~ Epilogue ~

Hello everyone, and welcome to the wrap up of Mnet's Kingdom competition. After several months of intense competition, Stray Kids have been crowned as the new Kings. In this article, I'd like to give some comments on the format of the competition compared to the previous seasons (queendom & road to kingdom), and I'd also like to talk about the evolution of the groups throughout the weeks. I will be ranking the stages by groups (from my least favourite to my favourite performance of X group) because ranking all the stages will be impossible for me.   And just a friendly reminder that this ranking will be done according to my personal taste and that you don't have to take it personally. So, without any further due, let's start.

I. The format

I'll start with the things I find great in this format: First, there are no eliminations, which is great because all the groups have the same amount of attempts to show what they are capable of. In queendom if a group ranked last twice in a row they would get eliminated, and in road to kingdom the group that ranked last in round 2 and 3 would get eliminated which was unfair because if we gave one more chance to these groups they could've showed us more. So this was a really good point. Another great aspect was that every single stage was explained, like how the group came to decide on X song to perform, the thinking process they went through to come up with creative ideas, and how they practiced for the actual performance. This allows us as viewers to really understand how the process goes on.

However, there were more points which I didn't like at all: First of all, the guidelines for each round weren't clear at all. I need to know, as a viewer, what are going to be the exact criteria the groups will be judged on! For the first round "To the world", the only thing we were told is that the groups had to choose a song of theirs they wanted to show to the world, that's all. Nothing on any sort of constraint regarding the choreography, the song arrangement, the props, etc., and most importantly nothing on how the groups did their own evaluation (because remember, groups had to vote between themselves)! It really frustrated me a lot, and this lack of precision made the ranking even blurrier which gave more importance to "popular voting". As a fan, if I had to vote based on a certain number of criteria, I would have voted for the group who respected these criteria the most. But if there are no specific criteria, I would certainly vote for my favourite group. It might be the same group in both cases but it might also be a different group in which case there is a problem.

Second, we had literally no backstage interaction between the groups. There was the sports day episode, but this was all on-camera reactions. I would've loved to see the groups interact outside of the premises like when practicing (aside from phone calls...), but I can understand they didn't let them interact for sanitary reasons. 

Third, I love Changmin, and I understand that no one could've predicted this incident with Yunho, but the performance of the previous hosts (Lee Da-Hee and Jand Sung-Kyu) was so good that this time I was really disappointed by the hosting. They could've found someone else to co-host with Changmin when Yunho had to quit, because it was obvious that Changmin was uncomfortable being the only host out there although I'm sure he tried his best. 

Fourth... MNET, CHANGE YOUR DAMN CAMERAMEN! Or at least, pay them a professional formation, because you're really not doing justice to all the performances. I think I mentioned the bad camerawork multiple times in the debrief of the finale so I won't detail every time they did a bad job, but this is truly frustrating. When the groups spend so much time designing a stage, learning a choreography and practicing their facial expressions, it's for every important detail to be highlighted and not ignored for god's sake! 

Last but not least: The voting. For every round, the rankings would be decided on the following criteria: Self-evaluation points (25%), Experts' voting (25%), Global voting (40%), and Performance video view count (10%). A lot of people criticised it saying that the public had too much power and that it would end up in a popularity contest. But guys, the whole industry is a popularity contest. When you perform on a music show, it's the fans who vote, when you do a concert, it's the fans who pay to come see you, when you release an album, it's the fans who pay to buy it! So the 40% for me are totally justified. However, what bothers me is the identity of the experts that was never revealed to us. Who were these experts? I really hope they were professional producers, choreographers and singers because otherwise I would get really mad! And when I saw members of Tri.Be and Mirae (groups who just freaking debuted!) being part of the "experts" panel for the third round, I got mad. 

II. Recap on all the groups' journey

Just a little disclaimer: I won't include the battles when ranking the groups' stages just because not all members of a group participated in every battle. 

SF9

I think SF9 was a group who entered the competition at a disadvantage. They come from a less-known company (Fantagio entertainment), and they have a less important fanbase from the start. I was really happy when I heard they would participate because I knew they would benefit a lot from the competition even though their chances of winning were lower than the others. I was familiar with their songs prior to the competition but I don't think I was a fan before that (I was just obsessed by Taeyang himself but that's another story). After having watched the competition, I think I can call myself a fan because I really grasped their artistic style. I think people don't realise how unique their style is. Their dancers dance in a very artistic way, their singers sing with a very powerful and emotional voice, and their rappers rap in a very suave way. I think they found themselves and defined themselves through the competition and I think this is what I call a good evolution. Now, if I had to rank all their stages, I would do the following (from least favourite to favourite): Jealous (round 1), Good Guy | The Glory| (introduction stage), The Stealer (round 2), Believer (finale), and finally, Move (round 3).  

