It’s a brand new week in ‘KINGDOM: Legendary War’, and in this week’s episode 5 we finally get to see the rest of the performances of the second round ‘REBORN’. If you want to go back to the previous episode to check the other performances, you can click here.
ATEEZ
For this round the guys from ATEEZ decided to perform iKON’s hit ‘Rhythm Ta (The Awakening of Summer)’. For this performance they decided to go with a parallel universe where music and dancing are prohibited and they are leading the rebellion. It felt very inspired by the anarchist movement, especially with the mixture of the punk outfits.
This performance started with a very dope EDM arrangement that made ‘Rhythm Ta’ sound like an entirely new song. For this track ATEEZ went experimental and mixed latin beats with a very funky trumpet, and an electric guitar that was surprising. Somehow it also felt too short. We really liked the little dance part with the rope. It added some interesting depth to the stage. There was one part where they sang ‘I just wanna make you groove’ and it was so, so smooth.
As expected ATEEZ’ maknae killed it with those insane high notes. The storyline was like a movie! The very end had us completely energized and we were in love with their high energy stage presence. There was also a hot air balloon with the anarchy symbol, which was awesome.
BTOB
BTOB took the stage and decided to go with Stray Kids’ song ‘Back Door’ with a very cool concert backstage concept. Each member had a different genre for their part and it was just incredible. The rock chorus was POWERFUL and very unexpected.
Eunkwang opened the stage with a relatively simple instrumentation. It leaned more towards soft pop. Changsub had a super cool rock/80s grunge section. It really fits his voice and we need more of rock Changsub in our lives.
Then the R&B section of this stage came with Minhyuk. It was smooth and super sensual. Peniel had a more American Hip-Hop vibe to his verse, including some fun choreography. Eunkwang and Changsub’s rapping was a very pleasant surprise.
The harmonization with the change of key before the beat drop was AMAZING. There was even a bit of showtune in there, very reminiscent of ‘Chicago’ before they closed again with a rock chorus.
BTOB for this stage created a mix of genres that was perfection, they nailed it. We thoroughly enjoyed their use of the stage as well, it was really smart to create smaller sections with excellent use of hallways and camera angles. It made the big reveal towards the end, so much better and more impactful.
Stray Kids
Stray Kids was last for this ‘RE-BORN’ theme. The intro for them was a very cute interaction of Stray Kids’ 3RACHA with BTOB Peniel and Eunkwang. They’re all adorable and super funny. While 3RACHA was producing the track the other members went to get matching rings with their fandom name ‘STAY’ engraved. It was incredibly wholesome content.
Stray Kids’ concept this time was rather dark but it went extremely well with the song pick ‘I’ll Be Your Man’. The instrumental arrangement for this version was just stunning, and it just got a lot more memorable with the insane vocal work and rapping in the song.
We really enjoyed the interpretation of them being the guardian to a young boy who passed away. Seungmin opens the show with some stunning vocal work and passes down flowers to Jisung to lay them in front of a grave.
There was a clear cut story of the members grieving, going a tad crazy and doing a blood ritual to raise the boy back from the dead. It even included angels and a fake heart.
We were awed by the vocals of Jisung. The boy can SING, somehow we always forget that. Felix had a really cool dance break and his whisper part gave us chills. Overall they all did an amazing job.
The Ranking
After the performances, we went straight into the Panel of Experts ranking where ATEEZ was first; The Boyz, second; iKON, third; SF9, fourth; BTOB, fifth; and finally Stray Kids in the sixth place.
Finally, the initial ranking for the second round (only including the panel and groups’ votes) ended up as follows:
- ATEEZ
- SF9
- BTOB
- iKON
- Stray Kids
- The Boyz
That was it for our recap of ‘KINGDOM: Legendary War’ episode 5. Next week, they are going on a well deserved sports adventure! And we can’t wait for the wholesome content to come!
See you next week with a new recap! Here’s the teaser for next week’s episode.