Warning: This recap is not spoiler-free. Proceed at your own risk!

Well, I’m back. I debated whether I wanted to cover season two of Queendom. Honestly, I’ve enjoyed this franchise less and less with each season, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to invest the time and energy it takes to watch and recap these episodes every week. Because of this, these write-ups may end up being a bit of a hodgepodge. I’ll plan to cover (and rank) all the performances, but I don’t know that I’ll go as in-depth when it comes to the behind-the-scenes stuff. We’ll see!

Regardless, I’m excited for the line-up this season. Some of my favorites are participating.

Speaking of favorites, I thought I’d start with something a little different this time. Since this is The Bias List, I’m going to rank Queendom’s participating artists by how excited I am about them and their music at this moment. This is a snapshot in time, and obviously changes depending on the quality of comebacks. But, I’m interested to see if this list changes after Queendom has ended. I plan to revisit it after the finale.

1. Brave Girls

Their past four singles have all topped my monthly round-up. I can’t say that about many other acts. As far as I’m concerned, they are right in the middle of their imperial phase.

2. WJSN

Though they haven’t been as active of late, WJSN’s discography is so strong. I always look forward to new music from them.

3. Hyolyn

I just adore her vocals. And being part of Sistar makes her a forever bias in my book.

4. VIVIZ

GFriend will always be one of my favorite K-pop groups. I don’t know what to think of VIVIZ yet.

5. LOONA

I know they’re immensely popular. I’ve got nothing against them, but I can’t say I’ve connected to a huge chunk of their discography thus far.

6. Kep1er

I didn’t watch the series they were formed on, so I have absolutely no opinion of the group. Their debut was fine.

This first meeting of all the acts is always a highlight. It’s just good fun, before the series’ dull competitive elements kick in. My hope for this season is that we get more of these funny, lighthearted moments and less manufactured drama. After all, that’s what made the first season of Queendom so much fun.

Although I’ll be ranking performances each week for my own entertainment, I’m going to try to tune out the scoring aspects of the show as much as possible. I’m certainly not interested in fan wars.

After arriving, the acts each pick a main “rival” for the series, which is the sort of time-filling fluff I wish they’d just cut from the show. I’d prefer a lean, mean hour-long episode to a bloated two-hour affair. The most interesting thing to come out of this was Brave Girls’ yearning perspective on GFriend’s 2015/16-era success.

This round is pretty self-explanatory. Poor LOONA had to drop out to recover from Covid-19, but they’ll be back for round two. Only the first two acts performed this episode, so my full ranking will be completed next week.

Also: live audience! I’m so glad to see this (even if it might not have been the safest choice given Korea’s Covid surge during the time of filming…).

Disclaimer: I’m watching the full show, not just clips on YouTube. So, the editing of each performances may inadvertently factor into my rankings. But, I’ll be embedding the full YouTube performances in these posts.

2. VIVIZ – Time For The Moon Night + Rough

VIVIZ chose to perform first, meaning they can relax and watch all the other performances when they’re finished. And, they (rightfully) chose a GFriend song for their signature. Mixing Time For The Moon Night and Rough into a medley was a great choice, though I’d consider the latter their true “signature” song. I like how they turned up the orchestral elements, particularly during Rough. The transition into that track was definitely a moment. It’s hard to separate just how legendary that song is from the performance itself. If I’m being honest, I think they could have done more with the staging (and even the arrangement), but there was no way I wasn’t going to enjoy this. Agh! I miss this style of K-pop so much.

1. Hyolyn – Touch My Body

Sistar’s discography is so stacked, making it difficult to pick a real signature song. When I think Sistar, I think summer, so picking Touch My Body was a great choice (even if Loving U will always be my MVP). I’m giving her the edge over VIVIZ this week because I think she did more with the song. The dance break was all kinds of epic, and her charisma is off the charts. I love that she twisted the arrangement a bit but didn’t subtract from what makes the song so great in the first place. I have a feeling she’s going to be hard to beat this season, and being the only soloist makes her stand out all the more.

And like I said about Rough, I also miss this style of K-pop so much!

We’ll see the rest of the performances next week! The only thing I think we can be certain of is that Kep1er will be performing Wa Da Da (and Brave Girls will probably do Rollin)