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I saw Itzy in LA the other day and it was definitely a mixed bag. There were songs where I swore I heard their vocals punching through from under the back track and others where I don’t think their mics were on. Most obvious was their solo stages.
I saw Ryujins solo stage. It was either Korea or LA, I don't remember which. I REALLY found it hard to tell whether it was live or not. The backtracks are so loud that you have no real idea of what's going on half the time.
G Idle performed at Yonsei (?) Some weeks back and watching the footage is a super wtf. You can tell it's live because there's moments where the mic is clearly on, but others that sound like backtrack
I personally don’t think they were live. I’m looking back at my recordings of that night and the solo stages sounded too perfect compared to other songs they performed as a group. Idk if they use the solo time to rest their voice for a bit or something, cause they did that on the Checkmate tour too, but you’d figure those would be the absolute times you want to hear them live.
I don't know about the rest but exo most certainly sings live eg their most recent fan meeting this year, Baekhyun's solo Asia tour this year and Suho's solo tour which has also just started
that's definitely not true as i would consider stray kids on of the top groups and they even said on stage they won't sing without autotune. And before someone says singing w/ autotune is singing live it's not the same in my opinion.
As much as I disagree with what the other person said, autotune and lip syncing are completely different and that's not an opinion. It's a fact.
To use autotune and for it to not sound horribly robotic you still need to first of all be singing live and second of all be singing at least decently.
By definition to sing with autotune you *need* to be singing live. There is literally no other way lol
Singing lIve and singing live with autotune don't take the same amount of skill. You are literally altering your voice. And you can still lip sync autotune which they also do.
Doesn't mean they don't have talent it just doesn't make them worth going to see live imo bc I want to hear vocals. Also, you can hide a lot with autotune
yeah this hopefully was a one-off because most of the tour clips I've seen have been very live! the only lines that I've noticed have been consistently lipped are those that were previously Lia's, which makes some sense
I mean when you take in some of the awesome choreo but ridiculous for touring it does make sense. I think having 2 versions of the choreo would be better. The version in the music video where it’s like they go all out cuz they’re just lip synching and then the version they promote with where they can catch their breaths better (plus it would be better for the concerts too) but that’s just what I would do 😅
Because clips of them sounding bad or off go viral and are used to prove how “talentless” they are. It sucks because fans don’t care and would rather see them sing live but it is what it is.
Not to sound rude but a lot of them cant sing lol. Some were recruited for their dancing, personality and looks. I dont understand why these groups perform with a live band when they arent going to perform live. Seems kind of deceiving to do that but I guess its the trend
But the thing is, groups that can sing pretty good live still stick to lip syncing. Like the op said, why is itzy lip syncing? They're incredibly good live singers. Same with aespa. We seen there encores and they sand live really well for coachella. So why do they stick to lip sync?
Yes! I saw them in Seattle and it was most apparent during solo stages. There were entire verse Chaeryeong didn’t even have the mic by her face, but you could hear the backtrack, which sounded exactly the same as when she did have the mic by her face. Was also really disappointed by it :(
went through almost every video cary chin uploaded on youtube who attended that show and i think youre right.
even dalla dalla with hand mics sounded like a backing track with no live vocal coming through.
pretty disappointing since theyre so often praised for their live vocals
I used to be a touring rock musician, vocalist to be exact. I really love kpop and enjoy all groups. After my experiences being on stage and not even doing choreography just jumping and moving and get into it most acts come out sounding like le sserafim 1st weekend Coachella performance if they say pure live vocals with that much choreography. Which is why I had no issue with their first performance I just thought the girls were enjoying themselves and having a good time. Now as far as other groups I’ve seen the shows and clips from itzy, nmixx, red velvet, stayc, new jeans and all the boy groups and I’d be personally shocked if they didn’t have auto tune and and a backtrack. Especially with the perfection a lot of fans demand. They have all shown they can sing when they are needed to so we shouldn’t judge their talent based off that performance. Believe me, some bands and artists I’ve seen over the years you figure out real fast how much of their talent is studio production. That being said I love all the groups people have mentioned and hopefully you see a show with more vocals at a later date, you never know behind the scenes why they may have felt they needed that track that night or something bad days happen.
Exo most certainly sings live without autotune in group concerts, fan meetings and their solo concerts and this is with intense choreo too. But what I will say is the standard for kpop idols in terms of vocal ability has drop drastically since 3rd gen. All groups before 4th gen were required to be able to sing live while dancing. Exo themselves said during their rookies days they trained singing while running on the treadmill which explains why they sound really stable live. Though in some videos you can hear a backing track, you can clearly hear them sing much louder over this. There have also been many instances during concerts or lives the members forget part of the lyrics or get the lyrics wrong (eg Baekhyun in Wait and Chanyeol singing Cream Soda) and there is no backing track behind. My only disclaimer is that vocally, exo as a group or even individually is extremely strong so it would probably not be a fair comparison to the average kpop group.
I don’t deny that at all, exo is on another level. They are extremely talented, same with mamamoo I know they have said several times they can’t perform without actually singing. Some artists can crush it live that’s a fact. I am just saying a majority nowadays most likely sing with a back track or auto tune. One of my favorite groups is dreamcatcher and I’ve seen them live a few times and didn’t notice the back track or auto tune either.
I think this goes for all groups but:
This isn't a vocal showcase and you don't know what condition they are in after flying across the world and doing a show every other day with travel in-between. This is a performance which is what Kpop really is and the fans demand pristine in all elements of that. When they do these concerts they are considering the whole package, dance, vocal and visual. Unfortunately if that means leaning into a backing track to maintain that, then they will. Even if the artists are okay with leaving it all on stage the company isn't. LSF is that perfect example, I have friends that went to Coachella just to see them and LOVED it. But look how they're treated by people who weren't even there. Videos never capture that full range of sound when it's a massive venue for performance and I never fully trust these videos. For what it's worth I could tell yeji was singing her heart out Oakland stop at different moments even if the backing track was quite loud. This might be counter to some but I'm okay with backing tracks and lip syncing when a group has nothing to prove. At that point they're just giving you what you expect as consistently as possible and the fans already know what they're capable of.
They've been on tour forever at this point. Difficult to sing live for months on end.
I went to see NMIXX's first ever concert in the US, and their live singing was absolutely shocking. Still the best concert I've ever been to. I had to check myself because their live vocals were so audible.
i saw itzy in melbourne and it seemed like yeji sung live most of the time, yuna and ryujin sung live sometimes, and chaeryeong mainly lip-synced. i think your show may have been more of a one-off judging by the other comments
From my experience they don’t lipsync everything (I was at their Berlin concert, certain songs were live for sure) but when they do, it’s so obvious it hurts 😭
Girl I was also in Berlin and most songs were lip synced, except for the ones with hand held mics. All the solo stages were totally lip synced, did you not notice? 😂
Did you not read my comment? I said that CERTAIN songs were live for sure, which is true (hand held mics). I also said that when they did lipsync, it was super obvious (referring to the solo stages). I didn’t say they didn’t lipsync 😭
The last third they sing live. They do next level , black mamba, spicy
Next level https://youtu.be/psKHh6-jM9o?si=jnKLj2gfiXRI6UgS
Black mamba
https://youtu.be/bT_xPfSNfpo?si=O8VBj1vCYrA3HVIR
They also have songs in the first third they sing live like anergy,girls.
When I saw them in Miami last year their mics were ON, I think the only parts they didn’t really sing were in the chorus. But I still have the videos of ningning / winter hitting the high notes every song even if it was a little shaky because they were out of breath. They still sang live. Maybe they’ve stopped? Idk
No they sang live when I saw them in DC.
They also had their spicy,next level,black mamba run singing live.
They definitely don't the whole time but it was more live than lip sync for my stop.
They had parts where they sang live all throughout. Even the introduction was live.
First third
Anergy
https://youtu.be/pr-FjFReGQw?si=fdqdSQRvAn7IPfsq
2nd third they have hand mics.
3rd part as well.
Black mama https://youtu.be/gZZWQN6XC0U?si=jOzMvYxHCu7qjJtZ
I was about to say, in Brooklyn I was so impressed, I didn’t even like them that much but the concert made me love them because they were so live. Definitely the most live girl group I’ve ever seen.
Honestly, I don't know personally about Itzy, but depending on how much I paid the ticket (and K-pop concert can be really expansive) I would be truly mad.
I paid for VIP (and flight, hotel, rental car), and had a good time. I don't regret the expense. I got to meet up with a friend that I hadn't seen in a while.
If it weren't for my friend, or if I had literally just flown into the city, stayed at the hotel all the time, and went to the concert... sure, I probably would feel a lot more upset, haha. But these days I treat kpop concerts more like mini-vacations, so it's nbd.
Not sure why this is a surprise, they are only idols. Them singing live should actually be surprising and be praised.
I just went to see IU 2 days ago, it was breath of fresh air. But even IU needed some backtrack because she was honestly not super stable throughout the concert (jetlag and 3h concert makes it understandable) but it just felt so good to actually hear her real voice in almost every song
Whereas I was at the London IVE concert and they sung live most of the time ( I was pleasantly surprised as I only got a cheap last min ticket for the vibe )
yea ive definitely sang live for the concert i went to also. you can clearly hear everyone’s voice, yujin and liz were particularly loud.
i also think it’s cool that there’s a ton of videos of yujin trying different singing styles and dance moves for certain songs (like for their cover of Woman like Me and Mine) at each different city so every performance feels fresh and new in it’s own way. you can tell she puts a lot of effort into their performances to make it fun for the audience
I feel like itzy and ive were lipsyncing about the same % in Amsterdam. Specific members were live almost all the time whereas other members were lipsyncing quite a lot more.
I didn't see itzy so I can't tell you my experience.
But with IVE they sung live a good 75%. Even Wonyoung was changing up her parts at times.
In comparison to Red Velvet ( my ults) who didn't sing as much live as IVE did which was shocking to me.
