Welcome back to another week of Best of Weekly Music Shows!
Massive congratulations to Red Velvet, who continued their winning streak on MBC Show Champion, Mnet M! Countdown, KBS Music Bank, and SBS Inkigayo, upping their total number of crowns to a whopping 9! We also congratulate NCT Dream for their first ever win on SBS The Show with “My First and Last” — SM really killed it this week! This week saw performances of groups with very recent comebacks like Melody Day‘s “Kiss On the Lips”, as well as those of artists with slightly older releases, like Sonamoo‘s “I Think I Love U” and WJSN‘s “I Wish” (I got that track title majorly confused with I‘s song of the same name) which were both released last month. SF9 and Cross Gene also continued with their performances on multiple music shows.
Here are some of my personal favourites of the week!
Red Velvet’s “Rookie”, Mnet M! Countdown, February 16, 2017
Contrary to how a lot of people feel, I actually really enjoyed “Rookie” when I first listened to it. It’s quirky, fresh, fun, and it suits Red Velvet and their style of music very well. It’s also a joy (geddit?) to watch them nail their vocals as well as their amazingly intricate dance. In addition, it’s a relief that their stylists are finally doing their jobs — their outfits during this round of promotions, in particular this performance, are seriously much better. The reason why this stage in particular topped my list this week was mainly because of the cute intro with the puppet at the beginning!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtB-fyx0DGE
AkMu’s “Play Ugly”, SBS Inkigayo, February 19, 2017
“Play Ugly” is one of their B-sides off their newest album Winter, and this performance was just absolutely delightful! From their colourful stage to their fun dance moves and great singing, this made for a quirky stage that only the duo can pull off! I enjoyed the sibling interaction — especially Suhyun‘s judging face when Chanhyuk was dancing with the girls! Chanhyuk will apparently be enlisting this year, so it’s great to see AkMu getting more exposure on music shows before he leaves!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_mh3cm8028
Sonamoo’s “I Think I Love U”, KBS Music Bank, February 17, 2017
Sonamoo’s one of the girl groups that I have heard of, but don’t really know much about. I found out about them when I stumbled upon D.ana‘s and New Sun‘s self-composed rap on their official YouTube channel, and thought that the group had went down the path of a tough concept. You can imagine my surprise, then, when I found that their latest release “I Think I Love U” is of a cute style. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the song and the performance: it was the perfect combination of sweet with a hint of sassy. The green and white of their outfits gave off fresh and youthful spring vibes. More importantly, the girls looked like they were having fun on stage, and as a viewer, this made their stage just the more enjoyable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT0KAAuoYNI
SF9’s “Roar”, KBS Music Bank, February 17, 2017
The fact that SF9 is a dance group means that you can always look forward to their amazing performances. In terms of styling, I especially love their racing jackets in the form of suit jackets — it really makes for a refined yet fun look. The boys are extremely charismatic onstage, and their choreography is seriously no joke — the members easily switch formations and maintain their intricate synchronised dancing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FxlBW9ODRw
AkMu x Jinyoung (GOT7) x Jisoo (Blackpink) x Doyoung (NCT), “Winter Child”, SBS Inkigayo, February 19, 2017
Clad in the soft colours of pink and white against a snowy backdrop, the Inkigayo MCs, later joined by AkMu, teamed up to deliver a peaceful rendition of the Dream High OST “Winter Child” in celebration of Inkigayo‘s 900th episode. The beat later transitioned into quicker, more upbeat one as the vocalists all wished the show happy birthday. Two of my favourite moments during their stage: 1) Doyoung, Jisoo, Jinyoung, and Chanhyuk doing the wave as Suhyun sang; 2) Doyoung and Jinyoung putting their arms around each other, creating a ship that I didn’t even know I needed in my life (thank you for that beautiful shot, Inkigayo!).
What were your favourite stages this week?
