VIVIZ vies for the crown on Mnet's "Queendom 2"

By Charmaine Lai and Mahnoor Siddiqi

Image source: VIVIZ (비비지) - 'BOP BOP!' MV 

Are you feeling the music? We know VIVIZ is!

Once again, K-Pop, especially girl groups, has captivated the attention of millions of fans worldwide. While world-famous bands like TWICE, BLACKPINK and Red Velvet have gone on hiatus in preparation for new comebacks this year, more and more new groups have surged forward as the pioneers of the new generation of K-Pop, such as aespa, STAYC, ITZY, (G)I-DLE, Kep1er and VIVIZ, who haven taken the stage on Queendom 2 – the 2022 second season of Queendom, a reality idol survival show by Mnet, a South Korean pay television music channel – as one of Korea’s oldest and newest girl groups.

BPM Entertainment introduced VIVIZ, a three-member girl group, in 2022 with the fun debut song “BOP BOP!” and extended play Beam of Prism. The three members of VIVIZ are Eunha, Umji and SinB, all of whom were a part of the nation’s favourite girl group GFRIEND with six years of experience as idols under their belts. GFRIEND had a total of six members: Eunha, Yerin, Umji, Sowon, Yuju and SinB, until their abrupt disbandment in 2021. 

Many fans of VIVIZ will know that the group’s name is an abbreviation of the phrase “Vivid dayZ”, the group’s motto representing their hopes for the future. However, the Korean pronunciation “bi-bi-ji” (비비지) also refers directly to the names of the members themselves; Eunha (Jung Eun-bi), SinB (Hwang Eun-bi) and Umji.

VIVIZ has already built a rather stable fanbase, both from their old reputation as GFRIEND and new fans from their recent debut. The number of VIVIZ’s fans has recently continued to increase as many netizens have begun to take an interest in them after watching the first few episodes of Queendom 2.

Queendom is described as a “comeback battle” between six trending girl groups in order to “determine the true queen” when all six groups release their singles at the same time. Only the winning group will have a comeback show, where they will be able to showcase their new song as well as their previous hits, arranged as they like. The groups first participated in three preliminary performance rounds before the live comeback stage. Many netizens noted that the winning group will greatly benefit from the show and become more recognised by both Korean and worldwide audiences, as proven by Mamamoo’s rise in popularity as the winners of the first season. 

The contestants of Queendom 2 are Hyolyn, VIVIZ, Brave Girls, WJSN, LOONA, and Kep1er.

While Queendom 2 introduces a new elimination rule, stating that the act that ranks last place two times in a row during the preliminary rounds must be eliminated entirely from the show, many fans believe that the placements of each group per round would be difficult to determine as all of the participants of the show have proven their talents time and time again. In addition to the elimination rule, at the end of each round a best and worst group is picked, which could affect the scores.

The overall ranking is calculated based on the number of points from the three preliminary rounds (1st round - 10,000 points, 2nd round - 10,000 points, 3rd round - 20,000 points), views and like counts of performance videos (5,000 points), digital points of the comeback singles (20,000 points), and live votes of the Finale Live Comeback Stages (30,000 points).

The first episode of the show introduced each of the participating groups, as well as the mission the groups had to complete for the first round; performing their most representative song. Starting off the first round was none other than VIVIZ themselves, who announced that they struggled with choosing a fitting song.

During the preparations, SinB commented, “like we’ve always said, we’re VIVIZ and GFRIEND so there’s no reason to exclude GFRIEND songs.” After contacting former GFRIEND member Sowon for her opinion, VIVIZ decided that they would be performing not one, but two of their most well-known songs as GFRIEND; “Time for the Moon Night,” released in April 2018 and “Rough”, released in January 2016.

While in the waiting room, Eunseo of WJSN, SinB’s close friend, broke into tears as she said, “SinB said she wasn’t nervous, but it felt like watching myself in a situation where I was really nervous. Although we’re competitors, as a friend, I felt proud seeing her complete this well.”

