[Reality] The Unit - Episode 9 Reaction

The thing is, there technically is no age limit for idols. Like you have Shinhwa who's still an active idol group who are in their 40s and Super Junior who are in their mid-late 30s. The whole idol concept/thing only started in the mid 1990s and didn't kick off until the mid 2000s so even the oldest "idols" are in their 40s. It's just most of these idols see the height of their career while they're in their 20s. Since most idol groups debut in their late teens/early 20s, they do fullterm contract (about 6-7 years) so by the time their contract is up for renewal, these idols are typically in their mid-late 20s. So they choose to continue their group thus remaining as "idols" which is why we still have some older groups lingering around who are past age 30. But majority of the groups tend to disband after their contract is up because either the company or the members no longer wants to continue as a group or they want to branch out and do other things. For some reason, girl groups have seen more disbandments after their initial contract ends. Many idols go on to become solo artists, go in to acting, musicals, modeling, etc or others just leave the entertainment industry entirely. For a lot of people, being an idol seems to be like a stepping stone in to the entertainment industry because they're essentially trained to entertain and tend to dip in to all parts of entertainment. The drawback of idols is, they are sometimes looked down on by other parts of entertainment (for being "manufactured" and controled by the company), plus it doesn't pay well and your creativity id often limited and your life is very controlled. Hypothetically speaking, if they're successful as idols, the can probably have a more lucrative and longer lasting career in some other aspect of entertainment. So I see why many idols would want to leave after contract ends and why we don't see many idols past age 30 (though again, there are a few hanging around). The reason why you see a lot of idols on the older side here is because many of them were from older groups who've been around for awhile or were in groups who have disbanded. But also, some idols debut at an older age while others debut young. Example: Taemin debuted at like 14 back in 2008 meanwhile ACE's Jun debuted in 2017 at age 23. They debuted 9 years apart so it seems like Taemin is so much older, but in reality Taemin was born in 1993 while Jun in 1994. They're only a year apart age wise.

Secretninja312

Jeff, don't worry you are for sure a sexy doll. I can see how the Jackpot performance's dance was a little too relaxed/not sharp, I think maybe the audience considered it a nice bonus rather than a real dance performance. I really liked the balance between members too. It helps that they only had 5 people to split the parts amongst, but I thought they did a good job of giving everyone the spotlight and moments to really show off their vocal abilities. To me, a lot of people on the Last Dance team felt forgettable because they only sang 1 or 2 soft lines, and never got camera time. Like I think I only saw Lucky sing in one close up? Also this is my third time watching The Unit and I completely forgot about the One Less Problem performance... the only memorable part of their whole section was the cute girl trying to be sexy, but it felt like they gave her way too many close ups to complete that narrative when her facial expressions were pretty blank. The girls in denim lucked into a genius idea with the boy/girl roles, because it allowed them to perform super sexy pairs choreo that they would never get away with if as idols if they were dancing with male backup dancers.

ep9597

Happy New Year🥳 I just wanna mention when you asked if that’s how they do their presentation when presenting concepts, it totally is! During Super Junior’s comeback after they’ve all gone out of the military, they decided to make a reality show (SJ Returns) and they showed the process of preparing for a comeback, that included presenting concepts, choosing the title songs, the recording etc. Also, idk if you’ve seen it but during Mark (NCT) and Parc Jae-Jung’s song “Lemonade Love”, Shindong(SJ) who directed it presented the concept through powerpoints and stuff like that. It’s awesome that they’re making them present like that cause then they’ll really be ready for the real thing once they debut!

Kaszy Notte

You definitely should look up Imfact. Considering Jeup (the one from I Can See Your Voice) is also in that group. Their songs are all amazing and they’re easily one of my favorites groups. Definitely should check them out! I’ve been secretly hoping you would react to them but maybe you liking Jeup and now Ungjae is a step forward to this. I am hopeful still.

