I don’t know this group, but they did a great job. Watching this makes me a bit weepy, both because of Jong but also because seeing this performance makes me feel a little old (it’s been 10 years!).

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    This is a very good cover. Another cover that I like is ASTRO’s version. Really nice to hear this song again as it transports me to the time that I first got into K-pop.

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      This was a very different take from what I expected. Although the song’s lyrics aren’t the happiest, this performance felt too polished. I felt more life from the ASTRO performance. Probably because the live locals are stronger there too. Don’t get me wrong though. I like TXT.

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        I don’t know anything about TXT other than the fact that they come from the same label as BTS (for context, I don’t really like BTS for various reasons, so I’ve mostly avoided stuff from their label). I agree though, there is a very polished quality to this one which is different from how it’s performed by SHINee (especially nowadays). I still thought it was pretty good though. I was especially impressed by the blue-haired guy.

        I couldn’t tell how much of this performance was lip-synced vs sung live. I thought the vocals were decent, although not to the quality of SHINee.

        I don’t know much about ASTRO. I’ll have a look at their cover though!

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          I don’t know the guys really. I listen to them more for their music than their performances–given how young they are. Thankfully, at this point, I can still watch their performances here and there because they haven’t objectified–in a sexual way–the members, yet. Then again, Big Hit doesn’t show skin and do all of the hyper-sexualization stuff as other groups do, so they should be good.

          URGH!!! One of the things I hate most about K-Pop live performances is not being able to tell if an artist is singing live or not. It annoys me to no end.

          ASTRO is awesome. They have vocals for days. Maybe not SHINee level, but still, really dang good. And their choreo is some of the best in the business. Rocky is a badass.

          Thinking about it, I feel badly that I was a Debbie Downer with my comment. I remember someone doing that to me on here when I was stating how much I loved something and I hated when they did that. I apparently had to satisfy my need to comment. Sigh.

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            I didn’t mind the comment and I don’t think you were a Debbie Downer. I like when people offer views different from mine; it usually results in conversation, and I like talking to people about their reasons for liking or disliking things (as well as my reasons for liking or disliking things). So don’t feel bad at all!

            I think BigHit does do *some* sexualization, no? That’s sort of what they’ve done with Jungkook, no? I’m not sure that they do it in the same way as other labels or groups (e.g. I don’t think BigHit would ever give BTS a song like “Love Shot”), but I think that has more to do with clever marketing than anything else. As with most aspects of their approach with BTS, I think BigHit has sort of tried to distance from some key aspects of K-pop to make BTS seem distinctive and maybe a bit more sophisticated/mature while not deviating too much from the norm in K-pop.

            In fairness, SHINee or EXO or Super Junior are sort of exception re their vocal lines. Comparing most K-pop groups to them is maybe holding them to too high a standard.

            I haven’t really paid much concerted attention to ASTRO, but I’ve always found their dances awesome. Rocky is a rare talent indeed. I’m hard-pressed to think of other dancers who are as good as him.

            Figuring out what parts of a K-pop performance are live is frustrating with most groups. Thankfully, a lot of the vocally oriented groups try to let their main singers do their thing without too much MR. For new groups, though, trying to figure out what aspects of a performance are live vs lip-synced is terribly tough.

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