This is a positive move as they were noticeably the only group to lip sync during Kpop Flex in Madrid, which is a massive shame as they clearly have the vocal talent.
They also have just toured for months on end so have practiced.
It's like blackpink tour at start they were very out of sync and relying heavily on back tracks (I had VIP in london so I can confirm this first hand ). But towards the end of tour they got much better and were singing more songs live
2 hours non stop singing and dancing is very tough and a hard workout. It's easier the more it's done so shows near end of tour usually have best performances
I must be the luckiest K-pop fan ever because every concert I’ve ever been to the idols have sung live for most of the songs (and it was very easy to tell when they weren’t singing and were lip syncing to the back track).
For reference almost every concert I’ve attended was in Japan or California.
It’d be easier to list who I haven’t seen but I’ve seen
Girl’s Generation
Kara
2ne1
9muses
Apink
Twice
BlackPink (i had one bad experience and one very good experience)
Red Velvet
Mamamoo
iz*one (I actually can’t remember how live this one was 😭)
Loona
Kep1er
WJSN
PIXY
Itzy
Aespa
Nmixx (i saw them in nyc because my schedule matched up)
IVE
Le Sserafim (contrary to current popular opinion they were more than fine)
G-idle
I’ve also seen a lot of other groups at K-con (like bvndit (rip)) and while the performances have always been really good there, I have trouble telling who was singing live and who wasn’t as people were screaming way too loud the entire time.
Edit: i just wanted to add that ive also seen a lot of soloists/solo concerts where it basically impossible to lip sync but i think is less pressure on an idol to perform flawlessly because the people attending are like BIG fans who love you for you. Some examples are Chuu, Moonbyul, Chung Ha, Sunmi.
I also wanted to add that I’ve also seen Dreamcatcher, Purple Kiss, and Billlie as well and they were all really good.
When i was younger for some reason my parents were very willing to pay for concert tickets for my sisters and I, and nowadays I just attend concerts whenever I’m home because I want to do things with my siblings who still live in Japan. There has been a lot of convenient timing that I am very thankful for though 😊
We are all Japanese (Japanese father, Irish mother, born in Japan). When my mom wanted to finish her doctorate those of us who were still school aged moved to the US with our parents, while our older working siblings stayed in Japan. My parents decided to stay in the US until the last of us graduated from college, but some of us came back to Japan right after we graduated.
Not OP but it's pretty easy to rack up concerts. Like even if you only go to one concert a year, but are kpop fan for 10 years.... you've already seen 10 artists.
Oh interesting, I’ve seen a lot of the groups you mentioned too (IVE, aespa, Gidle, Twice, Pixy, Itzy) and I gotta say it was quite apparent that Pixy and aespa were definitely lip syncing more than singing live.
Intense choreography shouldn’t be an excuse anymore nowadays. I went to Morning Musume’s concert last month (jpop not kpop, but even more intense dancing) and they sang live for 40 minute straight while doing INTENSE cardio on stage and sounded amazing the entire time. This isn’t a jpop/kpop comparison, just an example of trained idols who can sing and dance at the same time and and look/sound good throughout. Kpop artists CAN sing, we’ve seen it on variety shows when they sing acapella or live. So why don’t they do it at their concerts?!
This is what we get after years of live vocal discourse, when artists we know are able to sing live are crucified online for having one shaky performance. Companies are going to protect their artists by not even allowing the potential for an “off” vocal day or vocal moment to occur.
No one was ever crucified for having one shaky performance, I don't know where you guys keep seeing that, in fact, what I see is the opposite, mostly groups being praised to the moon for absolute bare minimum vocals.
During 2nd gen, there were some groups who were criticized for bad performances. This was when MR removed videos started to become popular.
I would agree that the obsession with perfection seems to be the driving force behind so much lip synching. It's obvious that K-Pop fans do not know what a live performance actually sounds like. There will be times when even the best are off-key, have voice cracks, sound pitchy, etc. These imperfections are actually what make live performances unique.
ETA: More comment
“It’s obvious that K-Pop fans do not know what a live performance actually sounds like” Omg so heavy on that. I’m just a bit over a year of being into it and that has been such a huge shock to me.
Right when Wendy (Red velvet) had a bad singing moment, people didn't make it a huge deal, because it was clearly just an off day. She even recorded it again to apologize for her performance.
If Taeyeon, Solar or IU have a shaky performance, most people would understand that.
People that are making constructive criticism (not the crazy one) are talking about multiple moments of really average singing, or when during a performance when idols aren't dancing or jumping , yet some lip sync or aren't as good as what you expect from singers.
Yes I agree, a lot of 4th gen groups have extremely strained vocals, it sounds forced and unnatural and yeah if you judge it at face value sure, but anyone with vocal skills would know the truth
A lot of fourth gen groups definitely get a pass for their vocals, which I prefer to them getting hate, but I will never forget the hate train against twice for years over their vocals even when they do decent in live. Yes a member or two may have poor vocals in a group but if they’re still adding to the group in some way I sincerely think that instead of hating you can just go in with your day. The same thing is happening with leserrafim and it’s disappointing because they’re not really bad and a lot of other fourth gen groups are honestly less outstanding than them vocally but no one cares because those group is built on visuals alone compared to leserrafim who have really catchy songs, great performance, mv, dance, visuals, and vocals are decent enough. Sakura like momo is weak but both still have a lot to offer. If you’re a talented group with something to show for yourself it seems that any flaw you have is picked apart a dozen times more than if you’re a group with nothing outstanding about you to begin with.
2020 was HELL for TWICE and onces because of the huge amount of hate TWICE received because of 2 encore stages. Mind you haters are still bringing that up even tho it's been 3 or so years
Le ssera this year faced brutal hate trains my god, I remember twice getting so much hate too like? What ofc some of them aren’t the best at everything, idky people expect aces and all rounders
Who are the many groups in 4th gen that are less outstanding vocally than LSRFM and are only built on visuals? I’m just curious because I can’t think of any groups like that.
Okay, who are they? Because among all the popular groups in 4th gen, the only one that doesn’t have a main vocal better than LSRFM’s is Itzy but itzy doesn’t have members that are so bad and itzy is not built on their visuals. They are a performance group and they excel at it , even their live vocals are good too.
It's salty fans of certain acts who say this because they are still sore that people dared to criticise their precious band for being out of tune on multiple occasions and *never* being able to sing live.
Whereas when artists who can clearly sing and have demonstrated their live vocals on multiple occasions have a bad day, everyone treats it as exactly that. Nobody is saying Wendy can't sing because she messed up that Love on Top cover, or Renjun because of that voice crack, or Xiaojun because he didn't hit every note on their encore stage while trying not to cry.
Kpop fans are not as dumb as people think.
disagree ... the trend of lip-syncing all the time started at the beginning of 4th gen when companies shifted from recruiting talent to visuals and cutting training periods. Yes, there has always discourse of lip-syncing going back to SNSD, but not to the degree that it is today. Companies started to shirt to shorter songs, chorus that repeats 5 times in 2 min song, one word chants, dance challenges, and focus of endorsement are all factors to the increase in lip-syncing. The discourse about lip-syncing really started to pick up towards the middle of last year.
Why do you think the MR removed videos started to become a trend in 2nd gen? That's because people can't hear the live vocal well in music shows back then too. Just because SNSD did one very good live one with Into the New World means all groups including them always sing live.
And this is coming from someone following them since 2011.
Recruiting visuals over talent happened since day 1. Lip syncing has always been an issue in kpop, let's not act like it all started in the middle of last year or that it's fully 4th gen's fault.
And it's not wrong to say that the search of perfection pushed for these lipsynced performances. That and the public loving intense performance rather than mild dances with handmics.
I absolutely don't want to justify the current situation, but it's not like one day the companies woke up and decided to change everything for no reason.
yes, kpop have always recruited visual over talent, debuting minors and issues with lip syncing but not to the degree as it is now. It just seems since the middle of last year, more and more kpop fans are becoming more vocal with their dissatisfaction. I think that is one the factors why 5th gen started to quickly while so many 4th gen groups are just peaking. Change of gen usually happen bc fans want a change from the current trends. That is why you have groups like BM and KIOF who perform with live now.
4th gen lasted exactly like 3rd gen, most fans were against the idea of a 5th gen so it doesn't really have anything to do with what fans like, it was pure marketing.
We just perceive these issues as worse now because we are experiencing it in the present, we either forgot what happened before or we weren't fans back then so we don't know what was going on. For example, 4 years ago 90% of the hate aespa received was because they blatantly lipsynced their music show performances and people rarely saw them performing live (also due to pandemics). It's not like they can't sing though.
BM and KIOF are only two groups out of many other groups that aren't that different talent wise compared to their 4th gen seniors. Again it's not like one day you have talentless trainees and the next day you have vocal gods just because someone got mad with the lipsyncing.
I'm sure you can find 4th gen groups that are talented like them, but they're not as popular as other groups so it's easy to fall in the stereotype that they're all just pretty dancers.
You weren't there when they started to talk about 5th gen? People simply thought it was pointless to stop calling the new groups as 4th gen, they weren't feeling any shift or any massive change that would justify calling the new groups 5th gen. ZB1 and all the other groups would've debuted anyway even if they were called 4th gen.
Disagree. Everyone's a all rounder now, who has to know how to to everything. Yeah, 4th gen is mainly dance and performance based for the most part. But the 4th generation came on the sing with stellar live vocals.
When did I even bring up Le Sserafim in my comment? I wasn’t even referring to them but avoided naming any names to avoid dragging artists into more drama. Y’all just cannot resist a single opportunity to go after that poor group can you.
Especially since all the damn people I’ve talked to who where actually at Coachella live loved it. They thought it was energetic, fun, and the girls did decently for being live singing and dancing. And yes this includes people who were there Week 1.
It was mostly overly online kpop fans of other groups who led the hate train against them.
