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   Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 16:29:12 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

   Skimming through this week's #ChuangAsiaS2 on the tram today -- mostly just the performances. I'll watch the full episodes tonight.

   I wasn't sure last week, but I'm pretty sure this week that they're not singing live during the stage performances.

   Some of the singing isn't *great*, but there aren't any disastrous flubs like I'd expect from trainees on a show like this.

   It's understandable and I get why they're doing it, but it makes it hard to tell who might genuinely be able to sing live while also dancing.

   I guess that they'll move to singing live during performances at some point in the competition.

   The cover of Seventeen's "Super" didn't disappoint. I was sad that it went head to head with the "Under the Moon Road" tram, and only one of those teams could win.

   The "Firework" team was so good too. #Thi_O is right up there with my favourites.

   In fact I feel like something of a basic fan because my 2 faves are also the top-ranked in the voting.

   • Embed this notice
     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 17:16:13 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     • Malthea

     @Musicappreciator7 I know I've seen live vocals in the stage performances from similar shows in the past.

     But I don't remember if the live vocals were in the early rounds or the later ones.

     It's possible that we'll get live vocals in the later rounds, after they've given the less-experienced trainees a little more time to settle in. I hope so. Singing live is an important ability to have for anyone who's genuinely going to debut.

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     Malthea (musicappreciator7@kpop.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 17:16:14 JST Malthea

     in reply to

     @lookitmychicken I noticed this with the season I'm watching, it very much seems recorded vocals

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 17:26:37 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     "Still Monster" team was disappointing in that their performance didn't seem to match the lyrics of the song. Part of it was the choreography and the somewhat insipid backing track arrangement, but a big part of it was that most of the team didn't seem to be able to embody or convey the meaning behind the lyrics.

     Among the mentors, #The8's comments tend to be the most insightful and useful. Having smoke blown up your ass can be fun, but it doesn't help these boys to improve their performances.

     Having said that, I hope #BamBam continues to fanboy and flirt hard with #HuYetao. I love that he openly acknowledges his bias and gets excited whenever he's in Taotao's presence. I dont think Taotao was quite expecting this but he's doing a good job of bouncing the energy back and forth with BamBam. (He's clearly used to boys being smitten with him, but perhaps not massively successful and experienced seniors??)

     #ChuangAsiaS2

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 17:36:13 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     Now that I've seen all the performances and the MVP voting for each team, it's more obvious that the Thai trainees have a voting boost from the Thai studio audience.

     This is not to diss the Thai trainees at all! Most of them are genuinely excellent, and deserve to have their high rankings.

     It does make it more understandable how Ninja (Thai) beat Hu Yetao (Chinese) for MVP on their team. The votes were close between the two of them, and it might have been some extra votes from the Thai studio audience that gave Ninja the edge.

     #ChuangAsiaS2

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 18:24:50 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     "Under the Moon Road" has 2 of my faves from the lower ranks (#Shoya and #GouMi). They're both excellent dancers and choreographers, and they're great to watch. I'm glad to see that both of their voting ranks have gone up after this performance.

     #Kohi, the sole Korean trainee on the show, is better than I expected. He looked pretty ordinary in the early episodes. I had uncharitable thoughts about him being the only Korean trainee on this show because he got rejected by the equivalent Korean shows. I'm sorry Kohi. I was wrong.

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 18:50:11 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     "Super" team had so much character and energy. I haven't been voting for #Dorn but that might change. In a really strong team, he stands out, even when he's injured and can't dance to his full ability. His personality comes out in his performance.

     The package beforehand made me wonder what the hell happened with Jackson and Ricky that they didn't want to go to practices or be in the room with other team members. It feels like there's more going on there. Looks like Jackson managed to pull it together but Ricky absolutely did not.

     I can't remember anything about Ricky's personal story. His official intro video tells me almost nothing. I guess he'll be cut in the first elimination round this coming weekend and no-one will miss him much.

