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boysplanetrecaps · 10 months ago

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Build Up Episode 2: Shall I..? and Ditto

Hello and welcome back to my current obsession, my MNET Build Up Recaps! In the previous one, we wrapped up episode 1. In this one, we’re starting episode 2. Let’s do it!

We kick things off with Dahee saying that Wendy had to leave because of her schedule, so for the rest of the performances today, only five judges will be judging.

The first song to be performed will be…

Shall I Love You Again? (다시 사랑한다 말할까), originally by Kim Dong-ryul

Shall I Love You Again? Also is known by the English translation “Shall we begin again,” which is a bit more palatable, I think. As far as I can tell, it came out in 2008.

Per MNET’s translations of its captions, it’s “a song where the unique sensitivity of the original song and the digestion of profound and heavy bass are the key.” Um. Okay, sure. What’s interesting is that is exactly what google translate makes of the caption as well, suggesting that the translations are being generated via google translate.

Kim Dong-ryul, the original singer, is also the original singer of the song Drunken Truth, which I know as the song that Chen sang when he went on King of Masked Singer. So there’s that connection for me. Kim Dong-ryul apparently writes/composes/arranges all his own songs, so good for him!

Vocal Coach Guy is a bit concerned about the song choice. “Isn’t this a bit retro?” he asks. “It needs to be clean to sound cool. It might not sound right to vocalists these days.” I mean, isn’t that a critique that could be made of most of these songs? IDK.

The guys come up from backstage, holding hands.

Filmed as usual on one of MNET’s glorious Idaho russets.

The judges are surprised to see Yeo One. “Pentagon?!” Baekho says. Hey, buddy. You are the LAST one to be surprised if a reasonably well established idol shows up on a reality survival show.

Yeo One appears to be their spokesman, and they give a cute introduction as “Barista.”

Kim Seohyung , Kim Seongjeong

Yeo One, Yoon In Hwan

Yes, I would like a cup of coffee. Unless it is between the hours of midnight at 5am, I probably want a cup of coffee. Thank you. You have my vote.

Solar repeats, “Ba-ree-sta?” as if she doesn’t know what it means. Girl, didn’t you watch Coffee Prince?

Yeo One explains that since they’re baritones and stars, they’re baristas! Ok, I give you that. You win, Yeo One. You win.

Kim Seohyung the musical actor says he wants to make the stage shine with his warm voice. In my initial write up of him, I said that he has that classical “musical actor” voice that I don’t tend to like much. I said that I thought he belonged in the power category, not the unique category. We barely saw him on episode 1, but for some reason I get the sense that he’s a funny guy with an interesting personality.

Kim Seongjeong again says that he has vocal, physical, and musical skills, then does a spin on one foot. He’s also a musical actor, and you may remember him as our adorable leaping lizard from episode 1. I said that his singing style isn’t the kind that I tend to respond to, but I respect its rich timbre and his excellent breath support. Plus, the leaping! We love the leaping.

Yeo One says, “I’m Yeo One from Pentagon, and I’ll touch your heart with a warm tone like a vanilla latte.” Interesting that he says he’s in Pentagon still -- nice to have that confirmed. In my intro recaps, I said that Yeo One has a light, charming vocal color and a lovable vibe. He’s not a powerhouse vocalist, but he’s nice to listen to.

Yoon Inhwan shows a few exaggerated facial expressions and says, “From sad to happy, I’m a ballad singer who can pull off any genre.” Yoon Inhwan’s teaser performance was easily my least favorite. I really don’t care for his thick vocal color, but he has a powerful voice and a good sense of pitch. Learning that he specifically classifies himself as a ballad singer helps explain my personal dislike of his singing style. I’m sorry if anyone out there really likes the way he sings -- I’m not saying it’s objectively bad, I’m just saying that subjectively, I don’t like it much. But he seems to also be a funny, interesting guy.

Vocal Coach Guy notes that all four have similar vocal ranges, then asks if they have a strategy to be chosen top tier. That cues the flashback…

Kim Seongjeong, our leaping lizard, chooses the song first; he was in fourth place and had an early pick. Next was Yeo One, who actually only got one vote fewer than Jay Chang and finished in 11th place. Soon after, Kim Seohyung joined, and then 24th place Yoon Inhwan joined. This was the third song to fill up, after Ditto and Tomboy, making it a pretty popular choice.

