‘Current King of Singers 2’ provided a thrilling catharsis at the venue with a team mission stage that changed 180 degrees, filled with the sweat and tears of the current contestants.
The fifth episode of MBN’s 30th anniversary special ‘Current King of Singers 2’, aired on the 24th, achieved a peak rating of 11.9% and a nationwide rating of 11.1% (according to Nielsen Korea), marking a 1.7% point increase from the previous episode. It broke into double digits in just five episodes, setting a new record for three consecutive weeks. Additionally, it maintained its dominance as the number one program in the same time slot across all channels, including terrestrial, comprehensive programming channels, and cable, continuing its impressive momentum.
First, the ‘1-on-1 Death Match Live Selection’ for the losers' resurrection round began, where MC Shin Dong-yeop shocked everyone by announcing that the voting to determine the fate of the elimination candidates would be conducted not by celebrity masters, but by the 16 surviving current contestants. Soon after, the teams were divided into groups of four, with performances of Park Sang-cheol’s ‘Jaok-a’ (Park Gu-yoon, Kim Joong-yeon, Park Jun-young, Lee Hyun-seung), Yoo Jin-pyo’s ‘Thousand-Year Friend’ (Yoon Jun-hyup, Hyo-seong, Gong Hoon, Kwak Young-gwang), Jin Sung’s ‘Don’t Go’ (Yoo Min, Choi Soo-ho, Yang Ji-won, Jung Da-han), and Jang Min-ho’s ‘Men Say’ (Song Min-jun, Jin Hae-sung, Han Gang, Jae-ha), creating a tense atmosphere with the extreme rule that only one member from each team could survive.
Ultimately, Park Gu-yoon, Gong Hoon, Choi Soo-ho, and Han Gang survived and joined the ranks of the surviving contestants, with Park Gu-yoon showing an emotional reaction, saying, “I feel strange.” As the remaining eliminated contestants moved to the waiting room, the masters lamented, “Are we really getting eliminated?” and “I can’t go on like this.” Eventually, through the masters' votes, Jin Hae-sung, Kim Joong-yeon, Song Min-jun, Jae-ha, and Yang Ji-won dramatically joined the second round of the finals.
Afterward, MC Shin Dong-yeop announced the start of the second round of the finals with the addition of ‘Queen of Enka’ Kye Eun-sook as a master, and the runway of 25 preliminary national representatives heated up the venue. Shin Dong-yeop revealed that the second round of the finals would be conducted as a ‘Relay Fan Heart Hunting’ mission, where the 25 finalists would be divided into five teams of five to win the hearts of fans, with the first half consisting of group, duet, and trio performances across a total of four rounds. He also disclosed that only the team with the highest total score, combining 120 points from the celebrity judging panel and 180 points from the public judging panel, would advance to the third round of the finals, raising the tension among everyone.
First, the Na Tae-joo team (Na Tae-joo, Seong-ri, Choi Soo-ho, Jeon Jong-hyuk, Yoo Min) took the stage for the group performance. The youngest team, with Yoo Min filling in for Takuya, who had to drop out due to personal reasons, prepared for the stage under the leadership of the original trot performer Na Tae-joo, with rigorous training that lasted until dawn. The five members perfectly completed ‘Bara-bap-bap’ with Seong-ri’s dazzling dance, Na Tae-joo’s martial arts dance, and Choi Soo-ho’s aerial kicks.
The Kim Jun-soo team (Kim Jun-soo, Shin Yoo, Hwanhee, Kang Moon-kyung, Choi Woo-jin) appeared with the evaluation of being a powerful ‘Ace Team’ with a combined activity period of 75 years. Concerns arose when it was revealed that they had chosen ‘Love in a Dream’, and unexpected crises emerged due to Shin Yoo and Kang Moon-kyung, who had never performed before. However, Hwanhee, who is unexpectedly a former b-boy, led Shin Yoo and Kang Moon-kyung with the determination to “at least do a back tumble,” receiving high praise for showing something different, but surprising everyone with low audience scores.
The Jin Hae-sung team (Jin Hae-sung, Song Min-jun, Kim Joong-yeon, Yang Ji-won, Jae-ha), who gathered through additional acceptance from the masters, took the stage, determined to show the fear of those who returned from hell. Jin Hae-sung expressed, “I feel like I’ve been to the 40th floor underground, so I can only think that I have to do well,” and practiced performances tightly bound with a support belt to avoid causing trouble for his team members, but he was diagnosed with a herniated disc. Nevertheless, the Jin Hae-sung team moved everyone with their performance of ‘Nest’, pouring out the maximum passion of traditional trot powerhouses, and the masters praised them, saying, “They showed that nothing is impossible with effort.”