     Ah now I'm starting to make myself interested in why he's there in the first place. Will I ever find out, or will I be distracted by all the other boys fighting for the audience's attention? The latter seems far more likely.

     #ChuangAsiaS2

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 20:03:11 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     Omg I just realized that "Firework" is an #andTeam song. I had assumed that it was by a Japanese group because it's a Japanese song.

     I didn't know &team at all before "Deer Hunter" and I thought they were Korean.

     (Kiddo told me recently that &team is a mostly Japanese group with a Kpop company (similar to XG). It feels a little strange that my 2 new faves in recent months are both Japanese groups with Kpop companies 🤔)

     Obviously I need to listen to a lot more &team songs, and I kinda want to go on a binge

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 20:45:28 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     • two slightly distorted guitars

     @rhamphorhynchus it seems like a lot of them were on i-land and then on another survival show. Did you watch either of those shows? Would you recommend them?

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     two slightly distorted guitars (rhamphorhynchus@mastodon.nz)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 20:45:29 JST two slightly distorted guitars

     in reply to

     @lookitmychicken &team are my main obsession! I recommend a binge!

     If you like Deer Hunter you'll probably like Scar to Scar, another intense performance. I also really like Yukiakari from their new album and Koegawari which they released in (northern) summer.

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 20:58:31 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     My #ChuangAsiaS2 votes at the moment go to:

     1. #HuYetao (prettiest princess)
     2. #Thi_O (sunbeam, wonderful singer, makes me smile so wide)
     3. #Shoya (fierce dancer who serves cunt) (the other trainees love him but he's mid-rank in the voting)
     4. #Dorn (okay it took a few episodes but damn he's convinced me with the way he works the camera)
     5. #Pray (mostly because he's a cutie who vaguely reminds me of pre-debut Felix) (he needs a more hashtaggable name)
     6. #Aguang (successful esports gamer with no idol training but who learns fast and is naturally charming)
     7. #GouYi (choreographer and excellent dancer who is overlooked by most and almost certainly won't make it past the first elimination but I keep voting for him anyway)

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 21:09:05 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     Pray's casual look video -- am I imagining his resemblance to baby Felix?

     :youtube: https://youtube.com/shorts/CI9JKEWN8Yw

     #ChuangAsiaS2

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 21:13:46 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     • two slightly distorted guitars

     @rhamphorhynchus Fuma appeared briefly on this week's Chuang, in a video message to the Fireworks team. (Lyu, one of the trainees, had taken dance lessons from Fuma.)

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     two slightly distorted guitars (rhamphorhynchus@mastodon.nz)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 21:13:47 JST two slightly distorted guitars

     in reply to

     @lookitmychicken I did not watch i-land, it looked too stressful and sad! I've seen a clip of Nicholas crying there, after getting harsh feedback or getting eliminated, and he's such a tough guy I've only seen him cry one other time, the finale of &Audition when everyone was weeping with joy at being selected. And Taki was only just 15 and missed his mum and was very small to be working so hard. I'm not brave enough to watch my boys suffer that much!

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     two slightly distorted guitars (rhamphorhynchus@mastodon.nz)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 21:13:47 JST two slightly distorted guitars

     in reply to

     @lookitmychicken &Audition seemed like a much gentler format with no eliminations - we got to know all 15 hopefuls through the whole show and 9 were picked for the group, and there were fun activity days as well as high-pressure performances.

     I get really emotional about their two old men, K and Fuma, both born in the nineties and knowing if they didn't get to debut this time it was going to be too late for them, both thinking if they did get picked they'd be alone in a bunch of teenagers.

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     Chicken :cqlgusu: (lookitmychicken@blorbo.social)'s status on Monday, 24-Feb-2025 22:06:03 JST Chicken :cqlgusu:

     in reply to

     Wait wait I gotta add Peanut to my faves list.

     He says that he's 99% handsomeness and the remaining 1% is talent (singing, dancing, etc). Also he's the first one who's picked a skz member (Hyunjin) as his idol role model, so he gets bonus points

     #ChuangAsiaS2