Veterans to the March Madness game know the first cut is the deepest… As we move from 64 to 32 the competition only becomes more intense.
Our editors can congratulate themselves on their predictive powers as the top seeds have triumphed yet again. We have a healthy variety of idols with years of experience and ridiculously talented rookies to take us to the next round.
SM water must taste like talent because Haechan, Max Changmin, Key, and Wendy have all progressed to the next stage of competition in the Vocal category. Technical, experienced vocalists like top-seed IU, Eunji, and Wheein should prove to be interesting to watch in future matches.
Our newly-introduced 4th Gen category was hotly contested in this first round – former Iz*One members make up three of the four contestents left over. Enhypen‘s Ice Prince Sunghoon was the biggest upset, coming from a sixth seed to dismiss Golden Child’s Bomin in a battle between music show MCs.
The next round of Dance picks will not be easy. Chungha takes on Momo and Sunmi faces Seulgi, all strong contenders. Two monster rookies have emerged outside of the 4th Gen category: Ateez’s Wooyoung won in a frankly cruel match with one of his famous besties TXT’s Yeonjun. If he makes it to the final four and Stray Kids’ Changbin triumphs in rap, another friendly feud could be on the cards.
Keep your votes coming for the next round to make sure your favourite is the winner!
Cast your ballot by Thursday, March 17, 23:45 (EST) to make sure it counts.
