Best of Weekly Music Shows : 7/7-7/12

Spicing up a rather dull week in music shows were the comebacks of Henry with “Fantastic”, Nu’est with “Good Bye Bye”, Seo Young-eun with “Mean Mean Mean”, DickPunks ft. 4Minute‘s Jiyoon with “Soulmate”and C-Clown with “Let’s Love”. B.I.G and LU:KUS made a shaky debut with “Hello” and “So Into U” respectively. This week’s trophies were equally divided between K.Will — M!Countdown and Show Champion — and Beast, — Music Bank and Music Core — the latter achieving a triple crown on Music Core. Considering the slew of unexciting performances, it was not a difficult job to pick my favourites but do comment with the performances of your choice.

Henry’s “Fantastic” on MBC Music Core, Saturday July 12th 2014

Nothing about this comeback is anything short of fantastic including this performance. The cellos and violins look damn impressive and sound even more impressive during the little interludes. Henry is flawless in his red suit although, his voice does sound a bit harsh on the ears. Whoever was in charge of the camera was having a jolly good time as (s)he somehow seemed hell bent on capturing random crotch shots almost every time Henry went “Fantastic”. Very subtle there…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs2n-Jljre0]

Sunmi‘s “Full Moon” on Mnet M!Countdown, Thursday July 10th 2014

This week M!Countdown celebrated its half year with a “Girls Girls Girls” special. The ladies who made significant comebacks in the first half of the year were onstage again but with lacklustre performances. Sunmi was the only one who stood out for me because she looked just as eerie as ever while performing “Full Moon” and it was great to see the strange stage setups again — this one being the best so far. I would have chosen “Catallena” but Nana looked terribly tired during the performance; Orange Caramel lacked their original spunk.

Orange Caramel’s cover of Sand Pebbles‘ “What Do I Do” on KBS Immortal Song 2, Saturday July 12th 2014

If this quirky trio had me disappointed by their M!Countdown performance, then they had me floored with this one! Having never considered Nana a good singer, my jaw sure took an epic drop when her fresh voice opened the song. Orange Caramel should also function as a jazz group because the girls sound amazing without their mandatory saccharine vocal styles.

However, after 2:30 there is a bombardment of quintessential Orange Caramel funkiness and it makes the song even better!

Seo Young-eun’s “Mean Mean Mean” on MBC Music Core, Saturday July 12th 2014

With the ban on lip-sync, it’s not time for the “real singers” to shine but rather for the hardcore soloists who don’t dance, because honestly, they don’t need to worry about anything. Seo Young-eun exemplifies this argument with her powerful performance, emoting beautifully while landing those high notes like a boss.

Son Seung-yeon‘s  cover of Lee Yong‘s “Wind Come Over” on KBS Immortal Song 2, Saturday 12th July 2014

And I thought nothing could beat my summer love for Ailee‘s “3! 4!” cover. There have been questionable wins on Immortal Song 2 but if Son Seung-yeon hadn’t won this episode, I would have considered the whole show a sham. Her performance was beyond amazing not only in her fantastic arrangement of the song but also in the execution of the same, thanks to her divine vocal prowess. Summer never felt so melancholic yet hopeful at the same time.

(MBC, Mnet, KBS. Image via MBC)