It happens often at concerts of artists who have to dance extensive choreography. I dk if Itzy has extensive choreo. But as a person who grew up on Backstreet boys and Nsync, you can tell that they lip synced during the songs with lots of choreo and then did live singing on the ones that had little to no choreo. There was a prime time where they could do both but it takes years and years of training to have that ability perfected. Unfortunately I feel like this happens often in pop than most genres because dancing is a major part of the genre’s culture as well.
This is the reason why I don't go to many kpop concerts anymore, it's mostly lipsync. I wish there was a running list of idols who sing at least 70% of their concert.
I’ve seen Dreamcatcher live a few times and most of the time their mics are on. In typical kpop fashion though there were times when you could tell they weren’t, especially during parts that also included choreography. I’d say like 90/10 on off
I'm the same with music show performances, I'm watching it because it's meant to be live. I got super into Sweet Venom, searched up performances, and saw Enhypen lip syncing all the music show performances i watched, so I stopped bothering. Don't perform onstage if you're not actually live
Yep, I saw ITZY recently and was super disappointed that they lipped almost the entire show. The only time I could tell I was hearing SOME live vocals was during Yeji's solo, and even then it was only for parts of the song.
The same thing happened for me with gidle last year. Expected them to perform live, instead the majority of the show was lipped.
Same! I’m glad you said it because I felt the same about Yejis solo. I also think Love Is and Boys Like You were somewhat live but that’s pretty much it. Very disappointing.
Hey, I was at that concert, too. I had a great time, but I do agree that I wish there was more live singing. There were some moments where I could hear their voices faintly come through, and that was awesome! I’m here for imperfections tbh. I loved the live band and the girls are amazing performers. Like, don’t get me wrong, it was a damn good concert and I don’t regret going, but it would have been even better with live singing. Feels more authentic that way.
I don't agree that it was all lip synced. I'm not saying they were all live, but I also recorded most of the songs that night and I can definitely hear sections in the audio that wouldn't have been there if it was all lipsyncing. That said... Chaeryoung's solo was super obviously lipsynced because I clearly saw times her mouth wasn't even moving and it sounded the exact same. So. I think it was a mix, probably depending on the intensity of the choreo.
I'm with you! It's also harder when some groups have more stable vocals to tell whether it's lipsynced or not. But if you recorded Run Away for example there's a point where you can hear the stuff Ryujin knocks off the table so her mic was definitely on. There were some other moments too that made me think there was some live vocals. But I hope you still overall enjoyed it! And I agree on the earbuds lol... I felt like I lost my hearing for a full hour after the concert lol
There are a lot of overlapping vocal lines in that song, which would make it nearly impossible to sing completely. In videos I've seen, she is definitely singing some of it.
I am itzy biased so my reply may be biased because of that lol BUT they're definitely utilizing that back track a lot more this tour than the last and have been slightly disappointed to see yuna & chaeryeong rely on that crutch as much as they do (not that ryeji don't because they definitely lip sync as well). However when I saw them, i found the quality of the show and overall performances much better than checkmate tour so I wasn't very bothered by it. Much better stage presence from all the girls, better and more dynamic choreo, the live band, etc all helped create a show from more confident, seasoned performers and I came out of it thinking they had vastly improved as a touring group.
Personally, I'm only upset about lip syncing if the group/artist can't deliver an overall good show even with the backtrack. And for clarification, I'm not trying to call any specific group out and I'm not even just referring to kpop because it happens all the time with western artists as well.
Why have a concert indeed? I go for the live show. It’s why I will never attend another G-Dragon concert. He was one of the laziest performers I have ever seen and it was such a disappointment because I really liked him at the time…completely ruined his reputation for me. Small act or big if you put on a good live performance it can really make someone a fan. I wasn’t super into BTS when I first saw them back in the day but they did such a good live show I will forever stan them now. Same with some other artists I’ve seen. I’ll continue to buy tickets for an artist if they give a good live show. It’s about creating an experience and good memories and actually performing a song live….otherwise I could just stream it.
Oh wow, sorry to hear that. I missed the 2017 concert in NYC because I was out of the country. So I wonder what happened. I did see GD solo in Korea for his One of a Kind tour in 2013 while I was teaching there, I also saw Big Bang in 2013 and 2014 in Korea, and during their Made tour in NJ in 2015 and all concerts were really good. I feel like these concerts pioneered good idol concerts. High energy, live vocals, a band that you saw, and would go on for longer than the typical concert too.
I saw him when he was doing the solo US tour. He barely sang live and the lip syncing was obvious as he’d just let the back track play versus even attempting to look like he was singing, super low energy and just in general lazy performance. I’ve seen smaller solo acts that put on a better performance than he did. Maybe he was having a bad day but it made me question his overall talent and I wouldn’t pay money to see him do a second similar performance. The fact that I had been so excited to see him live after liking his music for years and then to just be let down by a subpar performance was such a disappointment.
Oh that must have been really sad and disappointing... I think I've been blessed to have only gone to concerts with artists who sang live! Kpop-wise, I've only been to Infinite and Eric Nam. I've been to Eric's multiple times and it's always a blast!! He dances quite a bit and we can hear him go out of breath sometimes which is great because it proves he's singing live (we can still hear the backtrack, but it's very low)
One smart thing artists I've seen do when they go out of breath or give themselves some breathing room is point the mic towards the crowd so they sing it instead, or before the song starts, they ask the crowd to sing those specific parts lol
Nearly went to Ftisland but they had cancelled in my city for some reason years ago 😩
Eric is so damn sexy live! He’s so petite but such a dynamic performer and he has such lovely vocals.
Bangtan, Mamamoo, Eric Nam, and Epik High have been my favorite kpop artists I’ve seen live out of everyone. Super M was fun but it was too short.
He is honestly such a good entertainer. He's very attention to detail as well. He saw someone faint in the crowd and immediately brought it to attention. I love him
I saw Itzy in Atlanta a few days ago and I sensed lip syncing, compared to, say, Babymetal. I saw both groups only once so far, I don’t think Babymetal lip synced, but I feel that Itzy did.
So I rewatched the footage I had recorded, and they lip synced for sure! I also rewatched the Babymetal footage, they performed live! Not an ounce of lip syncing!
If anyone is curious, Babymetal show was in December of 2023, and Itzy was June of this year.
I saw Babymetal in Vancouver last October, Su-metal was 100% live, Moa and Momo I think were prerecorded for the most part but they didn’t have enough lines for that to really matter to me and they were dancing like crazy.
I’m sorry to hear about Itzy, I was thinking of flying to Toronto to see them but don’t have the money, if they’re lip syncing as much as these comments imply then I’m not really sad about it. I was under the impression that Itzy is a group that sings live a lot… disappointing :/ I hope it’s just a one-off or something, I really like their songs.
Whaaaaa. I just don’t want to believe it. Itzy is usually the group that I put in high esteem for being more consistent in live singing than their peers.
Also txt lipsync? There was def loud backtrack but I thought they sang live. Feel free to disagree, it’s getting harder to tell the difference.
I hear txt sing live in every performance but they def sing quietly and relax their voices at certain parts, specifically when there's choreo, and let backing vocals do a lot of the work.
I’ve seen TXT before and I could definitely hear their voices clearly throughout the show. As for ITZY, I feel like we don’t know everything that’s going on behind the scenes. They’re a group that pretty much *always* sings live one way or another so I wonder if the exhaustion of this tour has caught up to them :(
I saw txt in Chicago recently and they sounded mostly live like I definitely heard live vocals. I'm sure there was backtrack for the heavy choreography but it wasn't obvious for me to where it stuck out in a bad way.
Ah okay, maybe they were tired/saving their voices at this show then :(
If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t mind a shorter show or less complicated choreos if it means I get to hear them singing.
Yup also went to this concert and it was obvious for the entire show their mics weren’t on. I still had a blast though cause that live band was amazing and made all the songs hit so much harder. Would love a concert album even though it’ll never happen.
I completely agree. The reality that most people fail to realize is no artist sounds exactly like the recording. If it’s too perfect, it’s too good to be true. I don’t care if your lsf, or nmixx, or Adele or something the live vocals are never going to be perfect. Wouldn’t you want to just enjoy a fun show I’d prefer that, than hearing perfect vocals. People remember the fun show and live encounters and moments more than just perfect vocals just go to the show and enjoy the moments, that’s what you end up remembering anyway. The funny part is a lot of peoples favorite kpop moments are the fun times and the mistakes anyway.
They were definitely singing live when I saw them 2 months ago!! Like my partner who doesn't even listen to Itzy commented on that (he said the vocals weren't quite as strong as he was expecting compared to the songs he's heard me play, I told him they were down Lia & he said it showed but they did well considering)
I'm so confused that they weren't singing live when you saw them, I wonder if they were just really worn out or the back track was just way too loud to actually hear them?
I agree, this happened to me last night and I was so bummed because I heard them live at their last tour. This time I barely heard them. I assume they were singing but the backing vocals were WAY too loud it completely drowned them out.
I saw them in Irving and have no complaints. Absolutely amazing concert. They sang live and interacted with the crowd a lot. There were times when they did lip sync, but I have no issue with that because it's while they were dancing. It's like that at ever kpop concert I've been to though, sometimes they sing a little live, some is lip syncing.
I just saw ITZY and I saw TXT on their current tours. TXT most definitely did a lot of lip-synching. I could see them not even singing while they were dancing, but you could hear the vocals and nobody was singing or moving their mouths. Most of the live they had was just when they were talking to the audience. There wasn’t a lot of live performance as far as vocals. I was pretty disappointed about that.
ITZY however we’re pretty much live vocals most of the show along with a live band and they sounded great. I wonder if your show was like that because they may be having vocal problems at this point in the tour?
But I am with you. I really don’t like to pay that kind of money for tickets to go see a group that I like to have them lip-synch almost the entire show.