Wan Mendes

For girl group the famous one after disbandment usually went to solo carees as a singer or actress or mc, something like that like lee hyori in her 40s, uhm jung hwa in her 50s still active as a singer. 2NE1, all of them went solo, 2 of its member 37 y.o like sandara and park bom. As for non famous usually they live as normal person getting married or something. Ungjae in imfact's comeback nanana song so iconic!! He is getting famous 😍 and NEXT MISSIONN. AAAAHH, can't wait hahaha 🤩 Anw, if you gonna make an idol group, i'd like to sneak a peek 😋

tsalis park

btw just my opinion but when during a competition they use a song which is very popular for its dance I think it's a suicide most of the times. as a dancer myself, I would never use a song whose choreo is very popular (such as run the world), as people would already have that in their mind and then make a comparison with what I came up with. of course, there are cases where your so talented and creative that the choreo outshines the original one but yeah .... i still think it's not that wise of a choice in a competition where every misstep can cause you elimination. so yeah, in the end the whole re-arrangement was a wayyyyyy better choice than the original idea they had for the performance.

bub

regarding what happens to girl group members once they get older: I think it depends. however, when thinking about it, a lot of the more "seasoned" girl groups disband once the members reach a certain age. it may be obviously for a whole lot of other reasons, but the only girl group I can think of at the moment which has survived staying so many years together is apink. still, many of them prefer to also start a solo career (e.g. eunji from apink, or taeyeon from snsd), they act, they become musical actors (THIS happens A LOT), they go into fashion or start their own companies (not necessarily related to music). so to reply to your questions i'd say that they definitely do change strategies overtime but I think it's necessary in the showbiz to be as flexible and adaptable as possible, and also it is important to be able to re-invent yourself. because fame is such a passing thing, it's good to have a plan b, c, d .. all to the way to the z.

bub

oh that’s what they meant with pre recorded. i thought it was like the actual footage (rehearsal footage for example) LOL

seth james

yes i have it on my list :)

seth james

i will do my research! need to see how hes doing now 🔥

seth james

definitely can see what you’re saying. overall it was just not a great performance 🥺

seth james

oooo i’ll hold you to that! haha i’ve definitely been day dreaming about it 😁

seth james

oh thanks for this! i have definitely heard of lee hyori- i think along the same time as i discovered rain. ya it’s unfortunate how a lot them leave the music industry it seems like. it’ll be interesting to see where the younger generations go as the industry is much bigger now.

seth james

oh totally i’d be curious to at least check out the winning team’s debut stuff! would love to see the result of the hard work!

seth james

oh totally. a performance needs to be a good marriage between the material and the talent. so many idols get the wrong material which prevents them from succeeding and this would be the behind the scenes of that kind of scenario.

seth james

I’ll add this since it doesn’t look like anyone else mentioned it: This is in regards to your question about “pre-recorded” portions in performance. On basically any Korean idol competition show, if the idol/trainee is going to be performing for the public they’ll use their own vocals. MixNine, the Produce series, The Unit, Idol School, etc. all have the idols record vocals for the track, even if it’s a dance number. They won’t do live vocals, but, instead of lip syncing to the original artist, they lip sync to their own vocals. It’s pretty interesting and actually kinda makes me feel more pulled into the performance.

ThatPatreonThough

Ok just shortly: yay so happy you like Ungjae :D Jeup is in the same group. Imfact had a Comeback in 2020 thx to a Makestar project and their mini album 'L.L' (title track 'Lie') was again also produced by Ungjae, hope you give it a listen ^^ (b-side 'I'm Fine' had me crying XD) (So glad I got to know them through watching The Unit in 2019 ^^ )

CactusDragon

Could you react to Blackpink Knowing Bros Episode ?? Luv ur vids !

the one member you asked about, is Ungjae (Jungha's buddy). He is one of my favorites too! He's still active in his group Imfact. The same group as Jeup. They had a comeback this year with the song 'lie'. Ungjae has been producing, writing and arranging Imfact's music since the beginning! He was only 18-19 at that time & he is the maknae of the group! He recently posted something about a project on his instagram. Another member of Imfact Taeho is also on the Unit, he has an amazing voice. The only member who didn't participate in the Unit is Sang! He's been acting since their debut and got a few small roles. They have another member Jian, he got eliminated in the elimination episode before this unfortunately.

Natalie Burger

The reason I personally kinda disliked the Red Sun - Bermuda Triangle mashup, is that the transitions weren't seamless to me. The transitions between each rapper felt off, and the transition between Red Sun and Bermuda Triangle in the audio itself was weird. It basically felt like the rappers did their own thing, and singers did their own thing, and then they just pushed it together, it didn't feel like a "team" performance

M00seley

I'm rlly looking forward to this reaction every week, thank you ^^ And wishing a hopefully healthy & better 2021 to everyone!! Getting snacks for this :3

CactusDragon

HI fellow The Unit viewers: Sorry, not sorry for mentioning this again, cause only 1 week left for MVP's Makestar project ^^ Please consider checking it out, this would be their 2nd mini album after 3 years: https://www.makestar.co/projects/singer_mvp_01 If you can't/don't want to support financially it would still be amazing if you could share the info with other multis maybe, thank you ^^ They also had a digital single Comeback recently called 'Every Day' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef-BIOc3M6g (Rayoon is in this group btw Jeff just in case you're interested ;P )

CactusDragon

The Mixnine Performance of Love in the Ice was really so much better.

