‘Our Ballad 2’ First Broadcast… Participants with 147 Votes Appear One After Another

The SBS audition program ‘Our Ballad 2’ aired its first episode on the 5th. The contestants, with an average age of 17.9, presented ballad stages filled with personal memories under the theme ‘The Song That Made Me Cry.’ Pre-release videos featuring contestants singing Yang Hee-eun’s ‘About the Loneliness of Love’ and the late Wheesung’s ‘Can't It Be?’ recorded a cumulative 7 million views, and the identities of the protagonists in those two videos were revealed during the broadcast. The first episode was a special extended broadcast lasting 160 minutes. Scenes were also aired where Joo Woo-jae told a contestant, “I see a winner candidate,” and Jung Seung-hwan evaluated, “It feels like watching a video of myself from 10 years ago; they deserve to be the son of SBS.”

160-minute first broadcast, Round 1 begins with nostalgic ballads

Round 1 of ‘Our Ballad 2’ was conducted under the theme ‘The Song That Made Me Cry.’ Contestants chose songs released between 1989 and 2002 that held personal memories and reinterpreted them in their own way. The broadcast introduced the stages of the contestants, who have an average age of 17.9, one by one, and the first episode was specially extended to 160 minutes. Various ballad songs were presented on stage, including the performances of ‘About the Loneliness of Love’ and ‘Can't It Be?’ which were previously known through pre-release videos.

The 150 Top 100 Ears members listened to the contestants' songs and made their selections. The two pre-release videos released before the broadcast contained the stages of the contestant who sang Yang Hee-eun’s ‘About the Loneliness of Love’ and the contestant who sang the late Wheesung’s ‘Can't It Be?’ These two videos, filled with the deep emotion and appealing voices of the young contestants, recorded a cumulative 7 million views. In the first broadcast, the identities of the contestants in the videos were revealed, followed by the Round 1 stages of contestants who possessed both skill and fresh interpretations, including them. The program airs every Monday at 10 PM.

Heo Chae-min for ‘Can't It Be?’ and Kim So-yeon for ‘About the Loneliness of Love’

Among the contestants appearing in the pre-release videos, Heo Chae-min, aged 15, sang the late Wheesung’s ‘Can't It Be?’ with a clear tone and received 147 votes. It was a stage that gathered interest from the pre-release video, and during the first broadcast, Joo Woo-jae said, “I see a winner candidate” after listening to Heo Chae-min's song. Park Kyung-lim commented, “It feels like Wheesung's longing is being filled.” The remarks of the two were broadcast as the reactions of the judges after hearing the contestant's stage.

16-year-old Kim So-yeon sang Yang Hee-eun’s ‘About the Loneliness of Love.’ According to related reports, Kim So-yeon comforted the absence of her father, who passed away not long ago, through her song. Moon Geun-young, watching the stage, said, “I felt like I wanted to give her a hug.” Moon Geun-young shed tears, saying, “Why does she know such deep loneliness at such a young age? Why is she experiencing this?” Following the cumulative 7 million views of the two pre-release videos, the stages of the protagonists and the judges' reactions were revealed during the broadcast.

Im Bada and Heo Chae-min receive 147 votes... surpassing last season's record

In the first broadcast, contestants who received 147 votes from the 150 Top 100 Ears members appeared. Korean-Australian Im Bada sang Kim Sung-ho’s ‘Reminiscence’ with an exotic tone and singing style, earning 147 votes. This song was released in 1989, and related reports stated it is a song that recently recorded 15.02 million views. Jung Jae-hyung said of Im Bada's stage, “This is the person we were looking for.” Heo Chae-min also obtained 147 votes with ‘Can't It Be?’ The highest number of votes recorded by last season's winner Lee Ye-ji in Round 1 was 146 votes.

It was reported that in the first episode, three contestants surpassed the last season's highest vote record of 146. Among them, it was revealed that Im Bada and Heo Chae-min each received 147 votes. In addition, Min Ji-yu and Ra Yu-jeong received passing votes, and Lee Min-woo advanced to Round 2 by singing Harim’s ‘Incurable Disease.’ Han Roi received an evaluation of being “cliché” from Jung Jae-hyung but advanced to the next round after being chosen by the Top 100 Ears. The contestants, stages, and voting results introduced in the first broadcast were revealed one by one through the Round 1 competition.

Debate over judging criteria between freshness and skill

In the first broadcast, a debate regarding the judging criteria also continued over the contestants' stages. Jung Jae-hyung, who participated as a representative of the Top 100 Ears following the last season, agonized over whether to use skill or freshness as the standard after watching one contestant's stage. Upon hearing Jung Jae-hyung's dilemma, the representatives also spoke about the criteria they each consider important, and the debate intensified as opinions diverged. As Jung Jae-hyung reached a situation where it was not easy to make a decision among the representatives, he said, “I want to ask the Top 100 Ears members.”

Reactions to the contestants' songs varied by judge. Joo Woo-jae told one contestant, “I see a winner candidate,” and Jung Seung-hwan highly praised another, saying, “It feels like watching a video of myself from 10 years ago; they deserve to be the son of SBS.” The production team introduced before the first broadcast that stages of contestants with not only skill but also fresh interpretations would follow. The broadcast covered not only the evaluations of the songs and contestants but also the difference in opinions among the representatives regarding the judging criteria. During Kim So-yeon's stage, Moon Geun-young showed a reaction of wanting to give her a hug, and Jung Jae-hyung gave an evaluation that Im Bada was the contestant he was looking for.

‘Our Ballad 2’ airs every Monday at 10 PM. The first episode started at 10 PM on the 5th and was scheduled for 160 minutes, introducing the stages prepared by the contestants under the theme ‘The Song That Made Me Cry.’ The production team revealed the ballad playlist of the contestants, whose average age is 17.9, during the first broadcast.

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