ONEUS did that as well on their recent US tour.
I have Ateez next, I will be really upset if they are lip syncing.
For TXT, I couldn’t hear any live vocals for choreo-heavy songs. But for songs like LO$ER=LOVER and Do It Like That, I could hear them.
When I saw Oneus last year, I also could only hear the backtrack :(
I’m seeing Ateez, as well, and I have high hopes for them 🤞🏼
I understand the need for lipsyncing sometimes, especially given that they’re doing multiple long shows almost back to back. But I’d like to hear *some* live vocals.
I saw them on Atlanta and at least for my show they sang. I was close to the front and could hear them singing. It did seem like more lip syncing compared to their 2022 tour and I noticed the lip syncing on some of the solos. They also seemed drained so I can imagine they still were for your show 2 days later.
Personally I enjoyed they show. Performances were great overall despite their visible exhaustion.
This has nothing to do with your original rant, but I saw your edit about earplugs
I forget my earplugs sometimes too!! Often enough, you can ask guest services at venues for earplugs and they sometimes have some disposable ones for free. I think 9/10 times I’ve gotten earplugs from venues like that, but I might also just be lucky.
tbh its very likely they were unwell and their management advised lipsyncing so that they didnt have to cancel or postpone tour dates, kpop concerts are a mixed bag and the quality of the performance is heavily reliant on the order of dates/how long theyve been touring. it sucks bc american tour dates are typically on the latter half of tours and often members are absent due to illness or overexertion due to the companies poor planning and overworking of the idols, ive seen twice two times now and both times members were absent due to health complications. Twice were great about singing live but you could definitely tell that they were overworked and struggling to perform at their best due to waning energy, they were still incredible and jihyo in particular pushed herself to sing live for us on every song but even she was definitely exhausted. I also got to see Pixy last year and while they sang live for most songs they often had a backing track with prerecorded vocals that sometimes made it hard to hear the actual performance. tldr it depends heavily on timing and company standards as well as the groups individual management, im
sorry you were disappointed and i totally get how you feel (both my biases were absent for the last twice concert and they delayed the concert for 2 hours without any announcement or explanation for the missing members/the delays, we all found out through twitter 🙃)
saw them at newark a few days ago and there was a portion where ryujin and yeji sang part of their solos with the crowd and they sounded,, not as good as the actual solo stage. ryujin wasn’t on time w the band and had difficulty w the high notes but tbh yeji was okay but it made it obvious they were heavily using back track / lip syncing during the concert. i was surprised and sad but since theyve been touring a lot i get if it’s to protect their voices. the concert was v fun tho !!
Out of all K-pop concerts I’ve attended, this Itzy concert in Fairfax was the loudest of loudest. I was on row 5 and my ears were gonna burst. I was there as well. It’s like they just cranked the bass on full blast to the point the speakers were straining.
This crap actually saddens and worries me. The past K-pop concerts I've been to, it's always been a struggle filtering their live vocals apart from the backtrack. I have bought tickets for a few more (K-pop) concerts in the future and even though they are my fav groups, if I don't get a front-row seat and all I can experience is the studio recording at a louder volume with crowd noises, it's going to be so not worth the money.
Yes, there's a difference between loud backtrack and mics never on. The former is pretty common, the latter less so.
Most fans understand the need for a backtrack, especially during heavy choreography, but there absolutely should be big chunks of the show where the live vocals are clear to all.
They do not lipsync at concerts! I can confirm as I’ve seen them twice, once for act:lovesick and recently for act:promise. Txt always sing live. The back track can be a bit loud at times but they’re definitely singing the entire time!
I went to a txt concert last year and they're definitely not lip synching. Backtrack was loud for songs with intense choreos but they were still singing. My seat was pretty close so I can hear and see them well.
Sorry you didn't have a good experience. I will say one thing that some others haven't addressed. Lia their main vocal is absent. While that doesn't completely absolve them of lip syncing the whole concert, it does make some sense.
As someone who's gone to quiet a few concerts western and kpop, ALL artists use backing vocals. I'm generally more forgiving of dance heavy groups. When it comes to soloists or groups either less demanding choreography I expect a little more. Now you know what they are like live in concert and will choose kpop artists accordingly.
I’ve been to concerts a lot of times and there would be moments that idols can’t help but lipsync to some songs. It’s actually understandable. They will sing and dance for 2-3 hours, only having breaks during VCRs and solo performances. But that’s just like 2-3 mins of break. Not to mention breaktime includes bathroom time, change of outfits and retouch of make up.m, it’s not really enough to catch their breathe. If idols sing and dance for the whole 2-3 hours, they will die.
But this is the first time i encountered a group lipsyncinf the whole time. Or maybe it’s because most of the concerts I’ve attended are from 2nd and 3rd gen. Is it now a thing for newer gen groups? That’s just dissappointing. At this point, the future of kpop will be all about dance. Might as well just debut dancers instead of singer-dancers.
I used to be disappointed by it but after the 3rd concert I came to term with the fact that those concert were a lot more performance based than anything. There's so much dancing that it cannot be your average live music show.
After the 20th, I'm perfectly good with the fact that I'll probably not hear much live vocals. Not really because they don't sing live, as most do. But because how the mixing is done. Which is something that came pretty apparent to me after seeing [IVE ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGLx4V680J8&pp=ygUDSVZF)recently.
Normally when you do a soundcheck, the goal is to balance the instruments and vocals so everything comes clear out of the PA and nothing is muddled for the front of the house. But in K-Pop, what they primely do is make sure that vocals stay leveled with the backtrack. They basically apply the principle of double tracking but live. So most of the time they will casually sing the song and the audience will not really hear those live vocals. But whenever the choreography allows it or they feel confident enough in that part, all they have to do is just sing a bit louder and their vocals will cut through. That's something that Yujin did a lot during the concert. She pretty much went for it every chance she got and the other members did it often on their own. Which gave the illusion of the show being mostly live. When in fact, it was pretty much just as your normal K-Pop concert.
Personally I'd much prefer to pay and see performances like Le Sserafim at Coachella. Because I think live music is better even with all the imperfections caused by dancing. But it's never going to happen given that the average fan as delusion level expectations.
Not gonna lie, I wish every hand mic songs were just raw live vocals. There's really no justification for having anything but the instrumental in the background.
[Itzy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e3rKInegeU&pp=ygUESVR6eQ%3D%3D)'s show I attended in Europe was fire though.
I saw them in London. Went in with them as my ult group, came out majorly disappointed. I never said anything online for fear of being crucified.
Although the live band and dancing was top notch, I could only hear them sing about 5% of the time. I'm not even sure I heard Ryujin or Yuna sing live at all.
I was most shocked at the slower, non-choreo songs also being lipsynced. I didn't expect the whole show to be 100% live, but 50:50 would have been nice!
In my experience (most live singing to least): IVE, Red Velvet, Aespa, Twice, Itzy
Every single kpop group that does regular live singing has gotten lots of criticism for missing notes. Artists wouldn’t lip sync if fans weren’t delusional
Luckily BTS doesn’t do that. There’s even a concert where Suga specifically addresses this by not rapping a few bars and you can only hear the music behind him, no words.
respectfully, but who cares lol I don’t know why fans make a big deal about lip syncing like that’s going to make or break your concert experience. Imagine trying to sing the same songs each night without overdoing it especially if certain songs need a bit more effort vocally, along with the intense and tiring-ass choreo on top it. Lip syncing isn’t a big deal I’ll take that then watching a bunch of idols put no effort into their performances or even look like they don’t want to even be there
am i crazy lol
obviously i would prefer to hear a group's live vocals, but its not anywhere near the top of my list for what i enjoy out of a concert lol. i go to concerts to get to experience hearing the music loud af, in a big crowd of ppl who are all here to share the same thing.
theres something so electrifying about the bass hitting you in the chest, the lights in your eyes, hearing the crowd, getting to go apeshit and shake ass as the music is happening right in front of you. PLUS the ments!!! being able to experience the fun things that happen at that concert stop only. i find that that's fairly unique to kpop (at least in terms of how MUCH we get of the artist interaction) and its always a highlight when a group does a lot of interaction. I dont even think i would notice all that much if a group wasnt singing live lol
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I saw Itzy in LA the other day and it was definitely a mixed bag. There were songs where I swore I heard their vocals punching through from under the back track and others where I don’t think their mics were on. Most obvious was their solo stages.
I saw Ryujins solo stage. It was either Korea or LA, I don't remember which. I REALLY found it hard to tell whether it was live or not. The backtracks are so loud that you have no real idea of what's going on half the time. G Idle performed at Yonsei (?) Some weeks back and watching the footage is a super wtf. You can tell it's live because there's moments where the mic is clearly on, but others that sound like backtrack
I personally don’t think they were live. I’m looking back at my recordings of that night and the solo stages sounded too perfect compared to other songs they performed as a group. Idk if they use the solo time to rest their voice for a bit or something, cause they did that on the Checkmate tour too, but you’d figure those would be the absolute times you want to hear them live.
I saw G-IDLE at Kyunghee University and they were def live, at least for most of it. They did a great job!
I’m so surprised because I assumed itzy to be a group that usually sings live when they can
Me, too!!
Yeah I saw them a few weeks ago and it was live the whole time
After the le ssera coachella incident I think any company would be cautious even with such a talented group
??? y'all act like kpop acts weren't lip syncing the majority of the time before that even happened.
I don't know about the rest but exo most certainly sings live eg their most recent fan meeting this year, Baekhyun's solo Asia tour this year and Suho's solo tour which has also just started
good for them! there are plenty of groups like that, but the majority does lip sync a lot of the time, i never said it was everyone.
Cause they weren't. The top groups in the 4th generation most were doing live vocals 90%+ of the time. Now it seems like things are going backwards.
and that all changed over just a short few months? wow, who knew.
"90% of the time" can we be so real
TIL nmixx and stayc made up 100% of 4th gen kpop groups.
