Team G - Kill This Love Review

 Hello! Today we're going to be reviewing one of my favorite performances from the hit Korean show: Boys Planet! This performance captured the hearts of many watchers including myself, so I hope you enjoy this one too if you haven't seen it yet.

Something that makes this performance very important is that Kill This Love is originally made for a girl group, as the original is by BLACKPINK, an all-girls group. That makes Kill This Love a difficult song for males to cover as the original range doesn't usually suit their lower range of voice.

Let's just get into it now! You can watch the performance here: Team G - Kill This Love

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First off, the beginning is very cool! I do think the "Yeah yeah yeah" could sound a little more powerful, but I'm not sure how so I think it's fine. I think the choreography could have looked a little more snappier and cleaner as well for a stronger beginning, but in general, it's not a bad start.

Zhang Hao's opening vocals at 0:18 are very great. He's in tune and it's also very stable. The other members' choreo also looks great, so there's really no complaints yet! Wang Zi Hao comes in after Zhang Hao's part; I really like it! Wang Zi Hao has some sort of twang in his voice that makes it unique. The way his voice has like a strain, or some sort of noise I can't explain, for the last syllable of the line. I think it's really fun and interesting! The original song doesn't have that so it's like Wang Zi Hao added his own little flair to the song and made it his. He also has a really great and stable voice, so it was a perfect transition from Zhang Hao to Wang Zi Hao. 😄 The alternating dance at 0:28 was really cool as well!

Moving on, Keita pops up from behind Wang Zi Hao and Zhang Hao and jumps in with his rap: "Here I come kick in the door!" Keita is a really strong rapper! We knew this from the beginning of the show, especially those who were fans of his before he came to Boys Planet, but Kill This Love let Keita shine very brightly. I'd say this is probably his strongest performance in Boys Planet.

I think it might be Chen Kuan Jui, but it shows Min's face as well, so I'm not sure who it may be-- possibly both of them? Either way, whoever it is has a short line in between Keita's lines where he says: "뻔하디 뻔한 그 (Ppeonhadi ppeonhan geu) love," which sounds a little weird to me; I think it might be the pitch? But I can also see it as a creative freedom spot, similar to what Wang Zi Hao did in the beginning. Therefore, even though I think it sounded a little funny, I can accept it. 😂

Min does some backing raps during Keita's part though, I think it was a nice touch! It was probably a part of the line distribution and not something that Team G came up with, but whoever did the line distribution did good for this part. I like the backing rap, it adds some power to Keita's already strong rap.

One thing I didn't know before was that sometimes the other members would go to the side of the stage so that only about 1-3 people are in the middle of the stage and the focus goes to them. I thought they would always be on stage dancing whether or not they were the focus. I don't know why I never knew or thought of that, but I think it's a really good vibe setter. 😀 When everyone left the stage except for Matthew and Wang Zi Hao, it created an intimate vibe between them which set the tone for the build up of the climax.

Both Matthew and Wang Zi Hao's choreography (along with Wang Zi Hao's clean and melodic vocals) make this part of the scene look very innocent an elegant in comparison to the usual dangerous and loud vibes they have throughout the song. After Wang Zi Hao's part is when Matthew gets his first solo line, but it's not really solo when there's a harmony attached to it, is it? Either way, it looks like the harmony is coming from Wang Zi Hao because that's who Matthew was dancing with, but it's actually coming from Zhang Hao! From the side of the stage! I really love the harmony that Zhang Hao added to Matthew's part. While it takes away the focus from Matthew, I still think it's a really good addition to the song because it makes the performance even more angelic. The original Kill This Love doesn't have the harmony at this part either, so I'm assuming it was completely Zhang Hao's idea to add it in. It was a great decision, Zhang Hao! Matthew looks really great here too. 😊 I love this stage outfit and hair for him. The way everyone comes back in to the center of the stage is also really cool. The stage choreographers KNEW what they were doing with the dance.

