I wasn’t going to recap Boys Planet (and technically, I’m still not doing it), but I’m watching the series and thought others might appreciate a spot to discuss it. So, each week I plan on dumping a few of my random thoughts about the show. Again, this will not be a full, detailed recap. But, if you have something you want to mention make sure to include it in the comments!
My Current Favorites
I feel like these two come as a pair, and they were by far my standouts of the first episode.
Seok Matthew
I thought this guy had the most natural, enjoyable-to-watch performance and a great voice to boot. He seems genuine and has a loose sort of confidence that doesn’t feel overly rehearsed. He was my favorite of the episode.
Sung Han Bin
I was super impressed with the waacking and the tutting. I mean, how does a K-pop trainee even become interested in these dance sub-genres? It shows me this guy has a unique, colorful personality. And, his choice of ONF’s Beautiful Beautiful shows me he has great taste in music as well!
And… these two already have a great “storyline”! They used to train and room together but got separated. They’ve reunited on the show, so let’s do our work and have them debut together as well. I mean… the story practically writes itself!
Song Choices
Jeez, the songs performed this episode were brutal. Just one shouty posturing track after another. At one point, the vocal coaches were asking why none of the guys had practiced singing. But honestly, can you blame them? K-pop hasn’t focused on vocals in a very long time – especially boy group music. It’s all shouty swagger. I feel like we basically heard the same NCT song over and over again this episode, to various degrees of success.
The Two 2PM Auditions
I love when shows like this spotlight less-than-great auditions. They’re honestly more entertaining than the “good” ones. I mean, this is comedy gold in a very earnest, appealing way.
The Gasping and Overreactions
I forgot how insufferable MNET’s editing is. Honestly, K-pop has become too much its own hype man lately. Please, don’t tell us to be impressed. We’ll be impressed if what we’re watching is impressive. Seeing the judges and contestants fall all over themselves over every little thing is exhausting and super patronizing.
Takuto
I need to know the story behind this quirky little guy from Japan with the glitter on his cheeks and the boxing gloves around his neck. He better be good because I’m intrigued. I mean… not enough to do any sort of research, but he definitely stood out.
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
The 2pm ones were easily my highlight of the episode too…now I can’t listen to that song without thinking of them.
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Whatever the case is, I’m still praying Hui being a contestant on this show is an elaborate joke and he’s just pretending he’s the grandpa from Squid Game 😭 someone please get him out of there!!
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It was painful seeing him watch the trainees butcher his own song right in front of him
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……yeah hanbin is definitely gonna be the xiaoting (or dayeon) of boys planet
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also solji from exid (a seasoned vocal coach) is one of the mentors of the show…….ohhh lord shes gonna put those boys to WORK
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I really liked the Beautiful Beautiful choice! He chose the perfect part to highlight vocals, rap and choreo! And the good thing is he did carry them really well too! 😀
I honestly liked the two My House performances 😂 Yes, it ain’t the real sexy classy deal but they were both fun – the two guys looked like they were about to burst into giggles as well.
The two Kick It performances were really good – I’m surprised how this always ends up being a good performance song- Yongeun and Jia on Girl’s planet did amazing with this as well – it’s not an easy song by any means so I wonder if it’s some staple trainee song which everybody knows 😂
The Damdadi one was pretty cute too, and the Call Me Baby one was alright too.
God’s Menu, Glitch Mode and Hot though…. 😭😭😭 I knew the first two were too tailor made for the groups that it’s very hard to get right (and both teams really sounded off) but I never knew Hot could be messed up so badly!! Makes me appreciate what Seventeen did with it even more because I thought it was an easy song…. but haha nope!
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omg the HOT performance… in front of the choreographer himself… iconic
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I haven’t watched it nor am I going to BUT I saw some clips of contestants performing songs from underrated / under-appreciated groups like ONF or Verivery. That is something that I appreciate a lot.
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Ohh im so glad you’re doing a recap, I can’t be bothered to watch it but I don’t want to miss any outstanding performances/songs and it’s more fun with a commentary
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Cannot believe that “vocal” trainer still has a job after his showing in Girls Planet. Does he think a pained expression counts as mentoring? Why is it seen as a huge failure whenever a trainee can’t hit a crazily high note while dancing their heart out? It’s not possible for some trained, experienced idols, so why is it already expected of these kids? On the positive side, the boys are (for the most part) competent, can’t wait to see the mission songs they produce! Hopefully we have moved on from rigging, but I wouldn’t be surprised if both GP999 and this show get embroiled in some controversy once debut time rolls around. I’m along for the ride.