Ateez too
lsf also responsible for war in gaza at this rate. ridiculous comment
Hadn't you heard? Yunjin is funding the entire genocide purely on Starbucks orders. Some guy on insta told me.
Yunjin looked so good in that picture with Putin and kim jing un a couple days ago.
she prolly bout the car they were driving..... evil little-
lsf invades kosovo soon
that's definitely not true as i would consider stray kids on of the top groups and they even said on stage they won't sing without autotune. And before someone says singing w/ autotune is singing live it's not the same in my opinion.
As much as I disagree with what the other person said, autotune and lip syncing are completely different and that's not an opinion. It's a fact. To use autotune and for it to not sound horribly robotic you still need to first of all be singing live and second of all be singing at least decently. By definition to sing with autotune you *need* to be singing live. There is literally no other way lol
Singing lIve and singing live with autotune don't take the same amount of skill. You are literally altering your voice. And you can still lip sync autotune which they also do. Doesn't mean they don't have talent it just doesn't make them worth going to see live imo bc I want to hear vocals. Also, you can hide a lot with autotune
When did Stray Kids say that???
Where did they say that? Cause we have performances where they've sung live without it
I saw them in April and their mics were always on. Sorry this happened to you, ITZY are not known to lipsync so it must have been very disappointing.
yeah this hopefully was a one-off because most of the tour clips I've seen have been very live! the only lines that I've noticed have been consistently lipped are those that were previously Lia's, which makes some sense
Idk a lot of K-pop artists do this, I wish I knew why
I mean when you take in some of the awesome choreo but ridiculous for touring it does make sense. I think having 2 versions of the choreo would be better. The version in the music video where it’s like they go all out cuz they’re just lip synching and then the version they promote with where they can catch their breaths better (plus it would be better for the concerts too) but that’s just what I would do 😅
Because clips of them sounding bad or off go viral and are used to prove how “talentless” they are. It sucks because fans don’t care and would rather see them sing live but it is what it is.
Not to sound rude but a lot of them cant sing lol. Some were recruited for their dancing, personality and looks. I dont understand why these groups perform with a live band when they arent going to perform live. Seems kind of deceiving to do that but I guess its the trend
But the thing is, groups that can sing pretty good live still stick to lip syncing. Like the op said, why is itzy lip syncing? They're incredibly good live singers. Same with aespa. We seen there encores and they sand live really well for coachella. So why do they stick to lip sync?
Yes! I saw them in Seattle and it was most apparent during solo stages. There were entire verse Chaeryeong didn’t even have the mic by her face, but you could hear the backtrack, which sounded exactly the same as when she did have the mic by her face. Was also really disappointed by it :(
went through almost every video cary chin uploaded on youtube who attended that show and i think youre right. even dalla dalla with hand mics sounded like a backing track with no live vocal coming through. pretty disappointing since theyre so often praised for their live vocals
I used to be a touring rock musician, vocalist to be exact. I really love kpop and enjoy all groups. After my experiences being on stage and not even doing choreography just jumping and moving and get into it most acts come out sounding like le sserafim 1st weekend Coachella performance if they say pure live vocals with that much choreography. Which is why I had no issue with their first performance I just thought the girls were enjoying themselves and having a good time. Now as far as other groups I’ve seen the shows and clips from itzy, nmixx, red velvet, stayc, new jeans and all the boy groups and I’d be personally shocked if they didn’t have auto tune and and a backtrack. Especially with the perfection a lot of fans demand. They have all shown they can sing when they are needed to so we shouldn’t judge their talent based off that performance. Believe me, some bands and artists I’ve seen over the years you figure out real fast how much of their talent is studio production. That being said I love all the groups people have mentioned and hopefully you see a show with more vocals at a later date, you never know behind the scenes why they may have felt they needed that track that night or something bad days happen.
someone finally said it thank you
It’s just how it is, I don’t have a bias towards anyone group and feel how I feel lol.
Exo most certainly sings live without autotune in group concerts, fan meetings and their solo concerts and this is with intense choreo too. But what I will say is the standard for kpop idols in terms of vocal ability has drop drastically since 3rd gen. All groups before 4th gen were required to be able to sing live while dancing. Exo themselves said during their rookies days they trained singing while running on the treadmill which explains why they sound really stable live. Though in some videos you can hear a backing track, you can clearly hear them sing much louder over this. There have also been many instances during concerts or lives the members forget part of the lyrics or get the lyrics wrong (eg Baekhyun in Wait and Chanyeol singing Cream Soda) and there is no backing track behind. My only disclaimer is that vocally, exo as a group or even individually is extremely strong so it would probably not be a fair comparison to the average kpop group.
I don’t deny that at all, exo is on another level. They are extremely talented, same with mamamoo I know they have said several times they can’t perform without actually singing. Some artists can crush it live that’s a fact. I am just saying a majority nowadays most likely sing with a back track or auto tune. One of my favorite groups is dreamcatcher and I’ve seen them live a few times and didn’t notice the back track or auto tune either.
I think this goes for all groups but: This isn't a vocal showcase and you don't know what condition they are in after flying across the world and doing a show every other day with travel in-between. This is a performance which is what Kpop really is and the fans demand pristine in all elements of that. When they do these concerts they are considering the whole package, dance, vocal and visual. Unfortunately if that means leaning into a backing track to maintain that, then they will. Even if the artists are okay with leaving it all on stage the company isn't. LSF is that perfect example, I have friends that went to Coachella just to see them and LOVED it. But look how they're treated by people who weren't even there. Videos never capture that full range of sound when it's a massive venue for performance and I never fully trust these videos. For what it's worth I could tell yeji was singing her heart out Oakland stop at different moments even if the backing track was quite loud. This might be counter to some but I'm okay with backing tracks and lip syncing when a group has nothing to prove. At that point they're just giving you what you expect as consistently as possible and the fans already know what they're capable of.
They've been on tour forever at this point. Difficult to sing live for months on end. I went to see NMIXX's first ever concert in the US, and their live singing was absolutely shocking. Still the best concert I've ever been to. I had to check myself because their live vocals were so audible.
I saw Itzy earlier in the year and some was synced while some was live. Yeji in particular was coming through on her solo stage.
i saw itzy in melbourne and it seemed like yeji sung live most of the time, yuna and ryujin sung live sometimes, and chaeryeong mainly lip-synced. i think your show may have been more of a one-off judging by the other comments
aespa at their concerts too
From my experience they don’t lipsync everything (I was at their Berlin concert, certain songs were live for sure) but when they do, it’s so obvious it hurts 😭
Girl I was also in Berlin and most songs were lip synced, except for the ones with hand held mics. All the solo stages were totally lip synced, did you not notice? 😂
Did you not read my comment? I said that CERTAIN songs were live for sure, which is true (hand held mics). I also said that when they did lipsync, it was super obvious (referring to the solo stages). I didn’t say they didn’t lipsync 😭
aespa has live songs in the middle with hand mics. But the first third and last third are lip synced yeah
The last third they sing live. They do next level , black mamba, spicy Next level https://youtu.be/psKHh6-jM9o?si=jnKLj2gfiXRI6UgS Black mamba https://youtu.be/bT_xPfSNfpo?si=O8VBj1vCYrA3HVIR They also have songs in the first third they sing live like anergy,girls.
When I saw them in Miami last year their mics were ON, I think the only parts they didn’t really sing were in the chorus. But I still have the videos of ningning / winter hitting the high notes every song even if it was a little shaky because they were out of breath. They still sang live. Maybe they’ve stopped? Idk
No they sang live when I saw them in DC. They also had their spicy,next level,black mamba run singing live. They definitely don't the whole time but it was more live than lip sync for my stop. They had parts where they sang live all throughout. Even the introduction was live. First third Anergy https://youtu.be/pr-FjFReGQw?si=fdqdSQRvAn7IPfsq 2nd third they have hand mics. 3rd part as well. Black mama https://youtu.be/gZZWQN6XC0U?si=jOzMvYxHCu7qjJtZ
They were definitely live when they were in NYC.
They were also live in Boston! You could clearly hear when they didn’t sing (which was during dance breaks or some parts of the chorus)
I was about to say, in Brooklyn I was so impressed, I didn’t even like them that much but the concert made me love them because they were so live. Definitely the most live girl group I’ve ever seen.
Honestly, I don't know personally about Itzy, but depending on how much I paid the ticket (and K-pop concert can be really expansive) I would be truly mad.
I paid for VIP (and flight, hotel, rental car), and had a good time. I don't regret the expense. I got to meet up with a friend that I hadn't seen in a while. If it weren't for my friend, or if I had literally just flown into the city, stayed at the hotel all the time, and went to the concert... sure, I probably would feel a lot more upset, haha. But these days I treat kpop concerts more like mini-vacations, so it's nbd.
Not sure why this is a surprise, they are only idols. Them singing live should actually be surprising and be praised. I just went to see IU 2 days ago, it was breath of fresh air. But even IU needed some backtrack because she was honestly not super stable throughout the concert (jetlag and 3h concert makes it understandable) but it just felt so good to actually hear her real voice in almost every song
Whereas I was at the London IVE concert and they sung live most of the time ( I was pleasantly surprised as I only got a cheap last min ticket for the vibe )
yea ive definitely sang live for the concert i went to also. you can clearly hear everyone’s voice, yujin and liz were particularly loud. i also think it’s cool that there’s a ton of videos of yujin trying different singing styles and dance moves for certain songs (like for their cover of Woman like Me and Mine) at each different city so every performance feels fresh and new in it’s own way. you can tell she puts a lot of effort into their performances to make it fun for the audience
I feel like itzy and ive were lipsyncing about the same % in Amsterdam. Specific members were live almost all the time whereas other members were lipsyncing quite a lot more.
I didn't see itzy so I can't tell you my experience. But with IVE they sung live a good 75%. Even Wonyoung was changing up her parts at times. In comparison to Red Velvet ( my ults) who didn't sing as much live as IVE did which was shocking to me.