Seongjeong chose the song because it suits his vocal range, but we find out that Yeo One chose it because he really wanted to work with Seongjeong.

I think Seongjeong is really flattered -- I mean, Yeo One is pretty darn famous, so it’s always a good feeling.

Turns out that Kim Seohyung, who Seongjeong and Yeo One call “The one with the coat,” is also a big fan of Seongjeong’s voice, and wants to work with him too. We learn that Kim Seohyung is a “newbie musical actor who debuted 0 years ago.”

Seohyung doing some musical acting.

And once Inhwan joins, it’s a team full of good feelings!

We see a pretty short montage of them rehearsing and all promising to win this one.

And then we dive in to the performance!

Here’s the version without all the reactions.

My thoughts:

Will the great dog please grant me the patience to listen to all these ballads. I really, really hate this song. Sorry if it’s your thing, it’s just really not mine. Ok, let me try to talk about their performances.

Overall, they were very good. Their voices were all fairly similar, so they blended pretty well. Also, it’s nice to hear some baritones in an industry that’s obsessed with high notes.

Three of them are musical actors and they really sound like musical actors to me. Seongjeong, our leaping lizard, has the fullest, richest voice and it is in fact quite nice to listen to. Seohyung sounds similar, but not quite as rich and full. I can see the appeal of the way they sing, even if it’s not necessarily what I want to listen to most of the time.

Seohyung, left, and Seongjeong, right.

Yeo One was obviously trying really hard, and his voice was a lot fuller than I would have thought it could be. It was a little sharp, not in pitch but in quality, but it made a nice contrast to the others. His throat sounded a little tight, like he was straining, and he seemed to run out of breath on longer notes and at the end of lines. His comparative lack of training stood out, unfortunately. I’d love to see him just work with a vocal coach more, because his natural tone is very pretty.

Inhwan was a lot better than he was in the teaser, without as much of that closed throat sound that he’d had initially. I still wasn’t wild about his performance, unfortunately.

You guys, I’m so sorry, I just can’t say much more about this because I just hate this song so much that I can’t listen to it again. Forgive me.

The MNET edit, as usual, emphasizes how great they are. There were some unhappy reactions from Eunkwang when Yeo One was singing, but that’s about it.

Solar looked like she was going to cry at one point.

“I just hate ballads so much.” -- Solar, maybe

When they’re done, the judges and the boys back stage all applaud politely. They enjoyed the performance, but weren’t necessarily blown away by it. I don’t think that’s totally the singers’ fault.

When they’re done, the first thing the Vocal Coach Guy (VCG) says is that this is a difficult song to sing, and was made to be sung by one person, not four. Isn’t that true of a lot of songs, though? A ton of songs sung by groups are pretty personal.

VCG goes on to say that Seongjeong sang it like a musical and did everything right.

Then Dahee asks Eunkwang what he thought of Yeo One, given that they’re from the same agency (Cube) and Eunkwang is Yeo One’s sunbae. There’s a bit of a pause, and then Eunkwang says, “I think you need to practice a little harder. I thought you should dig into the song in more detail.”

If you look closely, you can actually *see* Yeo One’s broken heart.

The editors play clips and we hear the same notes that ended a bit too soon and didn’t have quite enough support. Yep, that’s what I noticed too.

Hey, Eunkwang. You know that Cube doesn’t really help its artists in any way. Why don’t you help out your hoobae and offer more specific advice? I hope they meet later on and talk about it because Yeo One won’t get more trained just by wanting it more. That’s not how training works.

After that, Eunkwang continues his “piss off BPR-Noona” shtick by saying that he liked Inhwan best. What in the…?

Solar praises Seohyung the most. She says that she got a bit emotional listening to the performance, maybe because of their desperation, she’s not sure. They say thank you.

It’s time to vote for top tier. The judges seem to be torn between Seongjeong and Inhwan. I’m in crazy land.

The votes come in, and it’s…

… a tie.

Baekho and Solar vote for Inhwan, VCG and Eunkwang vote for Seongjeong, and Jaehwan unexpectedly votes for Yeo One. I bet he had some kind things to say about him, too, but the editors wanted to make it look like Yeo One was terrible and only showed Eunkwang criticizing him.

Backstage, Lim Jun Hyeok (former Day6) and Choi Ha Ram from team Breath joke that because the song is by Kim Dongryul, the score would be tied. The joke is that the name Dong Ryul sounds like the Korean word for “tied” as in tied score.

