#he would’ve possibly topped jimin who is my bias in bts and my first original babe hehee

[raamitsu]

he’s a WANT, he’s a NEED.

[theunit-mbti]

Analysis of the results of The Unit

So… many people have various comments and disappointments with how The Unit ended earlier this week. I do as well.  However, it’s not all doom and gloom and there are little pieces of hope which can be picked up from this.  Whether you read the rest of the analysis or not, please please please make sure to support the original bands that these artists belong to.

The narrative is under the cut because it’s rather long – apologies!

Edit:  Disclaimer - what I have written below is my opinion on the thoughts of the voting public, NOT my personal opinions on the candidates.  I will make this clearer with subsequent edits below.  None of this is “hate”.

Let’s start with Unit G

1.       Euijin

Euijin had always had a bit of a head start on her fellow competitors for two reasons.  Firstly, she had little chunks of extra screentime ever since she mentored Lee Bolim for the first mission.  These small but regular doses of “Euijin is a gentle saint” kind of medicine makes a HUGE difference on a survival show with so many competitors. Secondly, she was the only person from her band to be on the competition.  This meant that if any Sonamoo fans were watching, their focus was undivided and their voting would stay consistently aimed at her.  Sonamoo doesn’t have a large fanbase, due to TSEnt’s abysmal marketing strategems and poor concept choices and changes, but they are at least more heard-of than some of the other groups on the show, which meant she could have had a decent voter-base without the extra screentime anyway.

2.       Yebin

Interestingly, Yebin was actually my bias in DIA, from not long after their debut.  I thought she was talented and pretty.  It seemed that that’s what many other people discovered over the course of The Unit.  However, for me, Yebin grew less interesting to me during the programme because in spite of being the best singer in DIA, she was not the best singer in The Unit, by far.  Yet sometimes, she was treated as if she was! How frustrating.  Nevertheless, she was undoubtedly very, very pretty, and I think that’s what really swung it for her.  I reckon several people would have voted for her to prove a point about them “voting for Yebin because she’s the member in DIA with talents AND looks, unlike *ahem* Chaeyeon *ahem*...”  Essentially, voting to “prove themselves”.  Simple, yet effective, in terms of vote count.

3.       NCA

Obviously she’s one of the best singers of the competition, has worked very hard, etc., so is probably one of the most deserving of this top spot.  It helped that in terms of the super-awesome vocalists, she stood out for being the shortest and cutest of them all (although not fake-cute).

4.       Yang Jiwon

People have heard of Spica – this is what propelled Jiwon to take the no1 position in the rankings for the first few rakings of the competition.  She’s safe hands, and talented vocally too.

5.       Yoonjo

At this point in the proceedings, having heard the results for places 8, 7, and 6, as well, I started to have a dawning realisation.  The majority of the girls who ended up in Unit G were girls that the public would have heard of already – even without The Unit.  There was clearly a lot of “only watching the final of the Unit and voting for who I know” going on.  I’m glad that Yoonjo made it in, because she can sing, and this probably is her “last chance”, but I never expected her to be in as high a position as 5th.  

6.       Hyunjoo

As we know from the re-evaluation for My Turn centre, older men love Hyunjoo.  The voter demographic for the Unit changed during the final vote due to the text voting (see my explanation below) so more older men would have voted.  Hence Hyunjoo making it this high.  Similarly to Yoonjo, I’m glad she made it because of “last chances” etc., but at the expense of…?

7.       Woohee

Dalshabet was probably the most popular group to be involved in the whole competition, so it’s unsurprising that one of them made it into the final lineup.  Notably since Serri was eliminated, all Darling votes would have been focused on Woohee.  She probably wouldn’t have needed to do much and still would have made it, but she also managed to be centre for the final performance, so that would have helped too. A “safe vote”, and an unsurprising one. I was a little annoyed originally that Woohee had made it into the final lineup, for the simple reason that her group probably needed the exposure the least, but I’ve since read that she’s now the only DS member still signed with Happy Face so the possibility of DS continuing anyway would be slim… so I’m somewhat glad, in that case, that she can still promote.

8.       ZN

Like with Woohee, Laboum had a decent sized fanbase to be getting voters from, as well as the KISSME fanbase from labelmates UKISS.  This provided a reasonable pedestal from which ZN was able to work upwards.  With Haein and Yujeong eliminated in the previous round as well, there was now no division for Lattes to split themselves, hence the jump in ZN’s rank.  Many Lattes have actually been crowdfunding Laboum projects, mvs, etc., so it would have been in their financial interest to propel Laboum further into the spotlight.