After their sentimental performance of “Time for the Moon Night + Rough”, which paid tribute to the bittersweet memories VIVIZ made as GFRIEND pre-disbandment, many members of the audience were seen wiping away their tears. HyunA, ex-member of 4Minute, revealed that she had also cried watching the performance. Eunha, who cried after walking offstage, shared her own feelings. “I looked at the audience after our performance and they were crying. Seeing that made me tear up too. I didn’t want to cry in front of our fans so I held it in.”

VIVIZ ultimately ended in third place for the first round, with 5,837 points. Hyolyn ended up in first, followed by WJSN. In fourth place was Kep1er, Brave Girls, and LOONA, who were automatically placed last due to their absence from COVID-19. While some Na.Vs (fans of VIVIZ) obviously placed VIVIZ first in their rankings, most netizens agreed that they were satisfied with the placement. Some commented that whilst VIVIZ’s performance was elegant and breathtaking, it was clearly meant for their fans to enjoy, which would have made it harder for those who are unfamiliar with VIVIZ and GFRIEND to relate to. Many were also shocked that most groups chose VIVIZ as the worst group, while some believed it was because they were intimidated by how well VIVIZ had done.

The second round featured a twist, in which each group had to cover another group’s song. Hyolyn chose to cover LOONA, WJSN chose to cover VIVIZ, and Brave Girls covered Kep1er and vice versa. WJSN who chose VIVIZ, decided to cover GFRIEND’s hit song “NAVILLERA”, released in 2016. WJSN managed to turn the nostalgic song into their own, one with an elegant yet dark concept. From Soobin’s elegant dancing to Exy’s charismatic rapping, the WJSN girls showcased their originality and versatility with GFRIEND’s song.

As VIVIZ had to cover WJSN, the group chose WJSN’s latest release “UNNATURAL”, released in March of 2021. Coincidentally, VIVIZ also chose to recreate the song with a bold, red-and-black concept, though the difference was that VIVIZ chose to incorporate elements of tango dancing into their performance. 

The style of their performance was very different from what they were used to. Eunha confessed her worries, “When I first saw the draft video, I thought, ‘Do I really have to do this? Is this real life?’” While many fans and members of the audience thought VIVIZ tore up the stage with the stylish outfit change as well as SinB’s first time rapping, Eunha shed tears once again when she made a mistake during the choreography. “Since I know that I’m someone who isn’t good at dancing, whenever I feel that I’m lacking, it’s so upsetting.”

VIVIZ unfortunately ended up ranking fourth with 4,433 points. Hyolyn made it to first again, followed by LOONA in second, then WJSN in third. Kep1er ranked fifth while Brave Girls was in sixth. Most netizens on Twitter personally ranked VIVIZ in the top four, but all netizens agreed that all of the performances were incredible.

The third round was split into two parts: unit battles and the FANdora round. For unit battles, the six teams split into groups of two for a battle of vocals, and then different groups of two for a battle of dance. VIVIZ had a difficult time making this decision since Umji didn’t have an allocated role. Eunha, the main vocalist of VIVIZ, was to go to the vocal unit, and SinB, the main dancer, was to go to the dance unit. Umji ultimately ended up joining the VIVIZ’s dance unit. 

Eunha teamed up with WJSN’s Yeonjung and Soobin and named their group “Universe in Eunha” (우주를 품은 은하), which comes from the first part of WJSN’s Korean group name and Eunha’s name. 

They sang a beautiful rendition of “Hold my hand” by IU, reminiscent of springtime. The trio followed a power-ballad-like approach with Yeonjung’s high notes, Soobin’s powerful vocals, and Eunha's soft and dreamy vocals.

VIVIZ and WJSN’s performances ended up in first place, receiving 2,500 points each, followed by Hyolyn and Brave girls in second, and LOONA and Kep1er in third.

For the dance unit, SinB and Umji teamed up with Kep1er’s Xiaoting, Dayeon, and Hikaru. They named themselves “KeV1Z” (케비지), a merge of the two groups’ names. 

They decided to go for a powerful hip-hop image. The song “Purr”, an English song produced for Queendom 2 and choreographed by Honey J of Holybang, had a cat-like concept. Both groups were known for bright and cuter concepts, and this performance was the perfect opportunity to show off their versatility.

