This is our 3rd review of Stars Academy which will cover Episodes 9-10 in time for the release of the newest episode. This round featured a full concert rundown by both the Red and Blue teams. Each team had to prepare 5 performances including an Opening, Song of the Year, Power Medley, Guest Performance, and Encore. The Red team named their concert "We We Red Red", and the Blue team named theirs "Once in a Blue Moon". The losing team with less points was required to eliminate 2 students from the show. We thought this was a really creative idea for a team battle because we have never seen something like this in a competition.
Disclaimer: This post contains purely our opinions after watching the show. The information presented is done according to the best of our knowledge. We would like to apologize in advance for any errors or missing information.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Here are the students each team has for their concert:
Song list based on order of appearance (winners are bolded):
Sabrina, Jason, Zayden, Jasmine, Vivian, XiX, Sean《We Will Rock You》,《We Are The Champions》vs. Pamela, Timothy, Janees, Angel, Duncan, Nicole, Maggie 《A Million Dreams》,《青春頌》
Breakdown of total points:
From these spreadsheets, you can see what team the 25 judges voted for in each round. Team Red won 3 rounds and Team Blue won 2 rounds. However, the final score was only a diffrence of 3 points, with 64 points for Red and 61 for Blue. This was a very close match because it means that if 2 more judges gave a blue light instead of red, blue team would have won. Interestingly, we noticed that judge 譚國政 gave a blue light every round, whereas 程凱欣 gave a red light for all 5 rounds. 16 points to 9 is the most common score we have been seeing this season, with 3 rounds having this score in these 2 episodes. The closest score was 10 vs. 15 for the opening song, and the largest discrepancy was for the encore with a score of 17 vs 8.
Thoughts on the Performances:
開場 (Opening):
Both teams presented very different openings. The Red Team had a playful and high energy opening remixing《天才與白痴》with《Uptown Funk》. We are happy to see them choose songs like《天才與白痴》and pass on these classic songs in a revitalized way for the new generation. The Blue Team had a more artistic opening with 4 girls acting different personalities for the song《浮誇》. Both teams started off with a showcase of instruments, with Sabrina on the drums and Janees on the violin which was a pleasure to hear and watch. We don't agree that just because we already expect Janees to be good at the violin, it's a less surprising element and is not worthy of helping the team gain points. Doing so would mean discrediting the years of hard work she trained on the violin prior to the compeition. From the opening, we got the sense that the "We We Red Red" concert would be one you might buy tickets to if you're looking for something family friendly and a fun experience. "Once in a Blue Moon" would be a concert more for admiring your idols and their art.
年度之歌 (Song of the Year):
These were very two different performances. Janees used a sweet approach to handle this Leon Lai song and her vocals were great as usual. We would not have imagined the song to be sung like this and perhaps the song was interpreted in a way that did not really match the lyrics. We would have liked if they invited Oscar Tao to play the piano while she sang the song to him, since she practiced singing the song to him before in the speed dating JW set up. It would add to the visuals and concert element. Jasmine, on the other hand, has a raw voice but filled with emotion and vulnerability. This is what the judges really seemed to enjoy, and she is more suited to sing sad songs to fully tell a story with emotion. With her popularity, we are predicting Jasmine to go into at least Top 5 for the competition.
Power Medley:
Both power medleys consisted of 2 classic Cantopop songs and 1 K-pop song. The Red Team went with a more bright and colourful theme with showcase of dancing. We enjoyed it more once XiX came out to sing 《Dynamite》 and the members completed the last song 《流非飛》together which created an upbeat and enjoyable atmosphere, and the team really fully utilized the stage. We didn't mind the fact Jason took the opportunity to see if he partake in the performance, since he wanted to give his best effort for the round and not just sing a few lines for the whole concert and call it a day. Even if he is not the best dancer, it did not impact the final performance much. Since the Blue Team cannot win over Red Team's youthfulness, they decided to go the mature route with a sensual medley. Tim and Duncan showed off their abs, and Duncan and Angel had a sexy dance routine for 《Trouble Maker》. Nicole challenged the bad girl persona and showed improvement. Angel's dancing was pretty decent, and we are starting to see a lot of different possibilities and styles she can handle.
嘉賓對唱 (Guest Performance):
This was a part we looked forward to because they invited Stars Academy 1 students to be the guest performers. Kaitlyn and Maggie's chemistry was through the roof. Not only did they look alike, they also had rich voices that complemented and blended well together, and this dark genre worked well for them, We were so impressed by Kaitlyn's confidence and coolness as soon as she stepped on the stage. Her vocals have vastly improved from a year ago, and she has that star quality that made us really feel this was a real concert. She did well to support and elevate Maggie's vocals, and Maggie gained confidence being by Kaitlyn's side. Sabrina tried a dancing song this time with her idol, Yumi. We could tell Sabrina tried her best in learning the moves, and her singing was fine. However, once Yumi came out, it was hard to keep our eyes off her. Yumi has such an aura she emits onstage especially when she's dancing, so she unfortunately overshadowed Sabrina on the stage.
Encore:
The Red Team chose 《We Will Rock You》and《We Are The Champions》as the encore songs. They displayed power and that they are ready to be the champions of the round, but it felt a bit like these songs could be used as the opening. On the other hand, Blue Team delivered a heartfelt performance with 《A Million Dreams》and《青春頌》that demonstrated their passion for chasing their dreams. It was emotional to watch, and we really liked Maggie's banner of their team that was shown in the end.
