MNET kick-off their newest survival show ‘Queendom Puzzle’, with this show they will create a new 7-member girl group made-up with experienced idols.
The line-up includes former Lovelyz’s member Kei, woo!ah!’s Nana and Wooyeon, AOA’s Do Hwa (Chanmi), Laboum’s Haein, CLC member Yeeun, H1-KEY’s Riina and Hwiseo; former IZ*ONE member Lee Chae Yeon, Weeekly’s Jihan, Lee Soojin, Soeun, and Zoa; former MOMOLAND member JooE, former BNK48 (T-Pop) member Fye, Cherry Bullet’s Jiwon, Bora, and Chaerin; tripleS’s Jiwoo and Yoon Seoyeon; LIGHTSUM’s Sangah, WJSN’s Yeoreum, PURPLE KISS’s Yuki; Rocket Punch’s Suyun, Yeonhee and Takahashi Juri; Weki Meki’s Elly, and NMB48 member Shiroma Miru.
After all the seats were taken, Taeyeon made her big entrance as the MC, and explained the dynamics for this new season. The line-up will be created by the viewers through the MNET global app.
Moving on, she explained that all the participants were allocated base in four different tiers defined by the Queendom standard evaluation, but the divisions were going to be re-defined with the Up-Down battle, where all the participants will rate themselves.
Up-Down battle
The stages started with Do Hwa from Tier 1, performing a mash-up from AOA’s discography ‘Elvis + Bingle Bangle + Come See Me’, her performance had massive mermaid vibes, and after a little issue with her outfit she ended up with 11 upvotes and 16 downvotes.
Weekly’s Zoa from Tier 2 was up next, starting with ‘After School’ and going to ‘Rum Pum Rum Pum’ by f(x), she showed a lot of charisma on stage, she ended with 16 upvotes and 11 downvotes.
The maknae of this survival, from Tier 3, Triple S’ Jiwoo was called next, her performance started strong with her group’s single ‘Rising’, her performance ended with 7 upvotes and 2ß downvotes.
Cherry Bullet’s Jiwon from Tier 3 took the stage and performed ChungHa’s ‘Gotta Go’, stunning the audience and colleagues with a powerful stage that ended up earning 24 upvotes and 3 downvotes.
Also from the same Tier, Suyun from Rocket Punch performed ‘Advised’ by Taemin, her singing and performance ended with 12 upvotes and 15 downvotes.
Then from Tier 4 came the first member to perform. Woo!ah!’s Nana performed her version of Taemin’s ‘Move’. Her dance performance was incredible and her vocals quite steady. It was a really cool moment to see. The lines of her shoulders were so pretty!
After showing great energy and cheering on her back up dancers, she received 19 upvotes and 8 downvotes which left her feeling a bit disappointed.
Chae Yeon from IZ*ONE, who was in Tier 1 went next. She revealed that she had pressed the downvote button for all the previous performances. Chae Yeon performed ‘Toc Toc Toc’ originally by Lee Hyori. Her performance was sharp, powerful and sexy. She received 20 upvotes and 7 downvotes which left her feeling quite angry.
We see as the Tiers have some bonding time, especially Tier 3 who seem to be extroverts. All the Tiers are being playful with the camera and showing how they would be great models for drink ads.
Fye from Tier 4 comes up next. She’s a singer and actress from Thailand and became viral after posting a cover of ‘Hype Boy’ on social media. She sang a bit of ‘Hype Boy’ and then performed her original song ‘Gone Gurl’ which had a completely different vibe. She received 16 upvotes and 11 downvotes.
From Tier 4 Riina from H1-KEY performed the group’s very popular single ‘Rose Blossom’ with a twist of ‘Pop!’ by Naeyeon. Riina seems like a really fun girl to hang out with and I really loved her energy and charisma. There was a bit of a vocal crack of what was a vocal point of the song. Her score ended up being 8 upvotes and 19 downvotes.
Weeekly’s Jihan from Tier 2 performed ‘Pop!’ by Nayeon as well. With a lot of energy and cute expressions she created a great stage. I also absolutely loved her outfit. It was adorable. Her score was 17 upvotes and 10 downvotes.
‘INVU’ by Taeyeon was performed by Wooyeon from woo!ah!. She was very nervous to perform the track in front of the original artist. Her performance was really nice! Her dancing is incredible and her isolation was insane. She lip-synced during the high parts because of nervousness and the others downvoted her for it. Her result was 4 upvotes and 23 downvotes.
Yeoreum from WJSN from Tier 1 performed next. Together with her group she won the second season of ‘Queendom’ which you can read about here. ‘As you Wish’ by WJSN meets ‘Mmmh’ by KAI for this performance. Yeoreum’s dancing was great. She’s so fluid in her movements. Her results were 24 upvotes and 3 downvotes.
Tier 3’s Bo Ra from Cherry Bullet is up next. She performed ‘My Sea’ by IU which is one of my favorite songs from her. Literally ‘Lilac’ was such an amazing album. Bo Ra really delivered with her vocals. I was very impressed. Her core was super stable while literally being held in the air. She looked like a ballerina. Honestly this might be one of the best stages of the night. Bo Ra received 25 upvotes and 2 downvotes.
Kei from Lovelyz who was placed in Tier 1 is up next. She started singing Lovelyz’ song ‘Destiny’ but they didn’t show the full performance, to keep us on the edge of our seat.
At the end of the episode the contestants received an envelope with the names of the people who downvoted them. However they got the choice to not look at it. Not everyone took that option which will undoubtedly cause extra drama.
Next time there will be a team versus team battle. We also see that Lee Chae Yeon ended up leaving the series.
We’re curious to see the next episode. See you next week!