See Part 1 for more explanation!
This part continues the list of my favorite trainees from survival show Produce 101 Season 2 by Mnet!
Yoon Ji-sung
(MMO Entertainment)
Current ranking (as of Ep.6): 13
Also known as: Meme King, MemeLord, Auntie Yoon/Yoon-jumma (word play: Yoon (Ji-sung) + (ah)jumma (aunt, old lady)
This guy… Gosh, seriously, it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a walking meme in K-pop. His facial expressions, his reactions, his never ending talking… This boy is born to entertain us lots. Thanks to him, k-netizens (korean internet users) decoded the abbreviation of his company MMO as Mal Mahn-O (말많오, translated as Endless talking/Talkative), and all 5 trainees of that agency are now jokingly referred as Gossip Kings, as they are always caught talking, commenting and joking with each other).
By the way, Ji-sung is 27 by Korean age (a.k.a. 25 or 26 internationally), and for a trainee this age is already considered as old, as there are a huge lot of currently active idols of the same age.
I hope this boy gets to the Top 11, because the project boy band need their main variety king Yoon Ji-sung!
Turn CC on for English subs!
Start from 1:30, basically MMO trainees are talking about their second name Gossip Kings, as they “blame” Yoon Ji-sung for gaining their company name a new abbreviation
Yeo Hwan-woong
(Rainbow Bridge World | RBW)
Current ranking (as of Ep.6): 54
Hwan-woong‘s visuals are usually not considered as good by Koreans, but he sure caught my eyes after his dancing performance in the episode 6! But unfortunately, his ranking is way too low (next elimination will only save 35 contestants), despite him being the center of the mentioned performance. Mnet’s evil editing preferred Joo Hak-nyeon to this awesome talented boy, and so, South Korean again slept on his talent.
On this video, Hwan-woong is the one wearing the headband 🙂
P.S. You can also see Hong Eun-ki performing (blond haired guy)
Kang Daniel
(MMO Entertainment)
Current ranking (as of Ep.6): 2
This boy sure will get your attention because of his pink hair. Since he’s from MMO Entertainment, he is indeed a member of the Gossip Kings squad, but aside his bright personality, Daniel is a well-rounder, with good visuals, great singing, rapping and dancing skills! He has high chances of being one of Top 11 – well, if he behaves well and doesn’t get involved into another controversy.
Kim Jae-hwan
(Individual trainee [a.k.a. a trainee without managing agency])
Current ranking (as of Ep.6): 7
Kim Jae-hwan is the definition of God vocals. If he wasn’t picked by Hwang Min-hyun to be a part of the Sorry Sorry team 2, South Korea and the world would never know of his monstrous talent. Yes, he might be lacking dancing skills, but his voice is straight from heaven!
We need this boy to be the main vocal of final 11-member group alongside Park Woo-dam! I mean, listen to his HARMONIES!
Hwang Min-hyun
(Pledis Entertainment)
Current ranking (as of Ep.6): 4
I can’t help myself but fall for Min-hyun‘s visuals. HE CAME DOWN STRAIGHT FROM HEAVEN PPL NU’EST, those looks are killer! @__@
Not only looks, Min-hyun has very impressive soft vocals that can melt your heart!
Also, he recently got famous for his CEO skills, as he chose members for Sorry Sorry Team 2 based on actual attracting skills, and not only looks. If not him, the world would never know how good Kim Jong-hyun is as the leader, and what a killer vocal is Kim Jae-hwan! Praise Hwang Min-hyun for his hawk eyes!
Hwang Min-hyun has those looks that can kill you, may he look soft and kind or fierce and sexy. Just look at him in this video:
Kim Jong-hyun
(Pledis Entertainment)
Current ranking (as of Ep.6): 1
Also known as: JR, Wartotle, Nation’s leader
Kim Jong-hyun is actually the leader of NU’EST, despite not being the oldest (in S.Korea, the leader of a group is usually the oldest member), and his leadership skills were finally recognized by South Korea when he lead and teached the whole Sorry Sorry Team 2 the dance routine (especially you can hee his efforts towards Kwon Hyun-bin from YGK+, as the latter really sucked at dancing). He’s such a humble person, and also a perfectionist, whatever bad happening to the bandmates, he always take the blame to himself as “the one who couldn’t lead properly” (seriously, JR, you need to stop blaming only yourself!).
He has the heaviest burden among NU’EST members for appearing on Produce 101 when being a 5-year old idol group.
If Jong-hyun makes to Top-11 and becomes the leader of male I.O.I., trust me, the group will swipe the whole world.
LET’S RISE AGAIN NU’EST.
In NU’EST, Kim Jong-hyun holds the position of a leader, main rapper and main dancer. So check out his rapping skills (start from 0:54):
Translation of his lyrics (very meaningful!):
Honestly my fear is big this stage is scary
Closing my two eyes with this big burden
Bearing the hateful comment on “this debuted kid coming here”
People pointing fingers calling out “unfairness/cheating”
I know that, I’m going crazy
For me, this is also my last
The burden is getting bigger but
Even if it’s getting difficult
Thinking about people who believe in me
I will cross the opposite direction in this one way road
Yeah, Don’t Worry
He is referring to hardships the whole NU’EST has after their drastic fall from popularity they initially received after debut. Kim Jong-hyun keeps blaming himself for the failure, but in reality it’s Pledis’s fault as they didn’t promote the boys properly. And some people still think their appearance on Produce 101 is cheating. /sigh/
Ong Sung-woo
(Fantagio)
Current ranking (as of Ep.6): 6
KILL ME BOY, JUST KILL ME.
Mr. Ong has everything, from outstanding, somehow cute visuals, to flawless dancing skills, to stable vocals. He’s such the center material! Even in the pool of good-looking members of Sorry Sorry Team 2 my eyes keep going to this boy!
If he doesn’t win this show and become the center, I’m gonna blow up Mnet. I know other members also deserve being the winner, but seriously, ONG SUNG-WOO is the VISUAL MATERIAL. I freaking need him as the center of male I.O.I.!!!
Also, his name seriously stands out! Ong is a very rare last name in South Korea!
Also check out his freestyle dance for Uptown Funk! (start from 2:00)
Okay, probably I killed you with over 2k words on Produce 101 boys, as well as my untimate love for K-pop as a whole. If you managed until the end of this post – CONGRATULATIONS! Hahaha, you made it!
Are you a K-pop fan? If yes, who are your favorite artists? If not, have you ever listened, and/or would you give it a listen if I give some recommendations?
Sorry for such long rant.
Love ya!
Liliana N Bookish Blog 
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