The performances from the first episode of Mnet's boy group competition program 'Road To Kingdom : Ace Of Ace' left many Korean netizens disappointed with the show's supposedly "promising" group of 4th generation idol teams.
On the first episode of 'Road To Kingdom : Ace Of Ace' aired on September 19 KST, the 7 competing teams including CRAVITY, ONEUS, YOUNITE, TEMPEST, 8TURN, The CrewOne (Just B + ATBO), and THE NEW SIX began their first performance battle round by sending one ace from each team. The rankings of the ace performances would determine which teams received benefits or penalties for the group battle round.
Unfortunately, the performances of the aces from each team did not meet the high expectations of Korean netizens. Many expressed their fatigue with the overuse of redundant concepts like "The Joker", "A Mad King", "Sword Fighting", and "Fantasy Storylines". They also felt that the stages left less of an impact when "conceptual storylines were used to cover up their bad skills."
Many left scathing criticism in their comments, including:
"It's all too cringey... Just sing and dance properly."
"To be honest, to pull off a conceptual storyline, you have to have good visuals... I'm sorry but you can barely see their faces behind all of the heavy makeup."
"Why don't these groups realize that 'spicy-flavored' performances went out a style so long ago."
"If you're a singer, show us with your vocal skills... You're not an actor so why are you wasting more than half of your stage time making facial expressions?"
"I don't think they understand that the stages from 'Road To Kingdom 1' went viral because the groups had skills, technique, and visuals to begin with, and they enhanced those points with conceptual storylines. Without any of that, a conceptual storyline is meaningless."
"Stop acting like you're sexy and deadly when you're so not."
"It's not a 'mad' concept just because you make crude facial expressions and do an intense dance. It's a music performance so there needs to be good vocal and performance technique, like ATEEZ stages."
"All the stages were the same, I can barely tell them apart."
"There are so many interesting concepts out there, and all of these groups have released music with a variety of concepts in the past. So why are they all suddenly doing the same old 'mad, powerful, dangerous' concept on this show?"
"CRAVITY should stick to their style and go for refreshing fun or Y2K. They can't pull off these kinds of dramatic concepts."
"The 'spicy-flavor' days are over. These days the trend is refreshing, cool, retro, and hip."
"Seriously what was the point of that one guy holding up the hourglass lol."
Did you watch the performances from the first episode of 'Road To Kingdom : Ace Of Ace'?
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