IKON

I still think that to this day, Ikon is underrated in the sense that they do not get the recognition they deserve. They've been around for a couple of years now, they have a very modern hip-hop sound, they are very relaxed on stage and have proved themselves multiple times by going through several competitions. I really got mad at some rankings because they deserved a higher place. Inception was such an amazing rebirth, why the hell did they rank 4th? They should've at least ranked 3rd (from an objective point of view). Plus, there wasn't one stage that didn't feel like an ikon stage! They put their identity in all of their performances and that's a huge plus! To conclude I would just say that they have been themselves from start to end, and that you should at least try to listen to their songs if you still didn't do so. And if I had to rank all their stages, I would do the following (from least favourite to favourite): Love scenario + Killing me (round 1), Rhythm Ta (introduction stage), At Ease (finale), Classy Savage (round 3), and finally Inception (round 2). 

BTOB

BtoB definitely gained a new fan: Me. They stayed true to themselves while still trying new stuff out! I think they were the ones who had most fun performing in this competition, or at least that's the impression I got. They alway communicated good emotions, and that's not something all groups are capable of. Eunkwang was the person who made me laugh the most during the competition, from the moment he had that hilarious talk with Bang Chan in english during the first episode until the very last second of the last episode. I think they took out the best of every stage and were very humble in the sense that they considered themselves being at the same level of all the other groups and wanted to learn from them. If I had to rank all their performances, from least favourite to most favourite, I would rank them like the following: Back Door (round 2), Blue Moon Cinema Ver. (round 3), Missing you Theatre Ver. (round 1), Beautiful Pain Choir Ver. (Introduction Stage), and finally Show and Prove (Finale). 

Ateez

I think that overall, Ateez could've done better. I don't know if it's because Mingi wasn't there, but their overall performance felt incomplete to me. And trust me I wouldn't even bother saying this if I wasn't a fan, but I am and this is why it frustrates me so much. An indicator of this is that when I think of their performances on kingdom, there's not one that comes spontaneously to my mind, whereas for other groups I immediately think about a stage like Move for SF9, Show and Prove for BtoB, and Inception for Ikon. But I do want to applaud them for their stages that were still powerful and full of ideas. Ranking their performances from my least favourite to most favourite would give the following: Answer: Ode to joy (round 3), Symphony No.9 From the wonderland (round 1), Rhythm ta (the awakening of summer) (round 2), Wave - Ouverture (introduction stage), and finally The Real (finale). 

The Boyz

I felt the same way about The Boyz than I did about Ateez, but in a more complex way. I became a fan of The Boyz while watching them on Road To Kingdom, and they really did show all they could on that competition. If you haven't watched their RTK stages do it right now, you'll understand how talented these boys are. However, none of their Kingdom stages gave me that same "wow effect". And I feel like sometimes the pressure was maybe too high to handle. I do want to praise them for one thing: the way they use the stage. They are very good at using the stage in its entirety and they are very comfortable with the camera movement. That's something other groups like SF9 had trouble with, but The Boyz definitely had the advantage of knowing how to use the stage and how the camera will be filming them. From least favourite to most favourite, here is how I would rank their stages: O sole mio (the red wedding) (round 2), No air (a song of ice and fire) (round 1), The stealer epic ver. (introduction stage), Monster (storm born) (round 3), and finally, Kingdom Come (finale). 

Stray Kids

Last but not least, the winners of the whole thing, Stray Kids. I think stray kids was the most consistent throughout all their performances. Some groups did performances that were okay and others that were really good, but all stray kids stages were more or less at the same level, and this is why I think they won the competition. Although Hyunjin wasn't a part of the competition, I think they still managed to show who Stray Kids are, and what they are capable of. I think they gained a lot of confidence throughout the competition, especially for the younger members (I.N and Seungmin). Ranking their performances from my least favourite to most favourite would give the following: Side effects & God's menu mashup (round 1), Miroh (introduction stage), I'll be your man (round 2), Wolfgang (finale) and finally, Ddu du ddu du & God's menu mashup (round 3). 

One last thing I wanted to say is that there is ONE STAGE that will remain legendary, and that's the "Love Poem" stage by team Mayfly (Stray Kids, Ateez and BtoB) during the singing battle in the third round. That stage gave me CHILLS, and it still makes me cry every single time I listen to it. It's just legendary.

All of that being said, the "Kingdom Special" is now over! I really enjoyed debriefing the competition (although it was sometimes hard to keep up with the pace). I will surely do the same for the next season of the show (I don't think it will happen any time soon but I do hope that there will be a queendom season 2 next year). I would also really appreciate it if you could leave a comment saying if you liked the way I commented each episode, the things you liked and the things you think I should improve for next time. 

Thank you very much for reading this article and I'll see you soon!

Love, Swan