~ Episode 7: No Limit (1) ~

Hello everyone! This time, we're going to debrief episode 7 of Mnet's Kingdom Legendary War. Before we start, I just wanted to tell you that I didn't debrief episode 6 because it was the "sports day" episode, and although I enjoyed it very much (the interactions between the groups were wholesome), I really didn't have the time to write about it. Plus, there were no performances, so I decided not to publish an article. Now, this week is the start of the penultimate round: Round 3, "No Limit". This round will be divided into two parts: The first part is the "No limit" between the groups. The groups have been mixed up (Ateez, Stray Kids and BtoB vs. The Boyz, Ikon and SF9) and will compete in dancing battles, singing battles, and rapping battles. For episode 7, we were shown the rapping and dancing battles, leaving the singing battle for next week (more on that in the last part of the article). So, I will first talk about the performances (I will provide my own personal favourites for each battle, but the official winners haven't been announced yet), and then we'll talk about the preview for next episode (which was a bit surprising to be honest). 

There are still people who are not understanding that this article engages me and myself only, and that the opinions I state here are mine, not anyone else's. And yes, I do have the right to be disappointed, angry, sad, etc. So please, keep in mind that this article is made of my PERSONAL OPINIONS. 

Without any further due, let's start!

I. No limit round 1: The battles 

1. Rap battle

This rap battle opposed 2 teams: Mayfly (3RACHA a.k.a Han, Changbin and Bangchan from Stray Kids, Hongjoong from Ateez, and Minhyuk from BtoB) and It's One (Bobby from Ikon, Sunwoo from The Boyz, and Hwiyoung from SF9). This battle was, to say the least, on fire. Both teams had extremely talented rappers. They all were relaxed on stage, making it seem easy (but we all know it wasn't). Let's start with It's One.

"It's One" team performed a song called "Full Dash". I wasn't surprised to see Bobby smiling and having fun all the time, because that's how was from the start and will still be. This man was born to rap on stage. Now I was amazingly surprised by Hwiyoung (whom I didn't know before to be honest). He nailed the opening of the performance, he was relaxed and his moves were natural. I just wished the track didn't have that much polishing (or autotune if you prefer). And, of course, Sunwoo. I knew what Sunwoo was capable of, and I'm glad he just showed it to the whole world in this performance. This kid (because he's born in 2000, just like me) is monstrously talented. What impressed me the most is that I enjoyed the performance without there being any props or any extravagant special effects. And in my opinion that's what makes a performer a good performer. A person that can fill the stage by his own presence. And they did that. 

Moving on to Mayfly. Mayfly is composed of Changbin, Han, Bangchan (a.k.a 3Racha), Minhyuk and Hongjoong. They performed a song called "물감놀이" (that translates into "Colours"). Once again the flow of the rap was seamless, but there's more melody to this song (the autotune is a bit too much in this song, more than "Full Dash" and we all know that they all can sing really well). I really appreciated Bang Chan's verse in English. I liked how they also used props (especially the face masks). Minhyuk's entrance was the key point of the performance, and the contrast between this (expensive) man and the huge paint brush he was carrying was hilarious. 

The mood of Mayfly's performance was more colourful and powerful (with some un-seriousness at the end which I love) while It's One's performance was really cool, sexy with a slight touch of fun. If I had to choose one winner, it would be ... drumroll... It's One with "Full Dash". Although I had fun with "Colours" (and everyone has amazing talent at this point), Full Dash was a bit more structured and it felt like watching "Show me the money" (a famous rap competition) once again. They had the Swag and seemed to have fun at the same time, it was the right balance between being relaxed and in control. But I think what made this battle really interesting is that all the participants are monster rappers. They ALL are amazing rappers. The difference is really small. 

2. Dance Battle

For the dance battles, we once again had team It's One (composed of Juyeon from The Boyz, Donghyuk from Ikon, and Taeyang from SF9) against team Mayfly (Felix, Lee Know, I.N, Yeosang, Yunho, Wooyoung, San, Seonghwa, and Peniel). Let's start with It's One and their version of EXO's "MAMA".

The song arrangement and the performance were perfectly in sync. I think they found the perfect concept for them. The historical themed performance had so much impact whether through the choreography, the facial the outfits or the facial expressions. Speaking of which, I was really amazed by this team's facial expressions and presence on stage, especially Donghyuk's. They really owned the stage and did their thing, it almost felt real, like it was taken from a historical drama scene. And just for that, they already won, because they made me travel. 

Moving on to MayFly's version of EXO's "Wolf". First of all, wolf is a pretty unconventional song to begin with. It has very heavy electronic sounds and very powerful (and high) vocals (small parenthesis, I already miss Baekhyun already, and I also miss Chen's vocals T-T). So, I was taken aback with the remake that was relatively "light" compared to the original, and removed that "heaviness" (especially in the chorus) that was at the essence of the song and of the choreography. Plus, the difference in number here is a bit too much, almost putting this team at a disadvantage. The more people you have on stage, the harder it is to be synchronised and to all have the same level of energy. And to be 100% honest with you, it was obvious that Peniel was a bit struggling to keep up the pace (and it's totally normal, considering that 4th generation idols were trained for this kind of performances when 3rd generation idols were not). I did enjoy this stage, don't get me wrong, but the performance wasn't consistent.

So, you might have already guessed who won this dancing battle for me, and yes it is It's One with their performance of EXO's Mama.

I asked you all on Twitter (follow me @baek_swan) to vote for your favourite performances for the rap & dancing battles. For the rap battle, 49 people voted, and the winner is, with 61.2% of the votes, team It's One with "Full Dash". For the dancing battle, 47 people voted, and the winner is, with 51.1% of the votes (really tight!), team It's One with "MAMA". 

II. Preview of episode 8

Next week we'll have the singing battle. Mayfly's team will interpret IU's "Love poem" and the preview sounds promising (the song in itself is already beautiful, and with amazing vocalists like Eungkwan, Jongho and Seungmin I'm sure we'll get something unforgettable), while It's One team will interpret Taeyeon's "Spark". They curiously insisted on the results of the singing battle, leading us to think that the results will be "surprising" (not the first time they do that, and I won't start thinking about different scenarios, let's just wait for the actual episode lol). 

Next week is also the start of part 2 of round 3. This time, there will be no limits to the genre, you can collaborate with someone and do a featuring, basically you can go crazy. What we know for now is that Ateez will have a powerful and crazy stage (like they always do, I wonder what crazy idea they came up with this time), that BtoB will have a jazz performance featuring Miyeon from (G)-Idle (in case you didn't know they are from the same company Cube entertainment), that we'll see abs in Stray Kid's and SF9's performances, that The Boyz will have a sleek choreography, and that Ikon will perform Blackpink's "Pretty Savage" featuring Lisa herself. I had previously heard rumours about Lisa appearing on the show, but I only trust what I see and there wasn't any hint or proof at Lisa participating so I ignored it. Now that we know it's true I am ... hyped up. Seriously, I cannot wait to see that stage. 

That's it for the debrief of Kingdom Legendary War episode 7! I'll see you all next week to debrief episode 8, and until then take care!

Love, Swan