Mnet Sixteen
Friday, July 03, 2015
UPDATE 150707! Ending spoilers at the bottom of the post ;))
FINALLY! After almost 2 months! I've caught up on all the episodes! What episodes, you ask? Why, episodes of Mnet's Sixteen, of course!
I'm not a big fan of these Kpop survival shows. It's honestly heartbreaking watching how hard these young trainees are working for what seems like an unattainable dream. YG's Winner absolutely killed me. That ending...
Anyway. In Sixteen, the oldest girl is the same age as I am, a 95 liner, 19 years old. She's the OLDEST. The youngest was born in 2002. She's only 13! Not only that, she's from Thailand. Can you imagine how hard it is for her to be away from her family that young?
Not only that, but there is a lot more crying in Sixteen than there is in the past survival shows that I watched. I'm the type of person that when I see people cry, I cry with them ㅠㅠ You don't know how many times I cried with the girls...and how embarrassing it was. But that didn't stop me from watching!
I originally started watching Sixteen when it first started airing, and I got to the middle of episode 2. Life suddenly got in the way and I didn't have a chance to follow the show. Now, with the final episode and the reveal of the members of Twice just a week away, I figured now's the perfect time to talk about the show ;)
So Sixteen is JYP's first survival program. 16 trainees would be competing for a spot in JYP Entertainment's first girl group since miss A in 2010. The 16 girls were split up into two groups, Major and Minor. The seven girls in the Major group would be the candidates of Twice, and the rest in the Minor group would be competing to take those Major spots.
In each episode, the girls go through different missions, ranging from singing and dancing to photo shoots to even testing their personality. With each episode, members are switched between the groups. A member in the Minor group who did a superb job in the judges' eyes can take the place of a member in the Major group. With the missions also comes with the possibility of elimination. All eliminations take place within the Minor group. During team missions, where both groups are split into two teams, the elimination would take place in the team that scored the lowest on the mission. In the 9 episodes so far, there have been 4 eliminations.
Chaeryeong, Chaeyoung, Dahyun, Sana, Somi, Jihyo, Natty
So 16 members, have become only 12. Chaeyeon was the first to go, in episode 3. Then Eunsuh in episode 4, Momo in episode 6, and Jiwon in episode 9.
Out of the four that had been eliminated, I was the most disappointed, mad, sad, and every other negative emotion there is, with the elimination of my favorite member, Momo.
 |
| Momo & Jiwon |
Her departure was so heartbreaking. How can JYP be so cruel as to separate the Japan line?!
Well, to give him some credit, he did say that if it was up to him, he wouldn't have eliminated Momo.
She was extremely talented and amazing at everything she did. Let us take a moment to admire the perfection that is Hirai Momo.
Perfection, I swear.
Anyway, moving on~
Being completely honest, there are some members in Sixteen that I'm not very fond of, but they're on the show for a reason. I'm in no place to judge them, and I don't want to talk negatively about anyone today. So instead, I'll talk about my favorites after Momo.
Minatozaki Sana
I'm sure you've realized by now, but I'm a huge fan of Sixteen's Japan line. Sana was the first member I recognized because she was in GOT7's "A" music video. I remember thinking that she was so pretty. Seeing her on Sixteen, she's just the epitome of sweetness! Like, no one can be any cuter. She became one of my favorites after her cringe-worthy first mission performance.
I'll be honest, I had a hard time watching it because of the secondhand embarrassment, but you have to applaud her. While everyone else was doing a dance/song (or in Somi's case, Taekwondo) performance, she did something different, and that's exactly what got her on the Major team.
On top of that, she's just so sweet! Even the members themselves picked her as one of the most kind, well-mannered members of the group. You just can't help but love Sana.
I'm sure you've realized by now, but I'm a huge fan of Sixteen's Japan line. Sana was the first member I recognized because she was in GOT7's "A" music video. I remember thinking that she was so pretty. Seeing her on Sixteen, she's just the epitome of sweetness! Like, no one can be any cuter. She became one of my favorites after her cringe-worthy first mission performance.
On top of that, she's just so sweet! Even the members themselves picked her as one of the most kind, well-mannered members of the group. You just can't help but love Sana.
Myoui Mina
Completing the Japan line, Mina! What else is there to say but that she's a total sweetheart? She's so softspoken and calm.
It was so sad watching Mina have those anxiety episodes during rehearsals. She had so much of her self esteem shot down after her failed missions. Even through JYP had said that she didn't look as natural as she did during her "Who's your MAMA" performance, I thought she did great.
Because some of the other members are more louder and outgoing, she can be a bit overshadowed by the others, but I think that's exactly why I like her. She doesn't try to be like the others. She's more of a follower and I think the fact that she isn't overbearing just adds to her charm.
Jeon Somi
As a mixed Korean myself, Somi caught my eye right from the beginning. Even with the recent boom in foreigners in Korean TV, it is still really rare to see mixed Koreans in Kpop. She's so young, but you can see how much hardship she's gone through.
