Initial & Post-Finale Thoughts on Mnet’s Produce X 101.

Dear, guys – welcome back to Letters From Liz!

So, we’re doing something a little different on the blog today. Today (as in the day I am writing this) is Thursday, July 18th. I say that because it’s pretty important to point out that this section of this post is before the official results of the final lineup on Produce X 101 is revealed, and before that happens TOMORROW (8pm in Korea, so roughly about 7am in NYC), I wanted to share my ideal lineup, as well as the predicted lineup that I feel will most likely be revealed tomorrow.

Before we start, I would like to give a little background on the Korean survival show. Produce X 101 is the fourth installment of the wildly popular Produce series. Season 1 put together girl group IOI, season 2 put together boy group Wanna One, and season 3 (which was called Produce 48) put together girl group IZ*ONE. With that being said, this season was now looking to put together a boy group! This season, like the last season, played around with the rules of the show a bit, which was interesting considering many of its viewers were beginning to predict how these final line-ups were going to look like under the old rules, which was just simply Produce 101. In Produce 48, the trainees were a mixture of both Korean trainees under Korean entertainment agencies, as well as Japanese idols under AKB48, a popular company in Japan. This season, although has some global trainees in the show, is known for the X, which is the unknown position. In other words, the top 10 boys at the finale will debut no matter what, but they are debuting 11 boys. In other words, 11th place at the finale would normally be the one to debut, but instead, the X boy is the person with the most votes in the entire season will be the one who debuts. You’ll understand later on.

With that being said, this is my ideal top 11 boys:

1. Wooseok (aka Wooshin in UP10TION) seems like a strong face to become the center of the group, not only because he has already debuted in a group, but he has this aura about him that makes him the perfect center for these boys. While being on the show, he has played the center for some of the performances throughout the season, so seeing his willingness to stand out and be a center has been proven.
2. Yohan has been a favorite of mine ever since he sang a song with wheelies on at his first evaluation in episode 1. He’s cute, he’s funny, and he’s improved so much throughout the season; it’s crazy to think that this was a boy that only trained for three months prior to the show. He’s proven himself time and time again that he’s flawless at everything, no matter what he does. He’s definitely debuting.
3. Hyeongjun has also been a favorite of mine since the beginning because he just had that idol appeal to him. Although he was showcased as a shy kid who didn’t want to dance for the judges during his evaluation, he’s definitely proved himself to be an all-concept type of guy. I’m glad that Korea sees something in him because I was truly afraid he was going to be eliminated early on. Plus, his iconic “OWW!” during the Finesse performance was behind cute.
4. Dongpyo, our PDX101 center for “X1-MA“, is the cutest thing and he has stood out since the first episode. His personality, aura, and looks remind me a lot of IZ*ONE’s Yena, and I hope Mnet portrayed him that way because he was no doubt going to debut. As of lately, his ranking has been going down, and as of now, he sits at 12th place, which is concerning because I feel like this group will feel empty if Dongpyo isn’t in the final lineup. I also believe he’s center material for the final lineup because he is that cutesy, yet sexy concept switcher. I mean, his Believer performance was… out of this world. I hope he debuts in the top 10!
5. Seungwoo (a member of VICTON) was someone that I believe flew under the radar until just recently when he got more screentime. As of the top 20, he is the oldest contestant on the show (he’s 25 in Western age, but 26 in Korean age) and he just oozes in both sex appeal and overall likability. He has one of the most amazing voices on the show, and if he debuts, I believe he would make an amazing leader for the group. His high-note in “U GOT IT” is just mesmerizing.
6. Jungmo was someone I thought wasn’t as popular as he really is, but he’s been in the top 10 for most of the season with the exception of is ranking currently, which is 15. He’s definitely someone that’s interesting; because he is widely popular, he will most likely be the X boy that debuts. His accumulated votes as of now rank him as one of the highest, so if every single boy that has more votes than him debuts in the top 10, he will be the X boy.  I would prefer him to be one of the top 10 boys instead of the 11th because second after him would be Dongpyo to debut if he doesn’t rank in the top 10, but needless to say, he’s debuting. Probably.
7. Dohyun as our maknae please! He is the fiercest 16-year-old ever and I believe he would be a great addition to the group because of his rap skills and versatility. He was also another person who was under the radar until he got put into the top 10 throughout the season. He definitely started to stand out for me when he rapped for the position evaluation in episode 6.
8. Yuvin (a member of MYTEEN) is a pretty damn good vocalist if you ask me. He has a lot of color in his voice, he’s able to control it well and be stable due to his experience, and he does have pretty good stage presence. In the following weeks, his ranking has fallen and I believe it’s because people are becoming less interested in him, but I still hope he makes the group and becomes a main or lead vocalist!
9. Wonjin is such a humble and hard-working trainee, and it saddens me that he hasn’t been ranking high like he was at the beginning! I hope he gets to debut with this group because he has color in his voice that a lot of the trainees don’t, and it would be nice to have someone in the group that sounds a little different. Plus, he’s hella funny! Also, I believe he has the potential to be the leader of this group as well because he is so hard-working!
10. Tony has been my absolute favorite since the beginning and I’m so shocked and happy that he has made it to the finale of the show. Although I don’t think he’ll be debuting (not a lot of people are rooting for him because of lack of screentime and being lost in the rankings), I feel like he would be a good fit for the group. Being the only foreign trainee left on the show, I feel like he would be a good representative for the group for the international fans, and even fans in Asia (since he is Chinese). I feel because they want this group to be global, it wouldn’t be right if there wasn’t a foreign trainee in the group! Tony is such a hardworking trainee, he speaks perfect English (like perfect fucking English) and he’s cute! I hope he debuts in the top 10!
11. Mingyu will debut. No doubt. He’s the Sakura of this season. He can do no wrong to voters, and even though he isn’t anything special, he will debut due to his popularity. I feel like he has a lot of room to improve and if he does debut he will, but I don’t see anything special about him. He’s just… there. But, he is a very hard worker and he’s always ready for a challenge!

