In recent years, Korean survival audition programs such as Produce 101 and Boys Planet have gained immense popularity inside and outside Korea. Riding on this trend, many Asian countries have produced local survival audition programs to create their idol groups. One recent example is the Atom Boyz series in Taiwan.
First aired in 2022, Atom Boyz has led to the formation of several popular boy groups like Ozone and FEniX and successfully rejuvenated Taiwan’s local idol culture. In August, the program was back with its second season, Atom Boyz 2. The new season retained the core features of the Atom Boyz series while adding several exciting elements that make its quality and popularity outshine its predecessor. Read on to check out five reasons that make Atom Boyz 2 a one-of-a-kind survival audition program worth watching!
Camaraderie formed through group-based competition
Like the previous season, Atom Boyz 2 is a group-based survival audition program with six teams. Each team has a specific concept: the sexy and mature concept of “Flame,” the elegant and cool concept of “Ice,” the b-boy idea of “Wind,” the hip-hop concept of “Night,” the youthful concept of “Dune,” and the bright concept “Light.” All 54 contestants are allocated to the group that suits their image best and compete with other teams. While some of the contestants switched teams in the middle of the competition, most of the contestants stayed with the same group of members throughout the program. This formed a close bond among the contestants in the same group as they worked hard together to strive for victory under the name of their team, and this tremendous sense of camaraderie among the contestants was genuinely touching to watch.
Apart from practicing and performing together, the program also showed each team spending time together. For example, the members of Team Ice made dumplings together, Team Light went to the theme park, and Team Flame went shrimp fishing. One of the interesting points about Atom Boyz 2 was seeing how the contestants gradually got closer to their teammates and developed a strong sense of brotherhood through these leisure activities.
Original tracks in every round
Contestants in Korean survival audition programs usually cover songs from other idol groups and only perform new tracks in the last two rounds. However, this is not the case for the Atom Boyz series because apart from the collaboration stage with the tutors, all the songs performed in the program are original tracks. The tracks in Atom Boyz 2 covered a diverse range of genres such as R&B, funk, hip-hop, and rock, as well as different concepts like cowboy, wolfman, vampire, and Chinese folk protection deity Nezha. The contestants performing original tracks give the program the vibe of a music show, with rookie boy groups promoting their new songs, making each episode fresh and exciting.
In the “Time Travel” competition round, the contestants performed songs that pay tribute to pop music legends from different generations. For example, team Ice’s “Midnight” gave homage to the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson, by recreating the anti-gravity lean and hat dance. Team Wind performed “Who’s Babe,” a new jack swing track based on Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation,” and Team Dune brought back the Y2K style of *NSYNC with “Love NPC.” These performances added a nostalgic touch to the program, which is seldom found in other survival audition programs.
Collaboration stage with judges and season 1 contestants
Another must-have element of the Atom Boyz series is the collaboration stage with the judges. Each group worked with one of the judges to perform a rearranged version of the judges’ representative songs. For example, team Light performed one of the most popular tracks in Taiwan this year, “Friday Night,” with Kunda and Milk from phenomenal 1st-gen Taiwanese boy group Energy; team Fire collaborated with Owodog and Fabien from another famous boy band in mid-2000s Lollipop F and delivered an electrifying performance of the group’s legendary EDM song “Dance.” This cross-generation collaboration created exciting chemistry between the judges and the contestants and brought new life to legendary T-pop songs by rearranging their music and choreography.
Apart from collaborating with the judges, contestants in Atom Boyz 2 also performed original tracks with contestants in the previous series who have now debuted as boy group members or soloists. For example, team Flame worked with FEniX, which is composed of members who were originally from team Mars in season 1; and team Diamond worked with singer-songwriter LCY, who was from team Saturn, and OPENsi, which is composed of former contestants of former Boys Planet contestant Qiu Sheng Yang (YY) from team Neptune.
Despite the tight practice schedule, season 1 contestants chatted with their juniors and gave them lots of encouragement and advice. It is heartwarming to see former Atom Boyz contestants sharing their experience of joining survival audition programs and passing on their passion for music and dance to their juniors. Also, if you have watched the previous season, you would be surprised to see how much the contestants back then have grown as performers in the past two years!
Participation of overseas idol groups
Not only is Atom Boyz 2 popular in Taiwan, the program also draw attention abroad as overseas boy groups also took part in the show. The production team invited four boy groups, including SB19 from the Philippines, D.O.L from Japan, NCHIVE from Korea, and PERSES from Thailand, to battle with the contestants. In particular, SB19 performed their viral song “Gento” and did the point choreography with Team Night together after the friendly match. PURSES even primed their new song, “Bodyguard,” on the program. The contestants also filmed dance challenges with the boy groups that they battled with and interacted with each other backstage. Seeing boy groups from different countries getting together and cheering for each other during the show proves that music can break language and geographical boundaries and bring people closer to each other.
Besides boy groups, Atom Boyz 2 also invited rising girl crush Filipino girl group G22 to perform their debut single “Bang” at the end of the international battle episode, and their performance received compliments from audiences in both Taiwan and the Philippines. Atom Boyz 2 is not only a survival audition program that nurtures future T-pop idols but also a valuable platform that allows idol groups overseas to showcase their talents to global audiences. This international exchange of popular music and idol culture is not often found in survival audition programs in other Asian countries.
Presentation of Taiwanese elements
While attempting to go global, Atom Boyz 2 demonstrated an even stronger Taiwanese color than its predecessor. More songs included Taiwanese lyrics this time compared to the previous season, where most songs were in Mandarin Chinese. In the collaboration stage with the tutor, team Night performed “Local” with KEN-G from the iconic hip-hop trio Nine One One, a song expressing pride in being a local Taiwanese. The members sang and rapped in Taiwanese and wore sunglasses, gold chains, and bright-colored clothing to present the image of “Tai Ke” (台客 / local Taiwanese).
Taiwanese idol groups seldom do the “Tai Ke” concept, as mainstream Taiwanese society often considers it kitschy. However, this performance broke the negative stereotype of “Tai Ke” by striking a nice balance between the “Tai Ke” and idol concept and presenting “Tai Ke” as a cool Taiwanese culture that the Taiwanese deserve to take pride in.
Moreover, team Night even incorporated Taiwanese Indigenous people’s language in another song, “Pump It Up,” as one of the members is of Indigenous descent. This is particularly meaningful as many indigenous languages in Taiwan are under the threat of extinction in recent years. Bringing these languages to an idol survival audition program exposed indigenous languages and cultures to the younger generation of Taiwanese and increased their representation in the local media and entertainment industry, which has long been dominated by Han Chinese culture. Promoting Taiwanese culture made Atom Boyz 2 unique compared to survival audition programs from other countries like Korea and China, which put relatively less emphasis on presenting local culture.
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Feature Image Credit: TPOP Entertainment
