The mid-round episode is a congratulatory one as the show celebrates its success with its theme for the episode’s song assignments. As it’s not a critical episode, I will be quickly recapping and commenting on this episode. But it’s a noteworthy episode, because we will discover what Jaurim’s final performance will be!
Click behind the jump to see what we have to say about the show and leave your thoughts and picks in the comments!
All performances can be watched from Bugs Music’s special 나는 가수다 site. Click the tab saying “12월 15일 방송” to find the performances discussed below.
Song Assignments
This week’s song assignments will come from past singers of “I Am a Singer”. Singers will walk around the wheel and drop a marker on the artist they would like to perform a song from.
Gummy selects Park Junghyun
rd: This is fairly safe pick for R&B singer Gummy as Park Junghyun has many songs of a similar style.
Yoon Minsoo selects BMK
rd: Yoon Minsoo already had in mind her “꽃피는 봄이 오면” when he picked her (which she previously performed on the show), so it sounds like he’s got a desire for this one. I hope that translates into a good performance.
Park Wangyu selects Im Jaebum
rd: An obvious pick, one that Park should be able to pull off.
Jaurim selects Kim Bumsoo
rd: I don’t think that any of the past artists really have that kind of level of uniqueness to their music that Jaurim does, so it’s a rather broad field that they’ll have to inject music into. I was actually hoping they’d pick Lee Sora and try adapting one of her folksier songs into their own style. Not being exceptionally familiar with KBS’ music (except for his biggest hits), I’m curious as to what song they’ll select and how they’ll Jaurim it up.
Juckwoo selects Lee Sora
rd: Juckwoo’s deeper voice obviously makes it a good idea to go for a male singer, but Lee Sora’s reedy timbre might not be a terrible match. I would have thought BMK would have been a good pick for her as well, although JK Kim Dongwook might have been another possibility. On the other hand, Juckwoo hasn’t shown a great amount of vocal capacity yet, so I worry she’ll just botch up her Lee Sora cover by trying too hard.
Kim Kyungho selects Baek Jiyoung
rd: This is a bit of an outside the field choice as well as I expected Kim Kyungho to go for another past rock-capable singer like Im Jaebum or YB, but then again, Kim Kyungho is quite ballad capable and Baek Jiyoung’s also got some dance music that Kim should be able to turn into another audience pleaser.
Bobby Kim selects Kim Gunmo
rd: Even as I’m not that keen on Kim Gunmo’s music, I think his diverse and broad styles matches well with Bobby Kim’s own diversity, giving him many many options to choose from as Kim Gunmo has a huge career to choose from.
The singers are allowed to choose any song they like from their chosen artist.
Song Selections
Yoon Minsoo selects BMK’s “꽃피는 봄이 오면”
rd: After seeing him sing bits of it with BMK, I think he’ll be fine. I just hope he picks up some dynamic subtlety along the way.
Bobby Kim selects Kim Gunmo’s “Double”
rd: A throbbing dance-pop track means that Bobby Kim might be coming out with another energetic crowd pleaser, although I’m quite curious as to how he’s going to adapt the song, since it will probably require a large makeover to fit his own style.
Gummy selects Park Junghyun’s “P.S. I Love You”
rd: A pretty pop ballad which I imagine Gummy will throw in some power behind. I fear a loss of subtlety coming from Gummy, but then again, the pop ballad isn’t quite as complex so perhaps it won’t be a worry.
Jaurim selects Kim Bumsoo’s “하루”
rd: A straight ballad. I’m mostly curious how they’re going to twist it and which Jaurim we’re going to see.
Juckwoo selects Lee Sora’s “처음 느낌 그대로”
rd: I think it will be very difficult to Juckwoo to emulate Lee Sora’s first album hit, even if her deeper voice gives her some depth, so I think it would be best for Juckwoo to approach the music a bit more obliquely.
Kim Kyungho selects Baek Jiyoung’s “사랑 안 해”
rd: I was actually hoping he’d pick the “총 맞은 것처럼” for his acoustic interpretation, along the lines of how rock bands in the 80’s and early 90’s would pull off their acoustic ballads as I thought it would translate better. I don’t hold much hope for this, but perhaps Kim will surprise me.
Park Wangyu selects “고해”
rd: A good fit for the former Boohwal singer.
Manager Performances
Again, the managers will face off in performances for a singer-helping prize. They will be performing any of the previous songs from the show. The previous graduates (and Park Myungsoo) arrive to help judge the manager performances and share their thoughts.
Park Hwisoon performs Kim Bumsoo’s “제발”
rd: A NRB (NoRaeBang) performance if I’ve ever heard one, complete with missing a song cue.
