Finally watched Road To Kingdom which was surprisingly quick-paced for me and yes I enjoyed every minute of it.
Coming in to this survival show I only knew three groups beforehand. The ones I knew best were Pentagon and The Boyz - moreso the former only because I got into them first soon after their debuted. ONEUS I knew two songs from them and that was it. I also recognised some of the members from said group and Ju Haknyeon of The Boyz from their time on Produce 101 season 2.
The other groups ONF, Golden Child, VERIVERY and TOO - I knew them by name but didn't indulge in their music much yet. I perhaps had heard one or two of their songs on a shuffled playlist when I logged into Spotify. Watching Road To Kingdom showed every single group's strengths in contributing their creativity to rearranging music and choreographing epic stages (watching the dance practices, full performances and fancams are worth it).
This show made me respect everyone so I will certainly take more time to listen to their original music. TOO in particular were the newest group amongst the competitors and for them to give us a mighty performance of DBSK's Rising Sun is incredible. You wouldn't even think they were rookies. Rather than say who was the best, I think everyone worked hard and deserved praise regardless of the voting results.
I liked how the reactions from all the groups as they watched in their waiting rooms was of amazement, fanboying and tears. Very relatable indeed.
While I of course enjoyed the collaboration stages, here are my personal favourite individual performances:-
TOO - Rising Sun (originally by DBSK/TVXQ). We shouldn't underestimate these guys' potential after this performance. Rising Sun is a classic and I really liked it when it first came out during my early trek of Kpop before I dashed out right away.
VERIVERY - Photo. A much darker take on their song. I mean it already sounds rather mature as it is (check out their comeback stage) but their concept for their Road To Kingdom performance worked so well.
ONF - Everybody (originally by SHINee). I had already seen this randomly when the show was still broadcasting and was just mind-blown with how they changed this song. I loved the eeriness.
ONEUS - Be Mine (originally by Infinite). Stunning take on a great song and bringing out the tragic romance aspect of Romeo and Juliet.
Golden Child - T.O.P (Twinkle of Paradise originally by Shinhwa). If you read some of my previous posts, you may notice my interest in graceful choreography. This alongside another performance managed to melt my heart.
Pentagon - Follow (originally by MONSTA X). It was either this or the mighty Basquiat . Perhaps my inner Monbebe couldn't help itself here.
The Boyz - Shangri La (originally by VIXX). This was a tough choice to be honest since all their stages had been strong. But perhaps I had already spoiled myself from seeing a video of Reveal - Catching Fire a while ago so I knew what to expect (it was fantastic of course). Yet I had no idea ONEUS would choose this for The Boyz and I can only say WOW. I was a fan of Shangri La anyway and seeing how The Boyz interpreted this blew me away.