The next part with Wang Zi Hao and Zhang Hao's parts sound a little off to me; it's like their voices don't really go well together. I can look it aside because they both delivered nicely, but it just sounds a little off to me. Maybe it's just me haha. Both Zhang Hao and Wang Zi Hao are great singers though. Zhang Hao ends up holding his line just for a bit longer than Wang Zi Hao at 1:08 which also kind of throws me off, but I think I can also put that aside haha.

Finally, the chorus!!! No complaints with the chorus, at all! The dance, singing, and even (Keita's) facial expressions were great. It's like everything you'd expect for that part. Fierce and strong!

"Feeling like a sinner, it's so fire with her, I go boo-hoo!" is said by Keita after the chorus. While Keita delivered that perfectly, I want to mention that the original song uses he/him pronouns in the lyrics because it's originally performed by BLACKPINK, a K-pop girl group. While they could've stuck with he/him, I think it was interesting that they changed it to she/her pronouns. It's a good type of interesting; I like it. Keita's little jump and spin was adorable too! Chen Kuan Jui's part after Keita's was also really cool as well! His expression and body movements were great and fierce, as expected from an experienced dancer.

Matthew has a small vocal part in this song, which is a shame because I really like his voice. So this is my time to say that all his parts in Kill This Love sound really good.

Now we come to the most replayed part of this performance: Zhang Hao's "나 어떡해 나약한 날 견딜 수 없어 (Na eotteokae nayakan nal gyeondil su eopseo)" at 1:47. I can totally see why this is the most replayed part of the performance, haha! This is the part is not only the whole vibe change of the song, but also Zhang Hao's vocals sounded so beautiful along with his stunning visuals. It's a really great combo! The transition between Zhang Hao and Matthew's voices flowed beautifully too. Keita's rap that followed was also super beautiful. His rap is usually more hip hop-like, but this one felt more melancholic and emotional. Maybe it's just the way he fell to the ground though, haha.

The way everyone motioned their hands downwards, as if they were holding rifles and pointing it at Keita as he kneels on the ground, was very story-like. It was like they were telling a story. I think my media literacy may be a bit low, but I see it like Keita is portraying the romantic and loving side of the narrator while the others are the brain. The brain doesn't want to love anyone else anymore because of the way love caused them to get hurt, so it kills the loving side of them. The lyrics following that scene is "We all commit to love that makes you cry, oh-oh. We're all making love that kills you inside, yeah" I think that kind of supports my idea, haha.

2:18 is the next most replayed part, and I totally get why for this one too! This is where the narrator finally gathers the resolve to "kill this love" which is the climax of the song. But also, everyone smears red paint on their face!! That is SOOOO cool! So you mean to tell me that they had paint on their hands this whole time and it didn't smudge against anything at all? Until now? That has to mean they were very careful with their spacing and movements and it was really impressive that they were able to do that. Extra points for storytelling and even more extra points for looking cool with the paint smear. 😝

From then on, everything was incredible. No complaints AT ALL! Only compliments! 😃The singing and dancing are both impactful. "We must kill this love (before it kills you too)" is a part that's pretty cool to me because of Keita's isolated "before it kills you too". I just think it's cool, haha. At first I thought it was a little weird, but I like it now.

Another part I really like about this part was Keita's little hop and everyone takes a step back from him. I just think it's really cool. Maybe I just like hops? 😂 Lastly, Keita's "Let's kill this love" sounded a little sharp, but I think it was intentional! It had some sort of sad, melancholic tone to it, but ready to get it over with. Keita is so great!!

The ending fairies aren't really doing anything important besides staring into the camera, so I'm just going to skip it, haha. It adds to the serious tone of the song though, which is really nice.

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Yaayyy! We've reached the end of Kill This Love performed by Team G! This is one of the most popular and one of my favorite performances, so I hope you enjoyed it too. Keita, Zhang Hao, and Matthew were my shining boys for this performance, but that doesn't mean Min and Chen Kuan Jui didn't shine. That's all I have to say for this performance, it was really great! Thank you for reading!