Thoughts on 2011 SBS Gayo Daejun Act 2

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.