Prediction Line-Up:

1. Yohan
2. Wooseok
3. Mingyu
4. Jinhyuk (became popular & currently high-ranking. Fire ass rapper!)
5. Seungwoo
6. Eunsang (another popular & high-ranking trainee. He’s okay in my opinion.)
7. Hyungjun
8. Dohyun
9. Seungyoun (a trainee I wouldn’t mind in the lineup!)
10. Junho (another popular trainee I don’t care for.)
11. Dongpyo

Let’s see what happens tomorrow!

July 20th, 2019:

Hello! Saturday Liz here, also known as “the Liz with tears in her eyes as she’s writing this”. I just finished watching the finale of Produce X 101 and my god was it a roller coaster. There were twists and turns, and tons of tears cried from everyone watching, but for the most part, I am happy with the lineup of this new boy group, X1!

Lots of familiar faces, huh? I’m a happy camper, even if some of these members were not in my ideal top 11, I actually do like most of these boys in this lineup. The official rankings and positions are as follows:

1. Yohan (OUI) – Center, Sub-Vocalist, Lead Rapper
2. Wooseok (TOP Media) – Lead Vocalist
3. Seungwoo (Plan A) – Main Vocalist
4. Heongjun (Starship) – Lead Rapper, Lead Dancer
5. Seungyoun (Yuehua) – Lead Vocalist, Lead Rapper
6. Dongpyo (DSP Media) – Lead Dancer, Sub-Vocalist
7. Hangyul (MBK) – Main Dancer, Lead Vocalist
8. Dohyun (MBK) – Main Rapper, Maknae (Youngest in Group)
9. Junho (Woollim) – Lead Vocalist
10. Minhee (Starship) – Lead Vocalist
11. (X) Eunsang (Brand New Music) – Sub-Vocalist

It’s sorta crazy how I predicted 9 out of 11 members of the final line-up, yet I was still shocked to read the final rankings yesterday morning when they were first announced. (Funny story: I was at a job interview looking at them) Anyway, I really do like the line-up of this group more than I did when Produce 48 announced the members for IZ*ONE. I feel like for a group that will be promoting for 5 years (the longest in the Produce series), I’m very excited to be a fan of these boys. I’m so glad that Dongpyo made it into the final line-up the most; he was always one of my top picks and I think he’s going to do a great job in this group. I’m also quite content with Yohan as X1’s center; he truly is the face of the group and even this season of the Produce series. Plus, he deserves it so much.

Of course, I am devastated for Yuvin and Wonjin the most out of the top 20; they were both visibly upset after the announcements and it’s a shame that their talents will not be showcased in X1. Of course, Yuvin will be back in MYTEEN with other Produce X 101 trainee, Kookheon, and I hope their group will now gain more fans and fame now that they were on the series. The same goes for Jinhyuk; although I bawled my eyes out when he was sad he couldn’t debut with fellow UP10TION member, Wooseok, I just know that UP10TION will now get the hype and love from fans of the show. As for the Starship boys left who didn’t debut, I hope that they could possibly debut in a cutesy boy concept within their company; they were all so incredibly talented and well-loved! 4 out of the 5 made it into the top 20 after all! As for my first-ever pick, Tony, I hope he has gotten the recognition he got being on the show and possibly start doing some solo work within his agency and become the global star he’s bound to be!

I know a lot of the fans of the show came up with a concept that the first season of Produce girls who ranked 12th to 19th place (I believe) did after the show; it was to become a group within the eliminated trainees. This fan project for the Produce X 101 boys is called BY9 (Be Your Nine) and I’m honestly all here for it and hope someone takes the opportunity to debut them as a group.

I was very surprised to see that Starship’s Minhee was announced as a member of X1. He was never in the top 10 during the season, and he was always just overshadowed by everyone throughout the season. I believe him becoming the main vocalist for the concept evaluation saved him in all honesty. I wasn’t that surprised to hear that Woollim’s Junho and MBK’s Hangyul made it into the final line-up; they both had a lot of fans and support throughout the season. This was also Hangyul’s first time being in the top 10 in the season, and I’m happy that he’s in the group! As for Junho, well, maybe I’ll get to know him better when he debuts in X1.

As for the X member, I was shocked to hear that it was not Jellyfish Entertainment’s Minkyu that was the trainee with the most accumulated votes. He was always in the top 10 throughout the season (although I don’t understand why) and was wildly popular for his visuals. He was hard-working, yes, but I’m not that upset that he didn’t debut. If anything, he should leave his company to try to debut with someone else. It’s no doubt he will. I’m quite happy it was Eunsang that debuted as the X member; he was also a good vocalist on the show.

It’s just very interesting to see how straight-forward the results were this season. Last season, a lot of people were upset at the lineup for IZ*ONE just because a lot of them were just visuals and not that talented. I had my favorites and was upset when they didn’t debut, but to see how successful IZ*ONE is now and to see the improvements of those questionable members, I can’t see them being anything else than what they are now.

And that’s it for Produce X 101! I’m excited to see what next year has to offer in the Produce series, as well as being introduced to all of the female trainees waiting to debut!

As for now: X1 hwaiting! ❤