Dahee asks for a revote to break the tie, and the revote is really interesting.

Baekho and Solar both change their votes from Inhwan to Seongjeong.

VCG and Eunkwang hold steady with Seongjeong.

And Jaehwan, ever the maverick, votes for Inhwan this time.

So the top tier was chosen -- it’s our leaping lizard Seongjeong! I’m glad -- I’ve come to like his voice, even if it’s not what I normally gravitate to. But it’s got to kind of hurt for the other guys.

Eunkwang tells Seongjeong that he’s heard that Seongjeong doesn’t have much training, which surprises me a lot. Eunkwang says that Seongjeong can continue to develop his skills on this show. Hey Eunkwang, can Yeo One develop his skills? Or do you hate Pentagon for being younger and slightly more popular these days than you are? Is that the problem, Eunkwang? I’m sorry, team, but I’ve never liked this guy much and the more I see of him, the more I feel sure of it. I’m sorry if you’re a big fan of his. Maybe I’m misjudging him. But I can only judge what I see.

Dahee asks Seongjeong how it feels to take top tier. He says he’s a little embarrassed because he needs to work harder. VCG tells him not to be so sad -- he won! I like VCG, you guys, even if I am physically unable to learn his name.

Almost immediately we dive into our next performance, and it’s…

Ditto

When the song is announced, the boys backstage begin singing the opening “hoo-hooo” like a wolf howl.

“Wooo-hoooo…” LTR: Gwangsuk, Joohee, Inhyuk, all from team Tomboy

The judges wonder how it can this cover even be done? I guess they mean that it’s tricky because it was originally performed by young girls, but for me, I see a different difficulty.

To me, Ditto is a weird choice for this competition because it’s not really a song -- it’s more like the idea of a song. It’s like the imprint of a song on a couch cushion after a song sat there for a while. It’s like a faint ring in the tub after a song took a bath there. It’s like the heat in a pile of blankets after a song slept there. It’s almost a song, but not quite. It’s the La Croix of songs.

I’m not saying I dislike it. I mean, I like La Croix. It’s just that I don’t hear much in the way of chords. It’s kind of just a melody and a drum beat. So I’m not really sure how it could be rearranged.

But of course, I understand the draw of picking it. It’s mostly in English, which would make it more appropriate for idol singers used to singing in English, and anyone like Jay or Soomin who is actually American. It also was a monster hit. A MONSTER hit. For me, the best song by New Jeans is obviously Attention but I don’t run the world, and everyone else likes Ditto, so, so be it.

And everyone also loves Hype Boy, including VCG, who apparently was filmed at some point doing a dance cover of that song. Cute.

The Ditto team takes the stage, and they are full of MZ looks, apparently.

I had to look up what MZ meant, and apparently it is a combination of the two terms “Millennials” and “Generation Z” and is used in Korea as a generally broad term for younger people. It might also suggest young people who are on-trend…? More information requested.

They all introduce themselves. Wumuti does his little Wumuti dance. You know, this one?

..but more subdued.

“Chonin.. Wumuti-ti-ti-ti-ti…”

VCG is like he’s still doing this? It’s a little cringey, actually.

Woong announces himself as MNET’s would-be son, continuing his narrative. They’ll adopt you someday, Woong!

Seokhoon says, “I’ll land in your hearts like a bolt of lightening.”

Soomin says he’s a a singer-songwriter who looks like a goldendoodle.

We see a flashback of the voice check and learn that throughout, Soomin was laid back, languid, almost asleep. Was he jet lagged?

Our sweet Sunyoul from Up10tion interviews, “There was a guy with a beanie that seems to have a free soul. A real MZ from the United States. People like him tend to be really good singers.” I don’t know, Sunyoul. I’ve met a lot of American free spirits in beanies and with guitars who definitely are not good singers. Spend enough time at youth hostels and you will meet one million of them.

We see that Soomin introduced himself in English: “Hey guys, I’m a singer songwriter, 19 years old, from Chicago Illinois, Jung Soomin, nice to meet you.”

I love the look on their faces in the background.

We’ve seen him use Korean pretty well, so why introduce himself in English? It feels like a weird power play. But maybe he said it twice, once in each language, for all we know. Regardless, it is a revelation to learn he’s 19 -- I got the sense he was quite young but I don’t know if I would have guessed quite that young.