9.       Suji

I’d like to hope that Suji had some people voting for her because of The Ark, and not just because she’s one of the prettiest girls on the show… but I do think that the latter could have a great deal to do with how she slid into the top 9 in preference of Euna. As I mention below, the voter demographic changed with the introduction of text voting for the final, and more older men would have been voting, potentially.  The people who just tuned in for the final would have simply voted either for someone they already knew, or someone who stood out to them, and Suji’s visuals would have done just that.  I’m glad she made it, but as she said herself, I would’ve expected her to be standing there with Euna Kim.

Why did Euna not make it?

People tuning in for the final would have been

a)      Annoyed that the survival-show maniac Euna Kim was on there – who does she think she is?

b)      Disappointed with her performance, since Ting gave her no valuable screen time or moments of glory

c)       Uninspired by rap because older men don’t really care for girls who can rap (have you noticed this?  I have. Misogynistic fear of powerful women? Idk, I may be taking it too far, but if you consider that Euna is somewhat the opposite of Hyunjoo, then you might understand what I’m getting at)

d)      Disinterested because she wasn’t as immediately pretty and as well-proportioned as some other contestants (if I, a Westerner, have noticed that Euna’s proportions aren’t as flattering as some of the others, then a Korean person surely would have)

e)      Stronger fans of the show would have assumed, like I did, that Euna was safe, and voted for someone else they were more worried about.  Note many netizens saying “how on earth did Euna Kim not make it” but no one actually saying “I voted for her”.

Unit B

1.       UKISS Jun

He’s a strong triple threat and handsome to boot, with a consistent KISSME fanbase – no surprises here.

2.       Bigflo Euijin

Here was the surprise! When Semmi didn’t make it into Unit G, I feared for Euijin’s safety, because like Semmi, he had only really made himself known through the show, and had negligible prior popularity. However, it suddenly became clear to me that voters for Unit B and G had voted in completely different ways – as explained below – which meant that Euijin was safe.  Not just safe, but bloody brilliant.  As a Wave, I was in shock at how high Euijin climbed but I really, really do think he had a great leg up, especially amongst the teen girl voters, because he bears a resemblance to BTS’ Jimin.

3.       Go Hojung

So a Hotshot member was going to make it, and Hojung’s performances lately have been better and more consistent than Timoteo’s.  What cinched it was probably when dance coach Hwayoung asked the Lead Me team if Hojung was a sensitive type and they all agreed.  Make the girls swoon over his hot bod and sensitive soul, and there are surely some votes to be found!  If Hojung hadn’t been in the competition, Timoteo would probably have done a lot better.

4.       Feeldog

Thank goodness!!!!! He’s cute enough to have grabbed the hearts of the younger teen voters but also talented and already had a bit of a fanbase through things like Hit The Stage.  He’s been pretty much the most consistently placed person in the entire show.  I think his fans knew not to take that for granted because he’d had such hard times previously, and really kept up all voting.  Being the only member of Bigstar left in the final maintained that position.

5.       Marco

The biggest shocker of the night?  Not if you consider what events led to this position.  Several fantastic rappers were eliminated in the previous elimination – notably Kanto and Heedo, as well as JunQ, Ungjae, and Hwang Jungha.  This meant that anyone looking to vote for a decent rapper was suddenly scrutinising who rapped in the final.  It’s no coincidence that the only members of DWTD team who rapped were the ones who made it into the final lineup (Jun and Hansol).  Let me repeat that again for those in the back. It’s no coincidence that the ONLY members of DWTD team who rapped were the ones who made it into the final lineup.  !!!  This was also true for Marco, Feeldog, and kind of Kijung in the Lead Me team.  And out of Marco, Jun, Hansol, Feeldog, etc., who did the most rap in the final?  Marco.  So it wasn’t just his new haircut, it was his looks and his rap.  The shame of this, I think, is that there were better rappers than Marco in the DWTD team, but they just didn’t get any rap lines to show them off with (I’m thinking mainly of Seyong here) and Seyong should have been able to outrap Marco, because although I don’t want to diss, Marco’s rap isn’t fantastic.  He just has style and humour.

6.       Hansol

I have mixed feelings about Hansol.  On the one hand he is a trainee and shouldn’t really have been promoting himself on this competition.  On the other, he was sitting in the SMEnt mixing pot for ages, on the cusp of debut, and really needs to debut.  His performance on the final wasn’t very polished, but his dance was always good and he rapped (see above).  He’d also been out of the top 9 a lot so voters were worried he wouldn’t make it – and therefore voted for him more.  The teen girl demographic probably loved his visuals too.

7.       Daewon

Thank goodness again! Daewon making the final cut restores some of my faith in humanity.

