The Kpop Corner: Thoughts on Queendom 2
April 13, 2022
Recently, the show Queendom began airing its second season in Korea. Queendom (and its later counterpart Kingdom) was a Kpop reality competition show where six groups compete to show off their skills and talents. Throughout the show, competitors will go through a series of performance challenges and themes, while audience voting determines who wins each round. Queendom 2 is a global version of the show, where international votes are factored as well as the live audience’s votes. Last time, girl group Mamamoo took first place in the final round and won a comeback show dedicated solely to them. The start of a new season makes many Kpop fans wonder, who will take home the crown this time?
Queendom 2 has six contestants from all types of companies, backgrounds, and even times of debut. Those contestants are, in no particular order:
- Brave Girls
- Kep1er
- Loona
- Viviz
- WSJN (AKA Cosmic Girls)
- Hyolyn (A solo artist)
Throughout the preview and the official first episode, the audience is met from a wide range of different emotions and different reasons that each group wanted to appear on the show. For example, Kep1er only debuted in January, and they want to prove themselves as a talented group. Loona debuted six years ago, and wants to make people believe in them and stop looking at them with pity due to their company’s misfortunes. Brave Girls debuted 11 years ago and blew up with their song “Rollin’” in 2017, now they’d like to cement their spot among the queens of Kpop.
The first performance the participants gave was during the opening show, where each group gets to show their charms before the competition begins. Below you’ll see my opinions on each of the opening performances.
Loona – 4.5/5 Stars
Loona’s dream-like performance suited them incredibly well, as well as perfectly matching the atmosphere that the stages of Queendom 2 present.
[퀸덤2] OPENING SHOW – 이달의 소녀(LOONA) | 3/31 (목) 밤 9시 20분 첫 방송
WSJN (Cosmic Girls) – 4/5 Stars
Like Loona, WSJN presented a very dreamy performance, a concept they are very familiar and compatible with. The dramatic and theatrical nature of their stage was also unique and fun to watch.
[퀸덤2] OPENING SHOW – 우주소녀(WJSN) | 3/31 (목) 밤 9시 20분 첫 방송
Brave Girls – 4/5 Stars
Brave Girls’ performance was funky and unique. It included parts of their biggest hit, “Rollin’”, but it seemed appropriate and the overall concept of the performance suited the group’s members and the setting of Queendom very well.
[퀸덤2] OPENING SHOW – 브레이브걸스(Brave Girls) | 3/31 (목) 밤 9시 20분 첫 방송
Kep1er – 4/5 Stars
Kep1er’s performance was very neat and I enjoyed it a lot. The song they used was a remixed version of their song “See the Light”, and their performance felt by far the most competitive and ‘fierce’ as they often like to say. This makes sense as they are, for the most part, complete rookies who are fighting for their place among the queens of Kpop.
[퀸덤2] OPENING SHOW – 케플러(Kep1er) | 3/31 (목) 밤 9시 20분 첫 방송
Viviz – 3.5/5 Stars
Viviz did a good job, but I was mildly disappointed watching their performance. They had a really cool disco/funky vibe going, and their choreography was neat, but I was sad to see their opening was the only one lacking any type of vocals. I also wasn’t sure about all 3 members dancing separately for a majority of the performance, though it was unique compared to other groups.
[퀸덤2] OPENING SHOW – 비비지(VIVIZ) | 3/31 (목) 밤 9시 20분 첫 방송
Hyolyn – 3/5 Stars
Personally, Hyolyn’s opening show performance was my least favorite. She did really well, but the concept she used just seemed kind of inappropriate, and didn’t mesh well with the setting of the show at all. I understand she had to fill that stage all by herself, but I’m sure there could have been a better way to do it. She did kill her high notes and choreography for sure though!
