During the practice for "Never", Joo Hak Nyeon was moved from the team into the "Open" team. Takada Kenta was originally the center of the team, but Joo Hak Nyeon applied to be the center and he was ultimately voted the new center. However, Joo Hak Nyeon continuously could not follow the choreography and the melody, and Kang Dong Ho had to have close one-on-one sessions with him just so he could sing the lines properly.
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After an evaluation by the producers where Joo Hak Nyeon continuously made mistakes, the group held a meeting where Kang Daniel pointed out that Joo Hak Nyeon had never once in practice gotten the choreography correct, and that it was a serious issue as he was the center. Kang Dong Ho also agreed he did not believe Joo Hak Nyeon could improve until the performance (they had 3 days at this point), and Takada Kenta also put in that he hadn't seen Joo Hak Nyeon practice as much as he should have, given that he could not follow the song or the choreography. The team decided Kim Yong Guk would be their new center and had to re-practice their new choreography line.
However, viewers were shocked to see Joo Hak Nyeon ask Kang Dong Ho what he thought about him applying to be center again after he managed to get the vocals down. Kang Dong Ho laughed it off, but viewers found it distasteful especially since Kim Yong Guk and the others had to repractice choreography just for him and he was asking it to change again.
Not only so, Joo Hak Nyeon made several mistakes on stage. Because he'd said himself that he always did well on stage, his multiple mistakes are also being pointed out.
(Original choreography during rehearsal on the left, during actual stage on right)
The original choreography has Joo Hak Nyeon bowing a little so center Kim Yong Guk can have his center ending. However, during the actual stage, Joo Hak Nyeon stayed standing straight up, covering the center Kim Yong Guk.
Joo Hak Nyeon's choreography:
How the choreography is supposed to look (you can also see Lim Young Min behind Joo Hak Nyeon in the gif above):
Stretching hand out when it's supposed to be a fist (also off beat):
Left hand not on hip:
Messing up choreography line and passing in front of center:
Off-beat during chorus (he is 5th from left):
While not everyone is good at choreography, viewers are criticizing him because he is the dance position, and he had said with his own words that he did well on stage. Also, this is Joo Hak Nyeon's second time with a similar problem. He had a similar issue with Hong Eun Ki during the position evaluation, where it was shown that he was getting choreography wrong and wasn't able to focus on practice after getting into a disagreement with the members. Back then, many had argued that it was evil editing against him - however, now that it's the second time in similar conditions with other members actively voicing that he wasn't practicing enough, even fans aren't so sure and some fans have even turned their backs on him.
Many are accusing of being greedy of the center position without the talent to back it up. Viewers were also critical of his 'kiss' ending, which he has been doing since "Right Round". While it could be considered cute, viewers pointed out "Open" was not that kind of song and all the other members had kept a serious, charismatic stare at the end while Joo Hak Nyeon was all smiles and even blew a kiss.
What do you think of the issue?
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