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what are your thoughts on jay and na kamden’s performance of rush hour ?? it was my favorite and jay is shaping up to be my bp biad
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*bias
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I personally found Jay’s “American swag” (as they kept referring to it) off-putting. It read too much like cockiness, to the point that I couldn’t enjoy the performance.
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I don’t get this. All he did was talk in an american accent, performed an old-school hiphop-esque song and performed confidently, what about that is cocky
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I’m curious as to what the judges’ criteria for an all star was because it seemed to change from group to group. If you watch the full cams, it’s clear that not everybody deserved their all stars…the episode edited out Haruto’s bad singing in the Glitch Mode bridge, and Yujin and Gyuvin each had a shaky half line in Kick It. Maybe they did it for the drama factor? I felt only Zhang Hao and Yoo Seungeon deserved the all stars for their Kick It high notes. And an honorable mention for the Tiger Inside group for putting together a cohesive performance despite not singing in their native language and not having worked together before.
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I was so confused about the judges referring to high notes in Kick It. I… didn’t hear any in the episode. Just because you sustain a note and sing it really loud doesn’t make it a “high note,” right?? Maybe they just edited out the high parts.
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Hmmm…I’m not sure what it should be called. Maybe “killing note” or “killing part” would be more accurate?
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I mean, they’re essentially just power notes, right? It made me laugh when the other contestants were raving about “high notes” as they guys were just singing really loudly in their mid-range.
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I don’t know if I’m watching yet but your two favourites caught my eye as well – Hanbin for the same reasons, loved the tutting and waacking, as well as his great choice of song. But Matthew Seok is actually from the Greater Vancouver Area and my sister knew him personally…crazy
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Oh cool! Vancouver is only an hour or so from me 🙂
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Yeah I remember how we were both dying during the Pacific Northwest heat wave two summers ago ahaha
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My boyfriend and I actually started a recap podcast for this show called Gays Planet. It should be on most podcast platforms, but Spotify link here for those interested!
But I agree, Han Bin and Matthew really stood out. I’d throw in Jay as another trainee bringing something fresh. He’s a favorite of mine.
https://open.spotify.com/show/1WP9jXkuUzpwWhr6aRknZv?si=ead114cbf53d4271
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I’m never really interested by the audition part. I prefer to watch them in real performances. The process is pretty long too.
Idol Band Boy’s Battle has really good performances. The trainees are pretty cute. But it’s nice to see performances focused on music and they got really great singers and musicians.
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Started watching The Idol Band after reading this comment and I quite like it, so thank you! There are some really skilled people there. I found the arrangements a tiny bit lacking (especially compared to SuperBand etc. but I guess it comes down to the gap in experience since there was an upper age limit in The Idol Band) but the raw talent and the energy is there. Who are your favorites so far? I personally love Park Hyosung’s vocal timbre, along with Eom Taemin and Kwon Yibin (who are an extremely formidable duo). For instruments, Oya Takayuki, Heomin, Hwang Jinseok, Uchiyama Takafumi stand out to me.
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I’m happy if I could make you watch it :p
Taemin and Euibin are great singer, I really like the duo Kim Youngseo and Park Hyosung too. The guitarist Oya Takayuki is so impressive!
It’s nice to hear different songs from the usual idol competition like Mäneskin, Oasis, Coldplay, the next week they will perform First Love by Utada Hikaru.
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Yay, Matthew and Hanbin are also one of my top picks, it’s nice to see that you enjoy them too. Jay, Na Kamden, Haruto, Zhang Hao, Chen Kuanjui, Anthonny and Yoo Seungeon also stood out to me (along with some others) though I doubt most of them will make it. There’s no way Koreans will vote for a global-heavy lineup, and Mnet seems to have chosen their token Chinese member already (Zhang Hao). In general I found the global contestants much more interesting than the Korean ones. But! We still haven’t seen some trainees, most notably my long time favorite Lee Yedam (from LOUD), so I hope there will be some talented ones in the second episode.
Well, as long as Hanbin and Matthew debut together, I guess it will be OK.
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Ah Nick, I’m watching ep 2 right now and I’m so happy for you re: takuto… you are going to enjoy him so much… you may have to become a father.
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LOL I’m excited!!
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Hanbin actually started out as waacking and voguing dancer/battler. He had to dial down his sassyness in this show lol.
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