Thoughts on the elimination
We predicted Nicole and Timothy to be eliminated this round, even though they showed improvement because there weren't many students to choose from in the team, and these 2 were close to being cut last time. It seems that for some reason Duncan somehow always evades the cutting board, even though we didn't really understand Alan's rationale that was shown onscreen. Nevertheless, we think that Nicole and Timothy would fit well in acting in some dramas along with continuing to pursue a singing career, so we hope they will be offered contracts. Both Nicole and Tim made some great memories and was able to try different styles, so they should be proud of what they have achieved. Tim also left behind a very commendable performance already, and we hope both of them can continue to uncover their potentials.
Now there are only 5 students left in the Blue Team, so it will be a difficult battle for them, though it also means that mentors have more time to spend with each student. For example, Eman only has Maggie left, so she can give all the attention to her. Their team is also very tight-knit, and they may be more favoured to win next time for script purposes. We saw that there was some internal conflict in the Red Team that made the mentors like Gin Lee pretty upset. Even though Red Team won, Eric Kwok reprimanded the team for lacking team spirit. It was revealed this was because the students did not have confidence in competing. Vincy also disclosed in her vlog that many of the students were not replying to their messages resulting in a lack of communication. Let's see if this improves for the next time, and if Red Team can boost their team spirit.
We will be able to watch students onstage with their mentors next round, and based on the preview, we are looking forward to seeing Eric and Hanjin performing with their students! Thanks for reading this review!
As a whole, I think the red team got the concept more because their performances as a whole was more entertaining. I also think the concept team helped them a lot more because of the members that were able to sing and dance. My favorite performance of the 2 episodes did come from the blue team with Maggie and Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn’s voice did get much stronger than last year and their voices sounded really good together. As a side note, kaitlyn’s first single is very catchy although I’m confused by why she didn’t use her huskier voice, which is more distinguishable, for her debut.
I felt bad for Timothy and Nicole because it seemed like everyone else got to perform towards their strengths while they both tried something new so they were not really able to showcase their best. It kind seems like the mentors have a lot of favoritism so it was predictable that they would go (same with what happened this week), along with some people who is safe no matter how good/bad they do.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! We also really like Kaitlyn's new song too since it's a very unique style. We hope she can use her more signature voice for her next song.
What do you think of the top 10 contestants right now?
I felt like the season seemed to go by too slow because it started off with more people and each show was split into multiple episodes, but now it seems crazy that they're going to just split the group in half! Of those left, I still don't really have a favorite. I've liked some of Maggie's performance but it's not like I'm rooting for her to win. Angela is the most improved. Janees, Pam, and Zayden are good singers but I find them kinda boring and lacking star quality. I think they should have eliminated Sabrina because she really seems too young and is not able to handle the pressure. I also wonder if the reason I'm not attached to anyone is because I feel like the judges have their favorites so it doesn't really matter of each week's individual performances. I'm still waiting for a performance to blow me away. Maybe that will happen when they finally all go back to a solo song.
Yes, the show was really slow because the 1st two episodes was not part of competing. After 8 episodes which is more than half the show, we only heard 2 solos from each contestant. As a result, we thought we didn't really get to know the students as well and see their growth as we did in SA1. We think that likely, different students will split the 3 awards this year unlike Gigi who won them all last year.
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As a whole, I think the red team got the concept more because their performances as a whole was more entertaining. I also think the concept team helped them a lot more because of the members that were able to sing and dance. My favorite performance of the 2 episodes did come from the blue team with Maggie and Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn’s voice did get much stronger than last year and their voices sounded really good together. As a side note, kaitlyn’s first single is very catchy although I’m confused by why she didn’t use her huskier voice, which is more distinguishable, for her debut.
ReplyDeleteI felt bad for Timothy and Nicole because it seemed like everyone else got to perform towards their strengths while they both tried something new so they were not really able to showcase their best. It kind seems like the mentors have a lot of favoritism so it was predictable that they would go (same with what happened this week), along with some people who is safe no matter how good/bad they do.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your thoughts with us! We also really like Kaitlyn's new song too since it's a very unique style. We hope she can use her more signature voice for her next song.
What do you think of the top 10 contestants right now?
I felt like the season seemed to go by too slow because it started off with more people and each show was split into multiple episodes, but now it seems crazy that they're going to just split the group in half! Of those left, I still don't really have a favorite. I've liked some of Maggie's performance but it's not like I'm rooting for her to win. Angela is the most improved. Janees, Pam, and Zayden are good singers but I find them kinda boring and lacking star quality. I think they should have eliminated Sabrina because she really seems too young and is not able to handle the pressure. I also wonder if the reason I'm not attached to anyone is because I feel like the judges have their favorites so it doesn't really matter of each week's individual performances. I'm still waiting for a performance to blow me away. Maybe that will happen when they finally all go back to a solo song.
DeleteYes, the show was really slow because the 1st two episodes was not part of competing. After 8 episodes which is more than half the show, we only heard 2 solos from each contestant. As a result, we thought we didn't really get to know the students as well and see their growth as we did in SA1. We think that likely, different students will split the 3 awards this year unlike Gigi who won them all last year.
Delete