BaoziBang

Still in the midst of watching the episode but I just need to add to the other comments voicing our love for the original Love in the Ice. It is absolutely incredible, their live harmonies are breathtaking. no one has ever, ever come close to doing it like them.

Layla123

Unfortunately Jeup enlisted last year so I doubt we'll get the full group anytime soon :( But I agree, NANANA is an absolute bop (and their song Lie was one of my favourites of 2020!)

Layla123

I completely agree,. Love in the Ice is a really big song and is extremely hard to cover, especially without having the same type of background in vocal training the members of TVXQ had. Their run through performance felt small in comparison and definitely fell flat for me. I also think the Love in the Ice wouldn't have highlighted the different tones of the girls in that group very well, which were much better displayed by the other song they chose. They still got to add in belts and harmonies but in a style which suited them better.

Sea

Imfact has both Ungjae and Jeup and the group is still active. Someone gave the recommendation last week to check out Imfact's song NANANA and I agree with that.

Sea

I think if you put a Kpop group together Jeff I would have to buy a few shares…………

Jenn BL

About your question on how older female idols carry on their careers, most of them changed to acting, became a TV personality. Eg: 1st gen top female idols (35-39yo) SES Eugene (King of Baking), Baby VOX Yoon Eunhye (Coffee Prince, Goong), FinKL Sung Yuri (Hong Gil Dong); 2nd gen top female idols (28-32yo) like SNSD Yoona, Seohyun, Miss A Suzy, f(x) Krystal, etc. Some of them hit big as a soloist like Lee Hyori (41yo). She became the sexy icon of Kpop and Hyori’s solo career is bigger than her own group FinKL lmao. So it is safe to assume that female idols will soon change their direction to acting if they have a chance. Only a few case can make it in the long run with singing like Lee Hyori or Taeyeon, or doing a decent job in both acting and singing like IU. (many of them got married ofc, or just disappeared :(( this industry is tough)

Missy

Love in the Ice by TVXQ is amazing song...

MinSeo Kim

true.. they were huge in Korea..

MinSeo Kim

Happy new year! So for the female vocal groups I agree, they were both so good vocally. I liked Jackpot better though and I think the reason why they won in the end was that if you're familiar with both the original songs, Jackpot team made the song much more different from the original so I think there was that element of "delight". The first group went for an emotional song, but it wasn't as emotional as the make vocals teams I think. So I found jackpot more creative and surprising (delight). Maybe the audience got excited the same way I did and voted that way. Btw the weird sections you see so far of them randomly ordering shavers, toasters and in this episode vacum cleaners...is because the online mall is a sponsor...so that was a sponsor mention lol. I actually think both the female performance teams weren't nearly at the same level as the male ones. The "problem" performance was well choreographed but didn't seem much different from a generic idol dance. I hadn't noticed the weird mix of sexy and cute until you mentioned it but for sure the ones who went all out sexy caught my eye much more. The "run the world" choreo I didn't enjoy at all. I think there was too much "story" and "acting" in the choreo and I didn't feel like I was watching dancing; somehow I just felt really distracted...and no one really stood out unfortunately...XD I seldom disgaree with you but I guess this is the rare occasion! Male rap vocal...what a very different track the 2 teams went...There are nice bits from each team but I guess the Butterfly team was more impactful because the song was more relatable and emotional. That said tho, Red Sun was actually one of the songs from Show Me the Money 6, so I do think it is quite famous despite being a very hip hop thing. The other song mashed up was Bremuda Triangle, which was Zico (feat Crush and Dean), so it was quite a famous song too. You were asking where is Ungjae now...he's still in Imfact with Jeup and the others from the group who joined the unit :). The guy with the interesting voice was Raehwan from Bigstar.