Since Soomin tied for fourth place, he was the first to choose Ditto. Seokhwa, Woong, and Wumuti all chose it when all other options were open, and this song was one of the first to fill up.

We see them all introducing themselves so I’ll mention all their ages. Woong is 26 and Wumuti and Seokhwa are both 24, making the latter two chingus and making Soomin the maknae of this team and one of the two youngest on the whole show. He doesn’t seem to understand what the maknae role entails…. More on that later.

After Woong and Seokhwa say that they’re in idol groups, Soomin says, “oh, you’re all idols?” And Woong says, “well, Seokhwa and I are idols.” Wumuti says, “I’m a half-idol,” then laughs with sad eyes.

We cut back to a pre-production meeting, when a staff member asks Wumuti, “Are you working as an idol?” His reply is awful. He says, “ I’m filming challenge dances and whatnot…” Oh noooo. He goes on, “I need to debut. I’m always so close to debut, but it slips away. This time…. The first thought I had was, ‘what if it doesn’t work out?’ “

His eyes are shining with tears as he repeats, “I really want to debut.”

We cut back to footage from episode one and see him make a beeline for Ditto. This was the song he really, really wanted. Wumuti is smart enough to know that to catch people’s attention, it’s best to cover songs that they already like.

The team decides to tackle part distribution. (There’s a clip of this on Youtube with subtitles). Both Wumuti and Soomin want the opening part, the “hoo hoo” part. In an interview, Soomin says that Wumuti isn’t his competition, and kind of rolls his eyes a little when Wumuti sings. They both sing, and the other two guys vote for Soomin to take the part. Seokhwa kindly checks in with Wumuti to make sure he’s ok, and Wumuti says he is, but he interviews that he’s screwed.

We go straight to the performance.

Here’s the full version WITH reactions.

Here’s the full version WITHOUT reactions.

My thoughts:

Overall, really nice. It’s nice to hear some more pop-style vocals after all the overwrought ballads.

Soomin does have a really nice voice even if I’m not totally sure about his personality. It’s light and sweet, and manages to be pretty clean while still having some texture. But on the higher notes, when he’s not in his falsetto range, he sounds kind of strained and nasal. He definitely needs to work on that upper mix. It’ll be a real breakthrough for him.

Woong’s voice is rougher, almost husky, yet still smooth, like raw silk. I actually really like it, even if it’s not the official way that singers “should” sing. I like his pop-style take on the chorus vocals.

Seokhwa has a bit of a rough time here. On the “I got nothing to lose…” he sounds really nasal and strained, like he’s having a hard time making the higher notes even come out. He’s pitchy, too. However, on the lower notes, he sounds much better, and gosh isn’t he cute? Also, his adlib “woah!” right before the end sounded really great. I hope he learns a little more about how to open up his palette to really hit those high notes.

Wumuti sings the best I’ve ever heard him sing. He matches Woong’s vocal color somehow, but brings in more warmth and performance. His little vocal gestures don’t come across as annoying or studied, and I have a low-tolerance for that kind of thing.

Their harmonies sound amazing, too.

Side note:

What is with the whales in the background? Does this song take place underwater?

In the MNET edit, we see that everyone listening is having a great time. The judges smile at Soomin’s intro, but think that Woong is going too fast. I didn’t really notice that, but I don’t know the song super well. Eunkwang makes a face at Seokhwa’s weak high notes, but Jaehwan is into all of it.

Backstage, the guys call the music dreamy. Someone says that Wumuti looks like cotton candy.

Jeong Inseong from KNK dances at his teammate Hwanhee.

“I thought I told you that I Do. Not. Dance.” - Hwanhee, probably

When they’re done, Eunkwang says, “Difficult,” and Jaehwan says, “Is it too difficult?”

Choi Haram says it’s different to hear this song sung by four men, and Kim Minseo says it’s refreshing.

Ok, for this part, the good feed I found at ok.ru punked out for a bit so I had to switch to https://wwv.dramacool.vip/build-up-vocal-boy-group-survivor-2024-episode-2-english-sub/ which does not have English subtitles despite what the title says. So it was me and my google-translate-camera again, and I did my best.

The judging isn’t 100% flattering.

VCG says something like, “It’s really important for a song to match the singers. And these two guys, Seokhwa and Woong, they’re better than the performance they just gave. You two chose the wrong song!”