8.       Kijung

Should Kijung have been in the competition?  Probably not. I also really hadn’t wanted him to make the final.  However, his performance on the night was one of the best out of everyone – he was so charismatic on stage and you could tell how much he was enjoying it.  This was probably because he was full of love for the group he was in, unlike the My Story group.  This is his only redemption to being in the final 9 – he earnt it with that last performance.  Plus, teen girls could relate to him and hence voted for him.

Another thing that gave Kijung a constant leg up was Rain’s praise.  I wanted to kick Rain with the amount of praise he showered on Kijung, a relative newbie.  The focus should not have been on the newest, freshest person with his whole life ahead of him, but on the older, struggling, last-chance ones who this competition was about!  I’m bitter but I think Kijung did work hard and I blame Rain more than Kijung.

9.       Chan

This was my personal biggest surprise.  As an ACE fan, I’m hugely glad, and it’s an incredible feat for members of the same band to have made it into the top for MixNine AND The Unit.  Chan did really well to climb like that.  However, ACE has had the fastest-growing fanbase in the time the The Unit has been running, so it ought not to be a surprise, especially given the new demographic of teen voters who watched the final, mixed with Chan’s fantastic performance as a main vocalist of Lead Me team (RIP Lee Geon’s performance, it just wasn’t as strong, or as well-filmed as Chan’s).  Thank goodness at least one main vocalist made it into the top 9, even if it wasn’t the slightly more “deserving”, older Rockhyun or Jeup.

 DISCLAIMER:  What you are about to read about those who did not make it IS NOT my personal opinions of those candidates.  This is just me reading into what the voting public might have thought, and why they then didn’t receive as many votes as the top 9.

Why did Timoteo not make it?

a)      Voters suddenly rebelling and saying “I’m not going to vote for him just because he’s Taemin’s best friend” without looking at his further qualities

b)      Some people might not find him as attractive as others in the competition – so no hormonal teen girl vote

c)       He may have been one of the people giving the Devil team that weird vibe

d)      His performances hadn’t been the best out of everyone lately and he’s not the best singer

e)      He also had barely any lines in DWTD

[Disclaimer - as written in my post about ideal line ups, Timoteo should have made it and was an extremely worthy candidate.  He worked so hard and is such a skilled dancer and team player]

Why did Donghyun not make it?

a)      His expressions make me cringe – everyone says he’s fantastic at expressions but they’re so clearly learnt and not natural, and he does them with a sort of gentle arrogance that isn’t like an awful cocky arrogance, but more like a “oh yes, time to whip out the old smoulder again!” type of arrogance, and maybe people were starting to see that.  [Edit:  I cringe because I love him, not because I hate him.  He makes me squirm because I love him and he doesn’t need to do that expression stuff to be loved.]

b)      He’s “too old” for the hip young teens who would have been text voting during the final

c)       Everyone assumed he was safe because of the VAST number of hearts on his teaser vid on vlive – which we’d been told would count in some way to the final result

d)      He did better when you voted for a larger number of people in the app, because he was probably literally everyone’s 3rd – 9th choice, but when this was narrowed down to only voting for 1 person, he did far less well for the same reason.

[Disclaimer:  I believe Donghyun should have made it - he is one of my biases and I was rooting for him from the very beginning of the competition.  In fact he was one of the reasons why I started watching The Unit and I am shocked that he missed out, although an anon explained another reason why in a separate post.]

Why did Seyong not make it?

a)      Bad portrayal which he was always struggling to bounce back from.

b)      He should have fucking rapped.  He should have rapped.  Everyone forgot he was a rapper, so everyone who liked rap voted for fucking Marco. FFFFFS

c)       He should have rapped.

d)      RAP could have saved him!!!!

e)      DWTD should have had more rap breaks

f)       He had barely any lines in DWTD and SHOULD HAVE RAPPED

[Disclaimer:  I have been a strong advocate for the clearing of Seyong’s name from early on in the competition.  He was a talented man under stress and I believe he has suffered the most from this competition.  He was just trying his best and I feel for him, I really do.  He should have rapped because he is a fantastic rapper and I feel that by the end of the competition, no one knew that.]

Why did Jeup/ Rockhyun not make it?

a)      Younger voter demographic lost interest in them for some bizarre reason

b)      Rockhyun wasn’t “attractive enough” for the teen voters

c)       Jeup was too attractive and in some respects this diminished his fantastic ability (consider Jaehwan’s success in Produce 101 – his looks were much more understated)

d)      They were assumed to be relatively safe?

e)      Voters who wanted a main vocal in particular were split between the two

f)       They suffered dearly for the poor portrayal of the group dynamic in DWTD team.