S H

Jeff, I wonder...can you please (I was supposed to ask you if you will but might as well request) react to the debut projects of the winning team? They have quite a bit of content so I will not be expecting for you to react to them all but at least their MVs and some performance videos? Pretty please? Like just compiled videos here on Patreon? I’m sorry if that’s too much to ask tho. I have been loving your reactions both in YT and here on Patreon especially towards the artists I really really like, now the group that will win here has a special special special place in my heart...and I’d be really thankful if you can see what they will put on the table after The Unit. 🙈 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 Hoping but no pressure. ♥️

Louie Gabiliño

About the vocal team who were told not to do 'Love in the Ice'. I agreed with Jo Hyuna. Don't know if her reasoning was the same as mine, but maybe… TVXQ OT5 had phenomenal vocals and more specifically, traditionally trained vocals (as expected from SM). This unit group had good singers, but I think NC.A is the only one who seems to have that kind of vocal training, and even her skills don't come close to Jaejoong and Xia Junso. For anyone who knows the original song, that performance really fell flat. The bigbang song was a better choice, while they couldn't deliver the emotional impact that Bigbang did, they were able to change it up adding harmonies and vocal high-lights that emphasized their skills as singers. Also, because the song sounded so obviously different from the original, I think they didn't suffer as much from the comparison.

PositiveThinking

This 'self-producing' mission really emphasized for me how separate those skills are from normal idol-skills. Some teams lucked out and had members with great ideas and abilities to put together a performance that would appeal to the audiances. Other teams didn't. For those less lucky, it didn't matter how talented and good the members were as idols (ie performars) - they couldn't showcase there skills properly without the right framework prepared for them.

PositiveThinking

The one and only time I met Jun in real life, he sobbed at the end of the event because he was touched by the fans’ surprise. I was really holding myself back but when I heard him sobbing, I literally burst out in tears. He’s such a good sweet guy and so so cheerful that when he cries, it’s painful. He was also just 21 at this time (if I’m not wrong same age with Chan) and he’s so strong and talented.

Louie Gabiliño

When it comes to vocals, I dare to say NO ONE can surpassed TVXQ (ot5) on that! I really do hope that Jeff would add them on his reaction list ❤ I believe he saw them as well in the SMTOWN live yesterday although they are now a duo group but they are still one of the best groups now ☺️

eve_ss

OMG moonlight sonata is my fav and still my fav!!! I fell in love with raehwan because of that song. Too bad he didn't get screen time in early episode. But he was getting better screen time in latest episode 🤧🤧 And jun indeed all rounder with chan as well imo 😍

tsalis park

The Lyrics for the Butterfly Stage still make me cry! https://youtu.be/GjJluyLHrXo

BaoziBang

It's funny what you said about Red Sun/Bermuda Triangle. Both were produced by Zico and were some of the most Popular Songs in Korea in the Years they came out 🤣

BaoziBang

They said Donghyun's team always win, but it's because his members always listened to him. This time they didn't 😞. I understand that they have more rappers in the group than vocalists but it's rap-vocal battle mission tho. I feel like they don't care that much about their vocalists and just want to focus with the rap. It's sad but we still got Jungha's first win so I'm still glad ☺️ In Butterfly's team, the one you said you like the vocals is RAEHWAN (member of Big Star with Feeldog btw). Very underrated group!! -- Please check out their song Moonlight Sonata (Full Moon Shine) -- Highly recommended!! 🙏🏻❤ Watch out for Jun (U-kiss) as well! Our dark horse all-rounder on the show! Originally a rapper, but also a good vocalist. And he's a great actor too! Out of all the trainees here, I can say that he's one of the most successful here at present. He's active as an actor. Just to share with you ☺️ I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT MISSION!!! OMG YASS MY FAVORITE 😍

eve_ss

The Jackpot team did great. They not only transformed the song but also kept enough of the original to be recognizable for the audience.

BaoziBang

You really have to check out the original Love in the Ice & Last Dance. Both are ICONIC! https://youtu.be/_1VK_PeMXP8 https://youtu.be/BHAcVyx4hBs

BaoziBang

The first Group really shot themselves in the foot for me. First they picked Love in The Ice by TVXQ. It's a Song practically no one should cover because the original is so emotional and unique. Then they picked Last Dance by Bigbang, the last Title Track we got before they went to the military equally emotional and also something you probably shouldn't cover. They fell totally flat for me with both. They didn't manage to make me forget the original for a second, I compared them every second they sang those songs and of course basically no one can cover those anyway so they seemed like pure amateurs to me.

BaoziBang

You should check out some DKB & Onlyoneof sometime if you find an empty spot. I would love to see what you think about their different style!

BaoziBang