After KBS’s festival-that-didn’t-really-feel-like-a-festival last week, it’s time for the celebration to truly begin with SBS’s Gayo Daejeon. This is the show that airs every Christmas and usually features a ton of festive stages. It’s also held in a big venue with tons of artists in attendance, so it makes for a nice seasonal gift for us K-pop fans.

This year’s show clocked in at just under four hours, which felt quite long. The theme was “The Golden Loop” and it was hosted by IVE’s Yujin, DAY6’s Young K and NCT Dream’s Jaemin. (A somewhat random combination?) They were perfectly solid MCs. Their oft-repeated catchphrase this year was “into the… loop!” when announcing each set of performance. I have no idea what that means, but you’ve gotta love those catchphrases!

One thing I really appreciated about tonight was all the live singing on display. Sure, it didn’t always sound as polished as a lip sync would, but I prefer that because it adds character and a sense of immediacy.

On the whole, I thought the show was… fine. It wasn’t the kind of legendary set of performances I’m going to remember for a long time, but the line-up was strong and the performances were generally good. The special stages weren’t very special and the festive Christmas remixes of songs started to get old as the show went on and really dragged a few songs down. I missed there being a big marquee act from generations past, like 2NE1 last year.

As always, this ranking represents my own thoughts, meaning it will heavily favor music I enjoyed this year as well as performances that re-arrange or remix existing songs.

But first, some random thoughts and discoveries from tonight’s show:

– Tarzzan can apparently do… whatever he did across the stage.
– CORTIS should never be allowed to cover a Christmas song again (but I’ve weirdly come around to “Go”)
– ZB1’s Iconik leaves me completely cold and I still can’t figure out why.
– BOYNEXTDOOR’s Woonhak should be hosting one of these shows.
– For all its resources, SM Entertainment is the stingiest when it comes to rearranging its songs for these festivals.
– Whoever was in charge of the mics must be an NMIXX anti. You could barely hear them!
– The series of random cover stages that opened part three of the show were weird. Like… totally disconnected from one another. Chaeryeong was amazing, though.
– There’s something called “BITHUMB” and RIIZE won some award for it and it was presented in the middle of hour three for some reason. (the reason is product placement)

---

15. ITZY – Tunnel Vision

There wasn’t much song left by the time this remix got through with it, but the general vibe was very cool and so were the (many) dance breaks.

---

14. NCT Wish – Surf + Color

An energetic set, and Surf actually works better as a carol than I would have expected.

---

13. Hueningkai x Zhang Hao x Sohee x Shinyu – You Were Beautiful

This was an odd combination because two of the guys have much more powerful voices than the others so they did the real heavy lifting. Still, these are the kind of interactions I come to the gayos for.

---

12. TWS – Freestyle + Overdrive

Of course TWS is going to end up on my list because I love their songs and performance so much, but this is much lower than I would have anticipated. Weird outfits and unambitious staging/remixing by their (admittedly high) standards. I’m so happy to see Overdrive get its well-deserved flowers, though.

---

11. IDID – Push Back

Rock remixes are pretty par for the course on these shows but I love them every time. I also love this song, so that’s a double win.

---

10. RIIZE – Fame

Very cool dance intro (cooler than this song deserves, honestly) and I liked the amped up energy of Fame. This is how the song should have sounded from the beginning. Some funny vocal slips, though.

---

9. Woonhak & Wonhee – Merry Christmas In Advance

This was such silly, bubbly fun. Exactly what I’d hope for from a K-pop Christmas collab stage and far more enjoyable than the godawful “Jingle Bell Rock” performance that preceded it.

---

8. BOYNEXTDOOR – If I Say, I Love You + 123-78

The staging during the first half of this made their entrance feel like a real moment. They also looked like they were having a lot of fun, which goes a long way.

---

7. KickFlip – My First Love Song Christmas Medley

I thought the mash-up idea was cool for the rookie group section of the night and this one worked the best for me by far. I love a festive remix of an upbeat song and I was impressed with their live singing.

---

6. izna – Mamma Mia

Another rock remix, but I thought this one reinvented the song quite well. I also loved the staging. The performance took advantage of the space and the girls have such charisma.

---

5. BABYMONSTER – We Go Up + Psycho

They remain some of the best performers in these festivals… performing songs I never enjoy as much as I want to. Still, they killed these two tracks and I love how the mix sounded more like a live band.

---

4. AHOF – Pinocchio

A beefed up rockier version of this song works so well. The structure was chopped a bit more than I would have liked, but overall this was a rousing rendition of one of the year’s best title tracks.

---

3. The Boyz – VVV

Ah!! They finally performed it! VVV is one of the best songs of the year and totally made for this kind of stage. The remix was blazing and the song sounded fantastic, but I honestly think they should have removed the needless dance breaks and intro so they could perform the whole thing. It’s too immense to chop up or shorten.

---

2. LE SSERAFIM – Spaghetti

LE SSERAFIM are killing this year’s award shows so far. They make so much more sense to me as an ultra-campy girl group flanked by drag queens. The stages for Spaghetti are just so fun in a way that K-pop’s girl groups have been missing for awhile. The staging during the introduction was also among the most striking images of the night.

---

1. ATEEZ – Wonderland

It probably says something pretty crappy about the year in K-pop when ATEEZ handily win the night by performing a song from… 2019. But really, who can argue with this over-the-top drama? There was nothing new here (they’ve performed this mix before, I believe), but it felt like a musical climax in a night that badly needed one.