Idol Live Singing Competition After LE SSERAFIM’s Coachella Controversy: From Planning Sound Issue To Performing With Hand Mics

Recently, idol groups have recently taken advantage of university festivals to showcase their singing skills. Unlike on music shows, singers must perform live with MR music at university festivals, making it easier for listeners to evaluate idols’ singing abilities.

During the past few weeks, girl groups such as aespa, (G)I-DLE, NMIXX, IVE, NewJeans and StayC have received compliments for their performances at university festivals. Not only gaining recognition from idol fans, but these groups also impressed the public and non-K-pop fans.

Among them, NMIXX aroused the most attention, especially after their performance at Shinhan University festival on April 27th. That day, the MR music suddenly stopped while the group was performing “DICE”. However, NMIXX members quickly solved the situation by continuing to sing live and dancing to the rest of the song. After the event, fancams of NMIXX’s stage became viral on social media and the comment section was full of compliments for the members’ skills. However, public opinion became divided when the fact that JYP planned the sound accident with the student council in advance with the intention of highlighting the members’ singing skills and raising the festival’s atmosphere.

On June 2nd, pop music critic Lim Hee-yoon explained the reason why JYP planned such an incident, saying “The ‘music for watching’ culture is still popular in K-pop, but the demand for talented singers who can present good live performances is rising. In addition, fancam becomes very important content”, adding “In particular, the results of NMIXX’s promotions are not as good as expected considering the members’ talents and the quality of their content. Therefore, the company must have been very eager to showcase the members’ outstanding live performance skills”.

He continued, “Along with the increase in content, such as self-produced content and live broadcasts, these days, expectations for idols’ abilities, such as entertainment skills and vocal talents, in addition to visuals are also growing”, adding “As the retro of band music emerged again, idols’ good singing skills have naturally become a demand”.

BABYMONSTER benefited the most from the controversy over idols’ live singing skills. The new YG girl group released the title track “SHEESH” in April but failed to rank high on music streaming charts right after the song release. However, as videos of the members performing with a live band and showcasing their raw vocals on radio programs spread on YouTube, the girl group began to climb higher on music charts and is still rising. As of 4 p.m. on June 2nd, “SHEESH” placed No.15 on Melon TOP 100. As a result, BABYMONSTER even brought their hand microphones to music shows and sang with the live band.

In the meantime, groups with poor live singing skills, such as LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT, are facing criticism and malicious comments. An official from the entertainment industry said, “At some point, encore stage on music shows became a kind of test for idols’ singing skills. Attention on idol’s singing abilities is increasing so idols should pay more attention to improving their skills with vocal lessons.”