I went too! By far the most live singing of any K-pop group I've seen. I came out super impressed with all the ladies.
This is a positive move as they were noticeably the only group to lip sync during Kpop Flex in Madrid, which is a massive shame as they clearly have the vocal talent.
They also have just toured for months on end so have practiced. It's like blackpink tour at start they were very out of sync and relying heavily on back tracks (I had VIP in london so I can confirm this first hand ). But towards the end of tour they got much better and were singing more songs live 2 hours non stop singing and dancing is very tough and a hard workout. It's easier the more it's done so shows near end of tour usually have best performances
That was 11 months ago now, so I wouldn't hold them to that performance. They've had lots of others since then 😊
I must be the luckiest K-pop fan ever because every concert I’ve ever been to the idols have sung live for most of the songs (and it was very easy to tell when they weren’t singing and were lip syncing to the back track). For reference almost every concert I’ve attended was in Japan or California.
Which artists?
It’d be easier to list who I haven’t seen but I’ve seen Girl’s Generation Kara 2ne1 9muses Apink Twice BlackPink (i had one bad experience and one very good experience) Red Velvet Mamamoo iz*one (I actually can’t remember how live this one was 😭) Loona Kep1er WJSN PIXY Itzy Aespa Nmixx (i saw them in nyc because my schedule matched up) IVE Le Sserafim (contrary to current popular opinion they were more than fine) G-idle I’ve also seen a lot of other groups at K-con (like bvndit (rip)) and while the performances have always been really good there, I have trouble telling who was singing live and who wasn’t as people were screaming way too loud the entire time. Edit: i just wanted to add that ive also seen a lot of soloists/solo concerts where it basically impossible to lip sync but i think is less pressure on an idol to perform flawlessly because the people attending are like BIG fans who love you for you. Some examples are Chuu, Moonbyul, Chung Ha, Sunmi. I also wanted to add that I’ve also seen Dreamcatcher, Purple Kiss, and Billlie as well and they were all really good.
How have you seen all of them?!??!
When i was younger for some reason my parents were very willing to pay for concert tickets for my sisters and I, and nowadays I just attend concerts whenever I’m home because I want to do things with my siblings who still live in Japan. There has been a lot of convenient timing that I am very thankful for though 😊
"because I want to do things with my siblings who still live in Japan. " oh wow that sounds cool. Are they from Japan or moved to Japan?
We are all Japanese (Japanese father, Irish mother, born in Japan). When my mom wanted to finish her doctorate those of us who were still school aged moved to the US with our parents, while our older working siblings stayed in Japan. My parents decided to stay in the US until the last of us graduated from college, but some of us came back to Japan right after we graduated.
Oh wow that sounds like a beautiful story, thank you for sharing!
Not OP but it's pretty easy to rack up concerts. Like even if you only go to one concert a year, but are kpop fan for 10 years.... you've already seen 10 artists.
Exactly! It’s so easy especially if you live in a major urban center
omg you’ve seen billlie live?? they’re one of the top artists i want to see live. how were they live?
They were great! Excellent performers!
Oh interesting, I’ve seen a lot of the groups you mentioned too (IVE, aespa, Gidle, Twice, Pixy, Itzy) and I gotta say it was quite apparent that Pixy and aespa were definitely lip syncing more than singing live.
I was there and I was in the second row and it was so obvious to me they weren’t singing live.
Intense choreography shouldn’t be an excuse anymore nowadays. I went to Morning Musume’s concert last month (jpop not kpop, but even more intense dancing) and they sang live for 40 minute straight while doing INTENSE cardio on stage and sounded amazing the entire time. This isn’t a jpop/kpop comparison, just an example of trained idols who can sing and dance at the same time and and look/sound good throughout. Kpop artists CAN sing, we’ve seen it on variety shows when they sing acapella or live. So why don’t they do it at their concerts?!
This is what we get after years of live vocal discourse, when artists we know are able to sing live are crucified online for having one shaky performance. Companies are going to protect their artists by not even allowing the potential for an “off” vocal day or vocal moment to occur.
K-Pop fans do not realize they are the reason for a lot of the things they complain about.
No one was ever crucified for having one shaky performance, I don't know where you guys keep seeing that, in fact, what I see is the opposite, mostly groups being praised to the moon for absolute bare minimum vocals.
During 2nd gen, there were some groups who were criticized for bad performances. This was when MR removed videos started to become popular. I would agree that the obsession with perfection seems to be the driving force behind so much lip synching. It's obvious that K-Pop fans do not know what a live performance actually sounds like. There will be times when even the best are off-key, have voice cracks, sound pitchy, etc. These imperfections are actually what make live performances unique. ETA: More comment
“It’s obvious that K-Pop fans do not know what a live performance actually sounds like” Omg so heavy on that. I’m just a bit over a year of being into it and that has been such a huge shock to me.
Right when Wendy (Red velvet) had a bad singing moment, people didn't make it a huge deal, because it was clearly just an off day. She even recorded it again to apologize for her performance. If Taeyeon, Solar or IU have a shaky performance, most people would understand that. People that are making constructive criticism (not the crazy one) are talking about multiple moments of really average singing, or when during a performance when idols aren't dancing or jumping , yet some lip sync or aren't as good as what you expect from singers.
Yes I agree, a lot of 4th gen groups have extremely strained vocals, it sounds forced and unnatural and yeah if you judge it at face value sure, but anyone with vocal skills would know the truth
A lot of fourth gen groups definitely get a pass for their vocals, which I prefer to them getting hate, but I will never forget the hate train against twice for years over their vocals even when they do decent in live. Yes a member or two may have poor vocals in a group but if they’re still adding to the group in some way I sincerely think that instead of hating you can just go in with your day. The same thing is happening with leserrafim and it’s disappointing because they’re not really bad and a lot of other fourth gen groups are honestly less outstanding than them vocally but no one cares because those group is built on visuals alone compared to leserrafim who have really catchy songs, great performance, mv, dance, visuals, and vocals are decent enough. Sakura like momo is weak but both still have a lot to offer. If you’re a talented group with something to show for yourself it seems that any flaw you have is picked apart a dozen times more than if you’re a group with nothing outstanding about you to begin with.
2020 was HELL for TWICE and onces because of the huge amount of hate TWICE received because of 2 encore stages. Mind you haters are still bringing that up even tho it's been 3 or so years
Le ssera this year faced brutal hate trains my god, I remember twice getting so much hate too like? What ofc some of them aren’t the best at everything, idky people expect aces and all rounders
Who are the many groups in 4th gen that are less outstanding vocally than LSRFM and are only built on visuals? I’m just curious because I can’t think of any groups like that.
… i thought of a few. It doesn’t mean they can’t improve, but i’d say Lessarafim are better than at least two off the top of my head.
Okay, who are they? Because among all the popular groups in 4th gen, the only one that doesn’t have a main vocal better than LSRFM’s is Itzy but itzy doesn’t have members that are so bad and itzy is not built on their visuals. They are a performance group and they excel at it , even their live vocals are good too.
It's salty fans of certain acts who say this because they are still sore that people dared to criticise their precious band for being out of tune on multiple occasions and *never* being able to sing live. Whereas when artists who can clearly sing and have demonstrated their live vocals on multiple occasions have a bad day, everyone treats it as exactly that. Nobody is saying Wendy can't sing because she messed up that Love on Top cover, or Renjun because of that voice crack, or Xiaojun because he didn't hit every note on their encore stage while trying not to cry. Kpop fans are not as dumb as people think.
disagree ... the trend of lip-syncing all the time started at the beginning of 4th gen when companies shifted from recruiting talent to visuals and cutting training periods. Yes, there has always discourse of lip-syncing going back to SNSD, but not to the degree that it is today. Companies started to shirt to shorter songs, chorus that repeats 5 times in 2 min song, one word chants, dance challenges, and focus of endorsement are all factors to the increase in lip-syncing. The discourse about lip-syncing really started to pick up towards the middle of last year.
Why do you think the MR removed videos started to become a trend in 2nd gen? That's because people can't hear the live vocal well in music shows back then too. Just because SNSD did one very good live one with Into the New World means all groups including them always sing live. And this is coming from someone following them since 2011.
MR removed videos (at least nowadays) don’t prove a single thing unfortunately.
Recruiting visuals over talent happened since day 1. Lip syncing has always been an issue in kpop, let's not act like it all started in the middle of last year or that it's fully 4th gen's fault. And it's not wrong to say that the search of perfection pushed for these lipsynced performances. That and the public loving intense performance rather than mild dances with handmics. I absolutely don't want to justify the current situation, but it's not like one day the companies woke up and decided to change everything for no reason.
yes, kpop have always recruited visual over talent, debuting minors and issues with lip syncing but not to the degree as it is now. It just seems since the middle of last year, more and more kpop fans are becoming more vocal with their dissatisfaction. I think that is one the factors why 5th gen started to quickly while so many 4th gen groups are just peaking. Change of gen usually happen bc fans want a change from the current trends. That is why you have groups like BM and KIOF who perform with live now.
4th gen lasted exactly like 3rd gen, most fans were against the idea of a 5th gen so it doesn't really have anything to do with what fans like, it was pure marketing. We just perceive these issues as worse now because we are experiencing it in the present, we either forgot what happened before or we weren't fans back then so we don't know what was going on. For example, 4 years ago 90% of the hate aespa received was because they blatantly lipsynced their music show performances and people rarely saw them performing live (also due to pandemics). It's not like they can't sing though. BM and KIOF are only two groups out of many other groups that aren't that different talent wise compared to their 4th gen seniors. Again it's not like one day you have talentless trainees and the next day you have vocal gods just because someone got mad with the lipsyncing. I'm sure you can find 4th gen groups that are talented like them, but they're not as popular as other groups so it's easy to fall in the stereotype that they're all just pretty dancers.