[Disclaimer:  I fucking love Jeup and Rockhyun, for different reasons and in different ways.  They are both super talented vocalists with way more talents stacked on top of that to boot.  Rockhyun I have been in awe of ever since his debut in 2012.  Go and listen to the dance practice of 100% “Bad Boy” and hear him singing live in the dance studio to see what I mean, it’s literally incredible.  Jeup is my special son who is just TOO incredible in every possible direction and has too many talents to count.  The fact that neither of these fantastic young men made it into the final nine is a true disaster and as much reason as Donald Trump’s presidential win to not trust a voting public.]

 New voter demographics for the text voting system

The voter demographic for the girl votes will have been a different one compared to those who voted for the boys.  This led to totally different types of results for Units G and B.  The voter demographic for girl groups, via the text vote, will have been older men who may not have voted earlier on in the competition because they didn’t want to install the app on their phone, and who also possibly didn’t even watch the competition. This led to golden oldies being picked, such as Yoonjo, Woohee, ZN, and Jiwon, over the girls who had proved themselves particularly well over the course of the competition, including Yeoeun, Chahee, Euna, and in particular, as any fan of The Unit knows, Semmi. There was nothing to make Semmi stand out in the final – particularly since the camerawork was shoddy and never showed her doing her power vocals as a close up – and so she lost all her gain because of these new text voters.

However, for the boys, the demographic would have been more inclined towards teen girls.  This demographic means that voters for the boys would have been more likely to watch the programme without knowing some of the “golden oldies”.  This left them more likely to vote for younger, fresher idols such as Kijoong, Hansol, Chan, and Marco, and totally abandon the “golden oldies” such as Seyong, Donghyun and Rockhyun.  It’s a shock reversal of what happened with the girls.  Frankly, the “golden oldie” style boys who got in were extremely lucky (Daewon, Feeldog).

The boys also had the added pre-final setback of The Unit revealing the general atmospheric personality of the final teams meeting and greeting each other.  The cold welcome of Dancing With The Devil team contrasted dramatically with the beagle-ness of the Lead Me team, and that would have influenced several voters.  It did so significantly – Dancing with the Devil team were all but decimated and the only two from Lead Me team who didn’t make it were Lee Geon, who’d already had to battle a bad rep, and Dongmyeong, who presumably people didn’t vote for because he was from an instrumental band.

So what silver linings can we glean from the new final teams?

Unit G, although weak on rap, is actually overall quite strong on vocals, and could produce some really nice sounding songs, that look good too providing they work on synchronisation.  All 9 of them work hard so there is some great potential here.  My main worry for them is that Hyunjoo is a bit of a sore thumb and could spoil the overall vibe but this could be masked and corrected somewhat by some of the others.

Unit B is weak on vocals, as many have pointed out, BUT, they are no worse off than All Day team, if you think about it.  And look at what an outstanding performance All Day team gave.  So in some respects, they may actually become a stronger performing group than Unit G.  Who knows.   I await with anticipation.

 Whoa, this has been a long and wild ride!  If you’ve managed to get all the way through this, I salute you.  Just please remember, everyone, to support not only the final members of Units B and G, but also all the groups that featured in the competition, whether they made it to the final or not.

[bangtancentricsblog]

My thoughts on mots:7

Shadow

- Wtf!!!! The original was amazing but omfg he references his verse in no more dream!!! Omg Yoongi is so good at what he does! That’s fucking crazy! Oml my mans killed it and it honestly added more to the song if that was even possible?!

Filter {Jimin}

- Honestly jimin sounds so sexy in this song. The beat has some Spanish elements and you know me I’m a fucking whore for Spanish beats. Seriously he’s so good and I would’ve never imagined Jimin would ever approach music and make something like this especially when he’s usually singing songs that are really soft but yes I’m here for this song!

시차 (my time) {Jungkook}

- My original bias didn’t come to play and honestly I’m not surprised that he’s made something that sounds like this because the beat is so wholely something that sounds like Jungkook. I’ve never been one to drift towards songs with this kind of beat since it’s a little too r&b for me but Jungkook pulls it off. It’s like r&b mixed with like pop and a splash of hip hop but again I’m not a music critic so I wouldn’t really know any of the sub genres. But yes it feels r&b

Louder than bombs

- wow I’m blown away, this song has such a dark tone. I’m no music critic nor do I know anything about music besides what I like but this one is so dark sounding and I’m, wow this one is like nothing I’ve ever heard by bts before. Yoongi does his voice changing verse things again and honestly it’s so good and I can’t describe how good this one is.