Umji, who had chosen to go with SinB as VIVIZ’s dance unit, expressed that she often struggles with dancing. “It takes me a very long time to master a choreography. I didn’t seem to be capable of doing it. I thought I was rash and regretted it. I was a trainee for a very short while, and I can only perform well on stage once I fully understand the choreography. I should practise twice or thrice more than the others do.” Like she had said, Umji indeed had struggled with the choreography of Purr, and even said, “I think dancing as [KeV1Z] is the biggest hurdle in my life.”

Although Umji initially struggled a lot with dancing, Kep1er’s Hikaru was always there to help her, showing her the moves and explaining what Umji wasn’t sure about. “I was touched that Hikaru was willing to teach me with so much eagerness,” Umji said. 

On the other hand, Hikaru said, “I was worried that she’d be offended if I taught her the choreography. But she was very understanding. I’m truly thankful for that.”

VIVIZ and Kep1er ultimately ranked third and received 500 points each, with LOONA and Brave Girls in first and Hyolyn and WJSN in second. However, their efforts were not wasted as the girls became friends with each other, agreeing that it was a “once-in-a-lifetime chance”. Many netizens also expressed their opinions, most of them agreeing that their performance didn’t deserve last place.

The second part of round three was a very special one, to both the acts and their fans. In this part of the round, fans would nominate various songs they would like to see performed, allowing the groups to then choose one to perform. VIVIZ gathered some of their fans at a local cafe, to discuss with them their ideas for the performance. The members prepared handmade food for them and prepared gift bags with cosmetic products. VIVIZ showed what their fans meant to them, thanking them for staying by their side for so long. 

VIVIZ ended up deciding to perform “BOP BOP!”, their debut song as ‘VIVIZ’. They chose the song as they wanted to show they’re ‘VIVIZ’ now, and no longer GFRIEND; that they’re VIVIZ now, and that is their main focus.

They chose to perform a “high-teen” version of “BOP BOP! (Queendom 2)”, incorporating cliché high-school and cheerleading elements, wearing outfits reminiscent of early 2000s fashion, and reimagining the choreography. Their strong opening started with a ‘cheerleading lift’. While all of the members initially struggled with it, especially Eunha, who started crying every time they attempted the move, they eventually got the hang of it and delivered the move flawlessly.

Brave Girls came in first in this section (marking their first win in the show!), followed by WJSN in second, LOONA in third, Hyolyn in fourth, Kep1er in fifth, and VIVIZ in last place. VIVIZ received only 6,523 points. Though saddened by VIVIZ’s placement, many Na.Vs became more determined to help VIVIZ achieve the crown through endless streaming and voting.

The finale of the show involved each group releasing a digital comeback single on May 27th. 20,000 points were available for groups regarding the amount of digital streams on Spotify, and 30,000 points available for the groups regarding the number of votes during the Finale Live Comeback Stages.

VIVIZ released their song “Red Sun!”, a jazzy and dreamlike song. They revealed that they had been waiting four years for the release of it, meaning that it had been in the works during their time as GFRIEND.

Similarly to the atmosphere of the song, VIVIZ finished off Queendom 2 with a magical Alice In Wonderland-esque performance, live for their fans to see in person and on broadcast. Many fans of VIVIZ and other groups cheered for them, and some even noticed the girls crying when they walked offstage, a reminder of how truly special participating in the show was for them. 

The girls from other groups were asked to share their opinions on VIVIZ’s performance and they happily did so. “You’ll think of the “Red Sun!” stage now when you think of VIVIZ’s Queendom 2 stage,” said WJSN’s Eunseo.

“It was like watching a musical. My smile didn’t fade the whole time I was watching it,” commented Kep1er’s Dayeon, whom Umji and SinB had collaborated with a few episodes prior.

Hikaru, who had also made friends with VIVIZ, said “Our VIVIZ [seniors], I really really love you. You were pretty [on stage].”

VIVIZ received 15,419 points for the live vote and third most digital streams. While many Na.Vs were saddened they couldn’t help VIVIZ take the crown, they were proud of the girls and how far they had come since they debuted 7 years ago in GFRIEND.

Congratulations to VIVIZ ranking third with a total of 54,419 points and to WJSN for finishing in first place! The future of the girls as VIVIZ is much anticipated.