiffany = Sing. They probably would sound terrible but with enough enthusiasm people would love the performance and it would make the performance stand out good or bad.

    Switchups of songs between groups would also be fun to see except narrow-minded fanclubs would just make it become a: “Who sang the song better competition.”  (2NE1/WG/SNSD/KARA switch up or make 4 different groups using members from each)

  • Nana

    Oh Yoona that dress was so unflattering on you. 

  • jess1

    You chose T-ara? How disappointing. I agree to almost all your choices except for this. So, they a remix. But what did they do? They just basically stood there since the remix was softer than the original sound. None of them can be heard because the backtrack was too loud. I was not surprised really. I don’t find them great performers anyway, but that was just so boring to the point of annoyance.

    CL definitely knows how to perform. Just her eye expression at the beginning will tell that it will be a good performance. I think Wonder Girls did awesome with that BMB version. It was simple and sexy without going over the top. 

    • Cheng

      additionally ..Sohee’s voice sounds sooo annoying ..

  • Guest

    I think Hoya was awkward there because his mis had some problem. You can see his anxiety when he realised his mic made not sound. It’s natural for him to be awkward in such a situation.

  • ovinizm

    i love wg’s bemybaby sexy version, i love yubin’s part there..damn sexy!!

  • Black_Plague

    Even as a casual fan of T-ara, I found that remix of Cry Cry to be rather boring to listen to. It just didn’t have the same feel. The backtrack was also a tad a bit too loud, to put it nicely – but then again, Soyeon, Hyomin and Eunjung are the only members who can actually sing whereas the rest are just awful in it.