The Enok team (Enok, Park Seo-jin, Noh Ji-hoon, Han Gang, Kim Kyung-min) captivated everyone with their unexpected quintet performance of ‘Sky’. Park Seo-jin, who claimed to know nothing about harmonies, learned them in a short time, and the five created a grand stage with tremendous immersion. However, despite the beautiful and overwhelming harmonies, they received feedback that it was a bit dull for each person to show their charm, leaving them with a sense of regret.
The Hwang Min-ho team (Hwang Min-ho, Shin Seung-tae, Kim Soo-chan, Park Gu-yoon, Gong Hoon) chose ‘Set Sail’ and the MVP of the second round, Hwang Min-ho, showcased his power from the first line, leaving MC Shin Dong-yeop speechless. Hwang Min-ho, who appeared on a boat, received high praise from composer Yoon Myung-sun, who said, “In the part of ‘Set Sail’, Hwang Min-ho seems to be number one in Korea.”
In the first round results, the Jin Hae-sung team ranked first with 213 points, the Na Tae-joo team second with 212 points, the Hwang Min-ho team third with 185 points, the Kim Jun-soo team fourth with 175 points, and the Enok team fifth with 166 points, leading into the second round of duets.
In the duet round, Shin Yoo and Hwanhee from the Kim Jun-soo team, who ranked fourth in the group performance, were the first to take the stage. The ‘Original Trot Prince’ Shin Yoo and the ‘National Macho Trot Ballader’ Hwanhee, despite being in fourth place, chose ‘Winter Rose’ and delivered a peak emotional performance with a perfect blend of Shin Yoo’s beautiful voice and Hwanhee’s husky tone, receiving feedback that it felt like watching Beauty and the Beast. The Na Tae-joo team, ranked second in the group performance, showcased ‘Like a Fire’ with Na Tae-joo, the ‘Different Level Performer’, and Seong-ri, the ‘Trot Idol of Attack’. The two presented a flying stage with all sorts of dazzling performance techniques, and the masters praised them, saying, “Please take the lead in promoting K-Trot globally.”
From the first-place Jin Hae-sung team, Jin Hae-sung and Yang Ji-won chose ‘Cry, Wind’ as their duet, but they faced reactions that the duet combination didn’t match from the start and concerns about the difficulty of the song, ultimately receiving low scores. The Enok team, which ranked fifth in the group performance and felt a sense of crisis, saw the only performer, Park Seo-jin, and Kim Kyung-min, who had a year and a half of drumming experience, take the stage. Park Seo-jin expressed his determination, saying, “Okay, let’s make history this time.” The two, who chose ‘The Secret Agent Appears’, performed with four instruments, including a large drum and a small drum opening, followed by a traditional Korean percussion show and a water show, showcasing their passion by singing without losing composure even while getting drenched, earning praise that “effort does not betray. Their drenched appearance looked sexy.”
The third-place Hwang Min-ho team saw Shin Seung-tae and Gong Hoon take the stage for the duet with ‘Little Doll’. Shin Seung-tae moved hearts with restrained emotions from the first line, but surprised everyone by losing pitch and pausing in the middle of the song. He quickly found his pitch and continued singing, but everyone reacted, “A major accident happened,” resulting in a shocking outcome with the lowest score. With only three rounds remaining, the cumulative results from the first and second rounds showed the Na Tae-joo team in first place with 394 points, the Jin Hae-sung team in second with 372 points, the Kim Jun-soo team in third with 360 points, the Enok team in fourth with 357 points, and the Hwang Min-ho team in fifth with 335 points. Unlike the first round, there were fluctuations in rankings, drawing attention to the results of the remaining rounds.
Meanwhile, MBN’s ‘Current King of Singers 2’ is conducting a national support voting event. You can search for ‘Current King of Singers 2’ in the Naver search bar, click the ‘National Support Voting’ button, and select the seven current contestants you want to support to vote. Voting is allowed once a day per ID. The sixth episode of ‘Current King of Singers’ will air on January 7, 2025.
[Kim So-yeon, Star Today Reporter]