Ji Sangryul performs Jang Hyejin’s “멀어져간 사람아”
rd: Ji adds quite a bit of grit to his NRB vocals.
Kim Shinyoung performs Bobby Kim’s “골목길”
rd: She takes a synthpop version complete with dance and dialect narration. She can’t sing a lick, but she’s got more energy than all three previous managers combined. And she explains it, apparently having give it a lot of thought.
Kim Taehyun performs Ock Juhyun’s “서시”
rd: Another NRB performance with some wonderfully flat notes and breaking voice.
Song Eunee and Kim Sook perform Kim Dohyang’s “바보처럼 살았군요”
rd: The duo are back together for a gag-filled folksy performance as they turn each other into clowns while performing.
The Result: Kim Shinyoung is given the win yet again.
Jaurim’s “하루”
An acoustic, accordian arrangement accompanies Kim Yuna vocals.
rd: Kim Yuna sings straight into her style, but I’m afraid that, for the first time for Jaurim, I’m rather unconvinced by this preview. I do think that they’re going to amp up the European influences for the second half, but I’m still not convinced as of yet.
Gummy’s “P.S. I Love You”
An emotive adaptation, noticeably different from Park Junghyun’s smoother style of singing.
rd: Still not impressed. Gummy’s staying in the quiet end of her voice, which means, like Yoon Minsoo, she’s going to blow up in the full performance for the end performance.
Kim Kyungho’s “사랑 안 해”
Not quite an acoustic performance, with electric guitar prominent in the arrangement. Kim Kyungho sings it pretty straight to his style adding some of his signature vibrato here and there.
rd: I don’t know. It was an okay performance and he did manage to add a little rock to it, but I’m not expecting much at this point.
Park Wangyu’s “고해”
Park performs within his husky rock style and hits the song pretty straight.
rd: I think Park is still missing a little something in his performance, but this is probably the most promising preview so far. I don’t really expect Park to pull out anything more from a bag of tricks next episode, but I do hope he finds the emotional core of the song, because his chops are fine.
Yoon Minsoo’s “꽃피는 봄이 오면”
Yoon opens a bit stronger than his usual quiet openings, but returning to his usual approach to ballads.
rd: When it comes to ballads, I feel that Yoon Minsoo and Gummy are very similar, lacking subtle gradations in dynamics and either being quiet or explosive, which Yoon does here, from quiet to explosive and back again. Nothing I haven’t seen before, but I think a bit more polished than some of the previews.
Juckwoo’s “처음 느낌 그대료”
Not a noticeable difference in arrangement from the original, although Juckwoo’s deep register is noticeable.
rd: There’s something a bit messy about Juckwoo’s style that works for her at times, but she’s really straining at points during her performance. The ballad nature of the original song does work for her, but I feel like she needs to work on voice control more. I think she shows more promise here than in previous rounds though.
Bobby Kim’s “Double”
Bobby Kim rearranges the song into a bossa nova style, a complete transformation of the song into a slow, jazzy piece.
rd: This works very well for Bobby Kim and I imagine that there’s room for a musical transformation after the first chorus, which should give him plenty of space to energize into the crowd pleasing music the audience likes. And I think he needs to, because if he stays in this mellow space, Bobby’s done for next round. Plus, I don’t think a straight bossa nova piece will be able to keep the audience’s attention, no matter how nice the performance.
Personal Picks
rd: 1) Bobby Kim, 2) Yoon Minsoo, 3) Juckwoo, 4) Park Wangyu, 5) Gummy, 6) Kim Kyungho, 7) Jaurim
I have never given Jaurim this low a score before, but I was just simply unimpressed with what I heard today–it just didn’t come together well–but I still hold a lot of hope that they’ll come through in the end and impress me. Gummy and Kim Kyungho played their songs pretty straight and didn’t really manage to impart much life into them, but I have Gummy the nod over Kim Kyungho simply for having a little more weight to her song. Both Yoon Minsoo and Park Wangyu perform their songs fairly straight, but Yoon Minsoo managed to stick some intensity in his, so I gave it the bump. Juckwoo had one of the most interesting performances of the episode, which is enough to put her past Park, but her vocals are still a touch messy and strained, so she can’t overcome Yoon’s polish. Bobby was wonderful. I loved the adaptation. I worry that because I did, he’ll get seventh again and get eliminated.
The Results
- Bobby Kim
- Yoon Minsoo
- Jaurim
- Juckwoo
- Gummy
- Park Wangyu
- Kim Kyungho