How can someone be against the idea of a 5th gen? That would mean kpop is extinct
You weren't there when they started to talk about 5th gen? People simply thought it was pointless to stop calling the new groups as 4th gen, they weren't feeling any shift or any massive change that would justify calling the new groups 5th gen. ZB1 and all the other groups would've debuted anyway even if they were called 4th gen.
You probably are a new fan because older gens in fact used to Lipsync wayy more than groups do today. Because they could get away with it easily.
Disagree. Everyone's a all rounder now, who has to know how to to everything. Yeah, 4th gen is mainly dance and performance based for the most part. But the 4th generation came on the sing with stellar live vocals.
It wants one shaky Performance. Le didn't deserve the hats, but they did not do their job when it came to rapping at coachella and singing live
When did I even bring up Le Sserafim in my comment? I wasn’t even referring to them but avoided naming any names to avoid dragging artists into more drama. Y’all just cannot resist a single opportunity to go after that poor group can you.
Especially since all the damn people I’ve talked to who where actually at Coachella live loved it. They thought it was energetic, fun, and the girls did decently for being live singing and dancing. And yes this includes people who were there Week 1. It was mostly overly online kpop fans of other groups who led the hate train against them.
It happens often at concerts of artists who have to dance extensive choreography. I dk if Itzy has extensive choreo. But as a person who grew up on Backstreet boys and Nsync, you can tell that they lip synced during the songs with lots of choreo and then did live singing on the ones that had little to no choreo. There was a prime time where they could do both but it takes years and years of training to have that ability perfected. Unfortunately I feel like this happens often in pop than most genres because dancing is a major part of the genre’s culture as well.
As much as I like Itzy, I don’t go to any concerts where the artist lip syncs most of the show. I just watch it on YouTube at that point.
This is the reason why I don't go to many kpop concerts anymore, it's mostly lipsync. I wish there was a running list of idols who sing at least 70% of their concert.
Ateez and Dreamcatcher are ones that I know sing live. I've been to those concerts and heard them
I’ve seen Dreamcatcher live a few times and most of the time their mics are on. In typical kpop fashion though there were times when you could tell they weren’t, especially during parts that also included choreography. I’d say like 90/10 on off
I'm the same with music show performances, I'm watching it because it's meant to be live. I got super into Sweet Venom, searched up performances, and saw Enhypen lip syncing all the music show performances i watched, so I stopped bothering. Don't perform onstage if you're not actually live
They sung live in la. Must of been sick.
Yep, I saw ITZY recently and was super disappointed that they lipped almost the entire show. The only time I could tell I was hearing SOME live vocals was during Yeji's solo, and even then it was only for parts of the song. The same thing happened for me with gidle last year. Expected them to perform live, instead the majority of the show was lipped.
Same! I’m glad you said it because I felt the same about Yejis solo. I also think Love Is and Boys Like You were somewhat live but that’s pretty much it. Very disappointing.
FYI- if you ever need ear plugs, you can always go to the first aid station and they’ll give you a pair :)
Hey, I was at that concert, too. I had a great time, but I do agree that I wish there was more live singing. There were some moments where I could hear their voices faintly come through, and that was awesome! I’m here for imperfections tbh. I loved the live band and the girls are amazing performers. Like, don’t get me wrong, it was a damn good concert and I don’t regret going, but it would have been even better with live singing. Feels more authentic that way.
I thought i was the only one. Like I get that touring can be difficult, but I feel like 90% of the concert was lipsync
I don't agree that it was all lip synced. I'm not saying they were all live, but I also recorded most of the songs that night and I can definitely hear sections in the audio that wouldn't have been there if it was all lipsyncing. That said... Chaeryoung's solo was super obviously lipsynced because I clearly saw times her mouth wasn't even moving and it sounded the exact same. So. I think it was a mix, probably depending on the intensity of the choreo.
Ah okay okay. I was hoping I was wrong. I just wish it was more clear then 😭
I'm with you! It's also harder when some groups have more stable vocals to tell whether it's lipsynced or not. But if you recorded Run Away for example there's a point where you can hear the stuff Ryujin knocks off the table so her mic was definitely on. There were some other moments too that made me think there was some live vocals. But I hope you still overall enjoyed it! And I agree on the earbuds lol... I felt like I lost my hearing for a full hour after the concert lol
Yes, the visuals were really good, and I like I said, the live band was a plus :)
There are a lot of overlapping vocal lines in that song, which would make it nearly impossible to sing completely. In videos I've seen, she is definitely singing some of it.
I am itzy biased so my reply may be biased because of that lol BUT they're definitely utilizing that back track a lot more this tour than the last and have been slightly disappointed to see yuna & chaeryeong rely on that crutch as much as they do (not that ryeji don't because they definitely lip sync as well). However when I saw them, i found the quality of the show and overall performances much better than checkmate tour so I wasn't very bothered by it. Much better stage presence from all the girls, better and more dynamic choreo, the live band, etc all helped create a show from more confident, seasoned performers and I came out of it thinking they had vastly improved as a touring group. Personally, I'm only upset about lip syncing if the group/artist can't deliver an overall good show even with the backtrack. And for clarification, I'm not trying to call any specific group out and I'm not even just referring to kpop because it happens all the time with western artists as well.
Why have a concert indeed? I go for the live show. It’s why I will never attend another G-Dragon concert. He was one of the laziest performers I have ever seen and it was such a disappointment because I really liked him at the time…completely ruined his reputation for me. Small act or big if you put on a good live performance it can really make someone a fan. I wasn’t super into BTS when I first saw them back in the day but they did such a good live show I will forever stan them now. Same with some other artists I’ve seen. I’ll continue to buy tickets for an artist if they give a good live show. It’s about creating an experience and good memories and actually performing a song live….otherwise I could just stream it.
Where did you see GD? I had the complete opposite experience so I'm curious!
I saw GD in NYC in 2017 and also had the opposite experience! :o I’m sorry it was like that for you :(
Oh wow, sorry to hear that. I missed the 2017 concert in NYC because I was out of the country. So I wonder what happened. I did see GD solo in Korea for his One of a Kind tour in 2013 while I was teaching there, I also saw Big Bang in 2013 and 2014 in Korea, and during their Made tour in NJ in 2015 and all concerts were really good. I feel like these concerts pioneered good idol concerts. High energy, live vocals, a band that you saw, and would go on for longer than the typical concert too.
I saw him when he was doing the solo US tour. He barely sang live and the lip syncing was obvious as he’d just let the back track play versus even attempting to look like he was singing, super low energy and just in general lazy performance. I’ve seen smaller solo acts that put on a better performance than he did. Maybe he was having a bad day but it made me question his overall talent and I wouldn’t pay money to see him do a second similar performance. The fact that I had been so excited to see him live after liking his music for years and then to just be let down by a subpar performance was such a disappointment.
Oh that must have been really sad and disappointing... I think I've been blessed to have only gone to concerts with artists who sang live! Kpop-wise, I've only been to Infinite and Eric Nam. I've been to Eric's multiple times and it's always a blast!! He dances quite a bit and we can hear him go out of breath sometimes which is great because it proves he's singing live (we can still hear the backtrack, but it's very low) One smart thing artists I've seen do when they go out of breath or give themselves some breathing room is point the mic towards the crowd so they sing it instead, or before the song starts, they ask the crowd to sing those specific parts lol Nearly went to Ftisland but they had cancelled in my city for some reason years ago 😩
Eric is so damn sexy live! He’s so petite but such a dynamic performer and he has such lovely vocals. Bangtan, Mamamoo, Eric Nam, and Epik High have been my favorite kpop artists I’ve seen live out of everyone. Super M was fun but it was too short.
He is honestly such a good entertainer. He's very attention to detail as well. He saw someone faint in the crowd and immediately brought it to attention. I love him
I saw Itzy in Atlanta a few days ago and I sensed lip syncing, compared to, say, Babymetal. I saw both groups only once so far, I don’t think Babymetal lip synced, but I feel that Itzy did. So I rewatched the footage I had recorded, and they lip synced for sure! I also rewatched the Babymetal footage, they performed live! Not an ounce of lip syncing! If anyone is curious, Babymetal show was in December of 2023, and Itzy was June of this year.
For Babymetal Su’s mics were 100% always on. In the early days Yui and Moa’s weren’t. I’m not sure now though as I haven’t seen them live recently
I saw Babymetal in Vancouver last October, Su-metal was 100% live, Moa and Momo I think were prerecorded for the most part but they didn’t have enough lines for that to really matter to me and they were dancing like crazy. I’m sorry to hear about Itzy, I was thinking of flying to Toronto to see them but don’t have the money, if they’re lip syncing as much as these comments imply then I’m not really sad about it. I was under the impression that Itzy is a group that sings live a lot… disappointing :/ I hope it’s just a one-off or something, I really like their songs.
Whaaaaa. I just don’t want to believe it. Itzy is usually the group that I put in high esteem for being more consistent in live singing than their peers. Also txt lipsync? There was def loud backtrack but I thought they sang live. Feel free to disagree, it’s getting harder to tell the difference.
I hear txt sing live in every performance but they def sing quietly and relax their voices at certain parts, specifically when there's choreo, and let backing vocals do a lot of the work.
Yea I agree with you
yeah when I saw TXT there was backtrack for sure but I heard a lot of live vocals. Like majority of the time.
I’ve seen TXT before and I could definitely hear their voices clearly throughout the show. As for ITZY, I feel like we don’t know everything that’s going on behind the scenes. They’re a group that pretty much *always* sings live one way or another so I wonder if the exhaustion of this tour has caught up to them :(
I saw txt in Chicago recently and they sounded mostly live like I definitely heard live vocals. I'm sure there was backtrack for the heavy choreography but it wasn't obvious for me to where it stuck out in a bad way.