On (title track)

- I really like the beat to this song, the way all their voices go together just amazes me because these boys never quit! It’s such a hyped up song and it’s message is really clear. It’s sort of reminiscent of joins speech at the UN. Where he says that his past self is still himself and the person he is now is because of that boy. This song reminds me of that and how they’re reminding us that deep down they’re still the same boys with big dreams, the ones who struggled with the success but have now climbed to the top and have come to not only accept but also embrace what has become of those boys and who they are now.

욱 (ugh!) {rapline}

- why does this remind me of something Eminem would make? But at the same time like Eminem and interlude:shadow had a baby and this is what came out. Or like RM met AgustD and they had and baby and they created this monster. Honestly I’m so confused but also damn this is like nothing ive heard from rap like but if it’s meant to criticize people then I get why the tone of the song is the way it is.

00.00 (Zero O’clock) {Vocal Line}

- I don’t think I’m supposed to cry but I am. Vocal line never fails to deliver an amazing song. Vocal line songs are the ones I learn the fasted because I can understand them better. The tone of this one is soft but like something you would see while a couple is on a date in a movie. A song to help set the mood, this one reminds me of a romance song that would play on the radio and would be popular amongst the youths.

Inner child {Taehyung solo}

- This one made me feel like happy and sad it’s weird because it made me feel like I was sad but the kind that comes from happiness?? Does that make sense idk but I loved it. Taehyung never fails to amaze me especially with the way his voice changes. He’s my favorite of the vocalist and I’m happy to say that this song reminds me of the tones of winter bear and scenery. I love that with each album we can see more and more of the boys individually and it’s beautiful.

친 구 (Friend) {95 line}

- Omg this song is so wholesome. I’m crying I love this so much. The way V whispers hey Jimin and then we hear the bottle pop open! And how they say your my soulmate, omg I’m swooning! This has to be the sweetest song to have ever been made 95 line stay flexing their friendship! The voices of all of bts at the end is so beautiful oml this is probably my favorite song of the units anyway!!!

Moon {Jin}

- Omfg Jin has me crying, this song is so upbeat but oml the way you can feel the love pouring out of it is affecting me! His voice is so beautiful and so wholesome and fits the beat and tone of the song, this has got to be my favorite song by Jin of all his solos I’m not sure if he’s playing the guitar at the end but i loved that! I’m usually not drawn to acoustic guitar but this song is so beautiful and Jin has sung it beautifully. I’m blown away by this song and Jin proves yet again that he’s amazing and he deserves all the love and praise in the world!!

Respect {Namgi}

- It’s so old school rap sounding and honestly I love that. It started off with joon saying ‘aye yo suga’ and honestly that’s so reminiscent of their old music and I love that, this has a funky beat but it’s oddly a nice mix of both the kind of beat one would associate with Namjoon and Yoongi separately. It’s a little funky but and odd beauty and I love this so much I love how well they mess when they make music!

We are Bulletproof: the Eternal

- OMFG THIS SONG IS SO BEAUTIFUL! It references spring day and they talk about how they faced the hardships and how they’re who they are now. And how at first it felt they were only seven individuals and as they grew they realized they’re not seven because they have ARMY and with army they are no longer just seven members but a whole ass movement and how grateful they are to have army! Omg it’s another love song saying that they can face anything and never fear anything because army is the shield and will be there to protect them from everything and anything. Oml I love this so much.

Ego

- A bop. That’s it, thank you.

ON (ft. SIA)

- Tbh I don’t think this version was necessary but hey that’s just my opinion. 10/10 would rather have had BWL without h*lseys vocals

OVERVIEW:

* this is my 5th comeback with BTS. I came in as a baby army in July of 2017 just before the release of LYH, my favorite album of those comebacks has been Tear (even though we all know it’s a fandom favorite) it has been my favorite since it’s come out but I do love BTS. This album however has managed to surpass my expectations and I’m so happy to be part of it. Some of the songs are on the wonky side at first but I felt the same way about Anpanman and I love that one to bits. I’m honestly so floored and amazed that BTS is this unstoppable force. I constantly find myself in awe of how much they can change in a matter of months. They’re music style of so diverse and has been an inspiration for me since I’ve come into the fandom, they’re the reason I find any motivation to do anything and I’m so proud of them. This album overall has brought me to tears because I was expecting something darker and yet this one is filled with so many emotions it’s so hard not to tear up at all. If it’s not the throwback to ‘No more Dream’ then it has to be the way Jin so loving sang to ARMY, and if not then it’s We are Bulletproof: Eternal which referenced spring day. But again I love this album and most if not all the songs touched my heart and truly they are angles and we truly don’t deserve bts.