We see a clip of them performing again and the captions tell us that Woong’s voice is husky (true) and Seokhwa’s voice is delicate (true). “It’s a pity that the song selection doesn’t match the tone,” the caption concludes.

Solar disagrees completely, though. She says she notices that Seokhwa and Woong were doing a little bit of choreography on stage, almost as if they couldn’t help themselves, and she liked it and found it a refreshing change. Yes, they have different vocal tones, but that’s the point of a singing group, that each person brings their own tone. She has a high opinion of their talent.

Jaehwan says that Soomin has a languid charm. Everyone praises him, and he says thank you, sunbaenim! For some reason, it was wrong for him to do that, because everyone laughs.

Backstage, Hwanhee jokes with Inseong that he (Hwanhee) could also sing languidly.

He demonstrates, but Inseong points out that all he’s doing differently is making his face look sleepy, and his voice sounds the same.

They all laugh. It really looks like this team is getting along great. I’m looking forward to them, even though I think they’re singing some sort of awful ballad.

Back at the judging table, Jaehwan goes on to say that he likes how Wumuti kind of did his own thing during the performance. Yes, they were on a team, but Wumuti used it as a chance to do a solo performance -- after all, it’s a competition.

I’m liking Jaehwan more and more. I feel like he’s been on so many of these competition shows as a contestant that he’s just going to do whatever the fuck he wants now that he’s a judge. He’s just like, “wheee! What’cha’gon’do’bout’it?”

It’s time for the judges to vote. Eunkwang seems to find it very hard to pick a winner.

And here’s the results…

Baekho, VCG, and Eunkwang all vote for Wumuti. Solar and Jaehwan vote for Seokhwa from WEi. I’m kind of surprised that Seokhwa got that many votes -- I thought his was the weakest performance overall, in terms of technique.

So Wumuti won! He can’t believe it. Aww! He stands there in shock, and it’s pretty cute.

VCG says his vocals were very stable, and watching him made him happy. It was a good song choice.

Dahee asks him how he feels. He answers, “I’m always in good spirits, but practicing for this performance, I thought a lot about how to make it better. I was really worried. So for the next performance, I will study the music and my voice and be more focused. Thank you.”

The team takes a bow, and as they begin to leave, Jaehwan shouts, “Fighting, fighting!” Seokhwa smiles and makes a sort of “fighting!” gesture in return.

They walk off stage arm in arm, all congratulating Wumuti, including Soomin.

So, before we go to the next performance, I just want to talk a little bit more about Soomin and a possible villain edit. The thing is, the kid is American, and in the US we have different social norms. He seems to be pretty fluent in Korean, but seems to prefer English, so my guess is he might speak Korean at home with his parents, but I’d assume he speaks English nearly all the rest of the time. So he’d be learning Korean social norms a bit, but living in American social norms. Add in the fact that he is really talented and likely has been praised a fair bit, and the fact that he’s only 19 and mixing with established idols, this has to be a lot for his brain to process.

Shows like this aren’t kind to people who come from different social norms. Just look at how the Chinese trainees are treated in MNET edits. Americans also often get misunderstood. Look at what happened to Yunjin on Produce48. I haven’t gotten to those episodes in my Produce48 Rewatch Project yet, but I remember vividly how she acted in a way that seemed perfectly normal to my American eyes but was misunderstood by the Korean public.

Soomin probably thinks a bit of trash talking is fine and all in good fun. Or maybe he really is so full of himself that he thinks it’s appropriate to trash talk Wumuti, who seems in some way pathetic to him. Maybe. But I hope Soomin doesn’t get too bad of a villain edit, because he is so young, and managing the dizzying highs and horrible lows of being on a show like this would be hard for an adult, and doubly hard for a teenager in a group of 30 year olds.

I guess we’ll see how this shapes up for him. I hope he figures it out, because he probably has a lot going on in his head right now and he needs to figure out how to get along with everyone if this is going to work out for him.

And that's all I can fit in this post! I'll see you in the next one, when we tackle Tomboy (not THAT Tomboy).

And if you're enjoying the recaps, please feel free to tell a friend, or share on social media. I know that there are people out there who would like recaps like these if they could find them, so help us get connected. :)

See you soon,

xoxo BPR Noona

#bpr recaps build up #mnet build up #build up mnet #wumuti #ab6ix #wei #pentagon #yeo one

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