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!
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode One
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Two
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Three
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Four
Thoughts on BOYS PLANET Episode Five
Dual Position Battle
In this round, the guys have to arrange rap, vocal and/or dance in teams made up of both K and G members. The song selections are varied, but I’m mostly excited that Infinite’s Man In Love is featured as one of the choices. That song deserves SO much more attention than it gets in this day and age. It’s nice to see Infinite get some recognition outside of Be Mine. They’re so much more than that (admittedly iconic) song.
I’m also curious about Twice’s Feel Special, which spawned my favorite quote of the episode. In response to the song reveal, one of the guys excitedly declared: “Are you ready for the group of queens?”
Yes, we are!
“Gang” Team
I was initially confused why they weren’t crediting this to Rain, but I guess they went with the group remix since there are multiple trainees performing this. Now that the initial meme-ness of Gang has settled down I feel like we’ve all come to our senses and remembered that this is a pretty obnoxious track.
As far as the performance is concerned, it felt pretty amateur to me and the “funny” parts didn’t really land. It got better as it went on, and the crowd seemed to love it. But, it’s hard to make much out of this song tbh.
“Zoom” Team
This group was a lot more enjoyable than the last one. Keita’s rap was a major highlight, but they all looked like they were having a lot of fun in a way that didn’t feel forced. This is how you perform a hip-hop track on a show like this! It’s probably the biggest burst of energy so far this series and seemed like an already-debuted group putting on a special year-end stage.
“Home” Team
The behind-the-scenes package kept reminding us how many great vocalists are in this group. But apart from Jay, I didn’t hear it. The judges kept going on about Seung Eun, but to me it sounded like he was straining every time he sung. The power note was nice, but overall there was a tenseness to this performance that made it a bit uncomfortable to watch. The song felt too big for them, which is surprising given the subdued “anti-drop” nature of Home.
“Love Killa” Team
This was definitely the most polished performance of the episode, as expected from the team members involved. There was as much stage humping as their was singing, but they were probably smart to lean into the sensuality of the track since there’s not much to the song itself. They definitely have a ton of stage presence and both the vocals and dance were of high quality.
Personally, I prefer the “Zoom” stage. But, I’d have no problem with this winning. With a better song supporting it, this could have been completely epic. The guys wrung everything they could from the material they were given.
My Ranking
4. Gang
3. Home
2. Love Killer
1. Zoom
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Zoom team performed dead last at the prerecording (after midnight — filming started somewhere around 7 and we arrived at the venue hours before that, for reference), so we were all dead on our feet and I felt bad for the guys, but they gave such a good performance that everyone was instantly reenergized. My little foreigner pocket went from threatening to pass out to bouncing around like we were listening to our favorite song at our dream concert. They were just having so much fun with it, and that spread to the audience, too. I’m hoping that the guys on Zoom who are toeing the line or struggling are able to rack up some votes before the period ends, because their performance was very, very impressive!
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It’s so interesting to hear the perspective of someone who was there. Thanks!
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I can’t even imagine how much better the ‘ZOOM’ performance would have been in person, seeing that it was already incredible through the screen. I wish I was able to see it live.
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How can filming so few stages take so long?? MNET should hire a show runner from Eurovision, which packs dozens of songs into like 2 hours.
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Definitely felt a bit excessive, haha! There was a fair amount of stuff shoved in between the performances themselves — a team would come out, introduce themselves, and get asked questions individually, then go back off stage while a little intro reel played and pop back out to perform. Also, those ending fairy shots and the like aren’t done simultaneously, so there were very long pauses before and after the performances. Voting took a few minutes each time, too, since every group had to go through 4-6 rounds of it and the TV-show-MC speaking pace feels like molasses once you’ve dealt with it for too long. We were delayed a bit because (I have no idea if this is typical) they really had to scream at the front of the crowd to stop crushing each other. At least during the set-up for some of the stages (if they needed mic stands, etc.) they played goofy little VCRs of the other teams. It was delightfully awkward — seemed like they were livestreaming from back there, but I’m not 100%!
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So you watched this episode (and the next one I guess) in live instead of Idol Band!
Not sure you got the best :p
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I haven’t watched the latest 2 episodes yet bc I can’t find the time but I do have time for the performances.
I WANT KUM JUNHYEON TO DEBUT HAHAHA
He’s got this crazy energy to him and I love it. He seems quite relaxed when he’s performing. He’s already such a good performer but I can see him becoming even better.
Besides Kum Junhyeon going crazy in the ‘Gang’ performance, I think the ‘ZOOM’ is my favourite performance on BOYS PLANET so far. It’s just a really solid stage. All the members did so well.
2:38 is INCREDIBLEEE.
Also, SVT’s ‘Home’ is such an incredible song. Yoo Seung Eon KILLED that high note. At the start of the performance, it seemed like he had such little confidence in himself but then by the end of the performance, he made the stage his own.
My ranking is:
1. ZOOM (Standout member – All of them to be honest but if I had to pick one, it would be Haruto)
2. Home (Standout member – Yoo Seung Eon)
3. Gang (Standout member – Kum Junhyeon)
4. Love Killa (Standout member – Seok Matthew)
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Zoom was definitely the best of the bunch here, it gave me G Group Love Me Right vibes (kudos to Wumuti and Haruto to being in the two most fun performances yet). The other three were kind of even to me. I’d never heard Gang before, Love Killa seemed like your generic sexy concept, and while I thought the vocals in Home were fine, Jongwoo’s dance break seemed completely unsuited to the song. I’m guessing these performances aired in this episode because Mnet wants to push Keita, Matthew, Jongwoo, and Kum Junhyeon.
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I miss the standard position evaluations, the dual positions don’t make sense to me. Like I get it, everyone wants to be an all-rounder/ace now, but I think this new format takes away from having more “focused” performances that allow them to showcase a specific skill. For Love Killa, I didn’t feel there was anyone who shined vocally or danced super well, which is literally the point of a position evaluation. Instead, we get another round of cover group performances. Home felt really weird because the whole random dance break got cut and wasn’t even shown to video viewers. I think we were snubbed from getting really good dance and vocal performances this season.
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I feel you here. I think dance is taking the biggest hit with this new format. And Love Killa was just an odd choice in general. But I’m really enjoying these smaller-than-usual group sizes.
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Yes!! The new dance videos of Sung Hanbin keep coming out, he’s a much strong dancer than I thought and his speciality in waacking makes him stand out even more. Wish he got a stage to do that (how’s he gonna do that in Tomboy)? Despite being about dual positions, none of the song choices actually cater to either positions strongly :// But I agree with the small group sizes, glad they kept that.
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I’ve given up on this show. Too long, too frustrating, the editing is so bad and obviously maliciously motivated that I’d rather just be spoiled on the show and not go through the 24hr episodes lol
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Boys Planet pisses me off.
Thoroughly enjoying PEAKTIME✌🏻
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I’m absolutely loving Peak Time too, it’s a shame these of these talented groups go unnoticed.
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Thank you once again for taking one for the team.
Abs-printed t-shirt for the win, because it made me chuckle.
For the “Home” high notes. There is a kpop school of thought that that sounds good. Its like the kpop variant of what people think sounds good on American Idol. That higher is better. That high and loud and belty is even better. Few can actually pull it off well on TV shows like this. For the record, that note is a high E5.
But here the kicker: to sing a full belt E5 well, the singer first has to be able to sing full belt A4 B4 C5 D5 first. Which this kid can’t do yet. Perhaps with more practice and time, he might, but not today.
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