It’s time for K-pop’s final year-end festival of they year! As usual, MBC’s Gayo Daejejeon coincides with New Year’s Eve, pausing midway through for a countdown to 2023.
Although HYBE artists were absent from the festival again this year, MBC’s Gayo tends to include a greater variety of genres than the other festivals. We had trot, folk, balladry and plenty of nods to classic K-pop tracks. The theme this year was a vague “With Love” and the more intimate staging placed the audience right up with the idols.
In general, I found this year’s festival to be underwhelming. That’s no surprise, since that’s been the general vibe around these festivals for a few years now. Nothing knocked my socks off, but I cobbled together my ten favorite performances of the night anyway.
An honorable mention goes to ATEEZ’s Halazia. Debut performances of a song always stand out because they’re new, but I didn’t include it on this list because it was essentially just a weekly music show performance with added pyrotechnics. It was still good, though.
Watch highlights from the KBS Gayo Daechukje here
Watch highlights from the SBS Gayo Daejun here
10. NMIXX – Atlantis Princess
Though the MBC Gayo was quite dull overall, its producers picked some great cover songs. I’m not sure the execution of this was anything special, but Atlantis Princess is one of my favorite K-pop songs ever so that alone earns it a spot on my list. It’s also nice to hear NMIXX simply sing, unencumbered by the drastic musical shifts of their “mixxpop” sound.
9. Mamamoo – Starry Night, Aya & Illella
Sometimes all you need is a good medley, performed well. None of these three songs are among my favorite Mamamoo singles, but they melded surprisingly well together and the group has such natural stage presence. I loved the dance break transitions.
8. Forestella – Lazenca, Save Us
I’ve adored Lazenca, Save Us for many years and never tire of seeing it covered by groups. Its theatrical drama is a perfect match for Forestella. They were really able to lean into the operatic side of the song. And… that climactic high note!
7. CLASS:y, Jang Sung Kyu & Koyote
I’m surprised CLASS:y scored an invite to this show given their relative nugu status, but they seized the opportunity with this upbeat medley of classic 90’s songs. These kind of nostalgic stages are always a ton of fun. It’s kind of a tradition for a show like this.
6. Younha, Taeil & Haechan – Password 486
Younha’s killing it with her collaboration stages this year. I’m a sucker for NCT vocalists singing rock (who doesn’t it happen more often?) and Password 486 was a great, energetic choice to cover.
5. Moonbin, Sanha, Taeyang & Kim Yohan – Love Killer
Of all the dance cover stages, this felt like the most notable of the night. Though I think the song choice could have been more inspired, these four worked well together and the staging was suitably dramatic.
4. IVE – Love Dive
Love Dive has proven to be the most versatile song on these end-of-year shows. Starship has thrown a plethora of different remixes at it and each one has worked well. This “rock” mix gave the track extra drive, which was particularly effective during the chorus.
3. Yuqi, Arin, Yujeong, Chuu, & Yena – Step
A straightforward cover stage, but anytime the extraordinary Step gets more recognition is fine by me! I need this to plant a seed in the industry so that we get new music of this quality. Seriously, it blows everything else out of the water.
2. Kep1er x Tempest – Pretty U
We need more girl and boy group collaborations in K-pop! This was the perfect song choice for these two groups, though the mix stayed too slow for too long. But, once that chorus and iconic choreography came in, this was bubbly, uncomplicated fun.
1. Monsta X – You Problem, Rush Hour & Gambler
This was a very well-rounded performance, from the cute, outdoor intro with You Problem (an underrated bop) to the very cool rock remix of Gambler. In a stronger night, this might have ranked further down the list. But, its combination of great songs and great mixes makes it an easy favorite. The fact that my top spot goes to a trio of 2021 songs probably says more about 2022 than I meant it to!
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I loved that Step stage 😭 those are some of my favorite female idols and that’s one of my favorite second gen songs!
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I really loved that Step performance! What I really liked was that they kept the second gen vibes perfectly throughout the performance! Yuqi has such a great voice that suits these kinda songs!
Also hard agree on we need more coed collabs! One of my favorite memories of such collabs is Do Better by MonstaX and WJSN where I didn’t even know who the groups were individually back then but loved it!
I have always liked the way voices and tones can blend in a mixed group – it adds a zing unlike any other! And Kepler and Tempest really went well together with this stage!
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CLASS:y only got an invite because their survival show was from the same station
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Ah, I figured it was something like that!
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the Step stage absolutely blew me away! I missed Chuu performing so much and it just looked like they were all having so much fun (plus, incredible song to cover!)
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‘Atantis Princess’ is also one of my favourite K-pop songs of all time. I agree with you. The cover was fine but it was refreshing to see NMIXX sing differently to how they normally would.
Younha’s ‘Password 486’ is such a classic. I loved watching that performance. Younha has such great diction. Taeil and Haechan’s voices were so nice in this. I didn’t know I needed this performance.
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bit unrelated but. well u know i had to say something abt my ults. so here goes
honestly…..tbzs year end dance breaks have gotten rlly tired atp. like theyre absolutely phenomenal performers but every single dance break they did on the gayos just. didnt have anything interesting or new to add compared to past ones weve seen them do the same complicated dance moves/formations a bajillion times before and it just loses its flavor the more u repeat it yk?
and its a damn shame too bc theyve done so many great year end performances before (the kingdom one immediately comes to mind) and im sure they could do more great ones in the future (IF is(hi)t actually learns how to properly manage their time lmao)
(but again. they did have a very very strenuous past few years and i dont rlly blame them for wanting to take it down a notch. so im not too upset but i do hope things can improve)
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that aside this video made my entire year……ive never liked whisper that much so tbh i mostly skip performances of it BUT those choreographers knew damn well what they were doing making chanhee do that shoot pose and every time deobis (justifiably) lose their minds over chanhee i just get so so happy AND HIS LIL SMILE BACK OHHHH IM ILLLLLLL that is my MANS
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I think the rock version of love dive is my favorite. All the remixes have been very enjoyable though. Ive is really killing it
Loved seeing step covered, but honestly I was just very charmed by that group of five. I would love to see them release original music, probably never going to happen though lol
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