This scene with Somi and her dad was so sweet. It's sad to see that even today, when Korea is more welcoming to foreigners, people are still so racist against mixed Koreans. It's sad because there are so many children like Somi, who are literally just Korean children. All that's different about them is the way they look.
I love how Somi just embraces the fact that she's different and uses it to her advantage. People are going to judge anyway, so she just chooses to use that extra attention to better herself and her performances.
Chou Tzu Yu
Tzuyu is as adorable as they get. At first, I'm not going to lie, I didn't like her very much. She seemed so perfect, it annoyed me. I mean, she's gorgeous. The other girls are pretty too, but Tzuyu is a level higher though.
(start from 00:40)
She has this innocence about her that I really like. I don't know if it's because she isn't as fluent in Korean as the other members, but she always looks a little confused, a little ditzy.
With so many members who have their mind set solely on the goal and have that anxiety set in their features, it's nice to see someone who seems to genuinely enjoy herself. I love that she's so calm and smiley all the time.
Im Nayeon
Nayeon is one of the most popular members, and I think for a good reason. There's no denying that she's very talented. Her moves and her singing is always on point, but got me to like her is how she treats the other members.
Her constantly smiling face is nice to see in such an intense show. I think the fact that she has the whole package, the talent, the looks, and the personality, makes it very difficult not to like. Her leadership is what makes her so likeable to my eyes.
Nayeon is one of the most popular members, and I think for a good reason. There's no denying that she's very talented. Her moves and her singing is always on point, but got me to like her is how she treats the other members.
I couldn't find a clip to show how caring she is, so here's her adorable intro video.
As the oldest, she's always the one comforting the younger members. You can see that she genuinely cares for each of the members. It's kinda sad at the same time though. I'm sure that she's struggling as much as the others, but as the unnie, she has to stay strong. Her constantly smiling face is nice to see in such an intense show. I think the fact that she has the whole package, the talent, the looks, and the personality, makes it very difficult not to like. Her leadership is what makes her so likeable to my eyes.
But after 9 episodes, it's hard not to like all the girls. It's just in my case, there are a few that I like more than the rest.
I wholeheartedly recommend watching this show! At first, I wasn't interested in the show one bit. I mean, I really had no interest in a new JYP girl group...I'm not even that big of a fan of the two JYP already has! I started watching because I had nothing else to watch.
A decision that I do not regret at all.
I mean, if I never clicked on that pink logo on ondemandkorea.com, I would have never discovered these lovely babies!
Look how adorable they are~
.....
Actually, I probably would have eventually discovered them on tumblr...and then watch Sixteen later. I'm just glad that I'm on schedule and able to follow along as the events unfold.
So I think that as soon as you finish reading this, you should go watch the show ;) I promise that you won't regret it! You might suddenly find yourself with this weird, unfamiliar love for 16 girls you don't even know, but that is only a small consequence!
GO WATCH SIXTEEN!!
UPDATE 150707: Spoiler Warning
Sixteen has officially ended, the members of Twice confirmed, and I am so happy! Well, I am a bit disappointed too...one of my favorites didn't make it ㅠㅠ
There were a few members that I knew were going to get in for sure: Nayeon, Jungyeon, Dahyun, and Jihyo.
Jihyo, Nayeon, and Jungyeon have been in the company for a while, so from the beginning I figured they'd be the first members. I mean, Jihyo had been in JYP for 10 years, it's about time she debuted ;) Dahyun on the other hand, she was just a fan favorite. She was in GOT7's "Stop Stop It" music video, and she also had that famous ucc floating around. There's a reason why trainees are put into their seniors' music videos. It usually means that they'll be next to debut, and since Dahyun was the female lead during a time when GOT7 was really getting popular, I think it was pretty obvious.
Then there were the other three members of the major team: Sana, Mina, and Chaeyoung!
I think these three were very stable through the show. So during this last episode, as they were in the Major team, I wasn't worried too much about their future.
Then all the sudden, JYP decided that Twice wouldn't be a 7 member group, but a 9 member group! NINE!
The 8th member to join the group was Tzuyu.
JYP said this was heavily based on the fans' votes. Throughout the show, Tzuyu was number 1 on the popularity charts. Since she was so popular, it made sense that JYP would put her in, a decision that I approve of ;) It would have been a waste for her not to debut.
The final member of Twice, the decision that restored all my faith in JYP! Welcome back, Momo!
If you read the beginning of this post, you know why I'm so happy with this decision ;) Watching her perform "7/11" with the rest of them just showed how talented she is. I'm glad JYP came to his senses~
I am sad for the other members that didn't make it in, but the reasons JYP gave for choosing the Twice members really made sense. So as heartbreaking as it is for the girls who didn't make it, JYP knows what he is doing. I believe that he has great things planned for them later on.
I can't wait for Twice's debut!
0 comments
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment 💕