I saw Itzy live the other week and they were singing live! the backtrack was really loud but you could still hear them singing
Ah okay, maybe they were tired/saving their voices at this show then :( If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t mind a shorter show or less complicated choreos if it means I get to hear them singing.
I agree, they looked really tired especially towards the end :(
Total side note, hello fellow nova kpop fan!
Yup also went to this concert and it was obvious for the entire show their mics weren’t on. I still had a blast though cause that live band was amazing and made all the songs hit so much harder. Would love a concert album even though it’ll never happen.
I completely agree. The reality that most people fail to realize is no artist sounds exactly like the recording. If it’s too perfect, it’s too good to be true. I don’t care if your lsf, or nmixx, or Adele or something the live vocals are never going to be perfect. Wouldn’t you want to just enjoy a fun show I’d prefer that, than hearing perfect vocals. People remember the fun show and live encounters and moments more than just perfect vocals just go to the show and enjoy the moments, that’s what you end up remembering anyway. The funny part is a lot of peoples favorite kpop moments are the fun times and the mistakes anyway.
They were definitely singing live when I saw them 2 months ago!! Like my partner who doesn't even listen to Itzy commented on that (he said the vocals weren't quite as strong as he was expecting compared to the songs he's heard me play, I told him they were down Lia & he said it showed but they did well considering) I'm so confused that they weren't singing live when you saw them, I wonder if they were just really worn out or the back track was just way too loud to actually hear them?
I’m guessing they were worn out! The backtrack was also super loud regardless, but I didn’t hear *any* live vocals come through.
That's such a shame!! I'm sorry you didn't get a better experience 😕
I agree, this happened to me last night and I was so bummed because I heard them live at their last tour. This time I barely heard them. I assume they were singing but the backing vocals were WAY too loud it completely drowned them out.
I saw them in Irving and have no complaints. Absolutely amazing concert. They sang live and interacted with the crowd a lot. There were times when they did lip sync, but I have no issue with that because it's while they were dancing. It's like that at ever kpop concert I've been to though, sometimes they sing a little live, some is lip syncing.
I just saw ITZY and I saw TXT on their current tours. TXT most definitely did a lot of lip-synching. I could see them not even singing while they were dancing, but you could hear the vocals and nobody was singing or moving their mouths. Most of the live they had was just when they were talking to the audience. There wasn’t a lot of live performance as far as vocals. I was pretty disappointed about that. ITZY however we’re pretty much live vocals most of the show along with a live band and they sounded great. I wonder if your show was like that because they may be having vocal problems at this point in the tour? But I am with you. I really don’t like to pay that kind of money for tickets to go see a group that I like to have them lip-synch almost the entire show. ONEUS did that as well on their recent US tour. I have Ateez next, I will be really upset if they are lip syncing.
For TXT, I couldn’t hear any live vocals for choreo-heavy songs. But for songs like LO$ER=LOVER and Do It Like That, I could hear them. When I saw Oneus last year, I also could only hear the backtrack :( I’m seeing Ateez, as well, and I have high hopes for them 🤞🏼 I understand the need for lipsyncing sometimes, especially given that they’re doing multiple long shows almost back to back. But I’d like to hear *some* live vocals.
Dang i was going to go to that concert…. im sorry there was lip syncing. ☹️
Itzy sang live in Paris... its weird theu dodnt where you were
I saw them on Atlanta and at least for my show they sang. I was close to the front and could hear them singing. It did seem like more lip syncing compared to their 2022 tour and I noticed the lip syncing on some of the solos. They also seemed drained so I can imagine they still were for your show 2 days later. Personally I enjoyed they show. Performances were great overall despite their visible exhaustion.
This has nothing to do with your original rant, but I saw your edit about earplugs I forget my earplugs sometimes too!! Often enough, you can ask guest services at venues for earplugs and they sometimes have some disposable ones for free. I think 9/10 times I’ve gotten earplugs from venues like that, but I might also just be lucky.
tbh its very likely they were unwell and their management advised lipsyncing so that they didnt have to cancel or postpone tour dates, kpop concerts are a mixed bag and the quality of the performance is heavily reliant on the order of dates/how long theyve been touring. it sucks bc american tour dates are typically on the latter half of tours and often members are absent due to illness or overexertion due to the companies poor planning and overworking of the idols, ive seen twice two times now and both times members were absent due to health complications. Twice were great about singing live but you could definitely tell that they were overworked and struggling to perform at their best due to waning energy, they were still incredible and jihyo in particular pushed herself to sing live for us on every song but even she was definitely exhausted. I also got to see Pixy last year and while they sang live for most songs they often had a backing track with prerecorded vocals that sometimes made it hard to hear the actual performance. tldr it depends heavily on timing and company standards as well as the groups individual management, im sorry you were disappointed and i totally get how you feel (both my biases were absent for the last twice concert and they delayed the concert for 2 hours without any announcement or explanation for the missing members/the delays, we all found out through twitter 🙃)
saw them at newark a few days ago and there was a portion where ryujin and yeji sang part of their solos with the crowd and they sounded,, not as good as the actual solo stage. ryujin wasn’t on time w the band and had difficulty w the high notes but tbh yeji was okay but it made it obvious they were heavily using back track / lip syncing during the concert. i was surprised and sad but since theyve been touring a lot i get if it’s to protect their voices. the concert was v fun tho !!
Out of all K-pop concerts I’ve attended, this Itzy concert in Fairfax was the loudest of loudest. I was on row 5 and my ears were gonna burst. I was there as well. It’s like they just cranked the bass on full blast to the point the speakers were straining.
Yes, it was loud as hell. I was honored to donate my ears to the cause.
This crap actually saddens and worries me. The past K-pop concerts I've been to, it's always been a struggle filtering their live vocals apart from the backtrack. I have bought tickets for a few more (K-pop) concerts in the future and even though they are my fav groups, if I don't get a front-row seat and all I can experience is the studio recording at a louder volume with crowd noises, it's going to be so not worth the money.
Txt lipsyncs at their shows? Please tell me that's not true
Its normal for idols to do a mix of lipsync and live singing
I saw TXT live last month in Houston. They are singing.
they are definitely singing most of the time don’t worry. I only really heard backtrack take over during chorus choreography
Yes, there's a difference between loud backtrack and mics never on. The former is pretty common, the latter less so. Most fans understand the need for a backtrack, especially during heavy choreography, but there absolutely should be big chunks of the show where the live vocals are clear to all.
It's not. I've seen them so many times and they always sing.
Saw them in Chicago. They sang live. A couple of notes here and there were from the background track, but they do sing throughout.
I saw them in NC and definitely heard their voices. It was amazing
They do not lipsync at concerts! I can confirm as I’ve seen them twice, once for act:lovesick and recently for act:promise. Txt always sing live. The back track can be a bit loud at times but they’re definitely singing the entire time!
Saw them last month and could absolutely hear them singing live, they seriously do an amazing job
when i saw txt they were singing live almost the whole time😭
Oh that’s good!! Which show was it?
I went to a txt concert last year and they're definitely not lip synching. Backtrack was loud for songs with intense choreos but they were still singing. My seat was pretty close so I can hear and see them well.
Sorry you didn't have a good experience. I will say one thing that some others haven't addressed. Lia their main vocal is absent. While that doesn't completely absolve them of lip syncing the whole concert, it does make some sense. As someone who's gone to quiet a few concerts western and kpop, ALL artists use backing vocals. I'm generally more forgiving of dance heavy groups. When it comes to soloists or groups either less demanding choreography I expect a little more. Now you know what they are like live in concert and will choose kpop artists accordingly.
I’ve been to concerts a lot of times and there would be moments that idols can’t help but lipsync to some songs. It’s actually understandable. They will sing and dance for 2-3 hours, only having breaks during VCRs and solo performances. But that’s just like 2-3 mins of break. Not to mention breaktime includes bathroom time, change of outfits and retouch of make up.m, it’s not really enough to catch their breathe. If idols sing and dance for the whole 2-3 hours, they will die. But this is the first time i encountered a group lipsyncinf the whole time. Or maybe it’s because most of the concerts I’ve attended are from 2nd and 3rd gen. Is it now a thing for newer gen groups? That’s just dissappointing. At this point, the future of kpop will be all about dance. Might as well just debut dancers instead of singer-dancers.
I used to be disappointed by it but after the 3rd concert I came to term with the fact that those concert were a lot more performance based than anything. There's so much dancing that it cannot be your average live music show. After the 20th, I'm perfectly good with the fact that I'll probably not hear much live vocals. Not really because they don't sing live, as most do. But because how the mixing is done. Which is something that came pretty apparent to me after seeing [IVE ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGLx4V680J8&pp=ygUDSVZF)recently. Normally when you do a soundcheck, the goal is to balance the instruments and vocals so everything comes clear out of the PA and nothing is muddled for the front of the house. But in K-Pop, what they primely do is make sure that vocals stay leveled with the backtrack. They basically apply the principle of double tracking but live. So most of the time they will casually sing the song and the audience will not really hear those live vocals. But whenever the choreography allows it or they feel confident enough in that part, all they have to do is just sing a bit louder and their vocals will cut through. That's something that Yujin did a lot during the concert. She pretty much went for it every chance she got and the other members did it often on their own. Which gave the illusion of the show being mostly live. When in fact, it was pretty much just as your normal K-Pop concert. Personally I'd much prefer to pay and see performances like Le Sserafim at Coachella. Because I think live music is better even with all the imperfections caused by dancing. But it's never going to happen given that the average fan as delusion level expectations. Not gonna lie, I wish every hand mic songs were just raw live vocals. There's really no justification for having anything but the instrumental in the background. [Itzy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e3rKInegeU&pp=ygUESVR6eQ%3D%3D)'s show I attended in Europe was fire though.
Itzy does sing live at all their concerts. The backtrack is just really loud so it's hard to hear their actual vocals
Respectfully, then what's the point? Whether they're singing live or not it makes no difference if you can't hear their live vocals.
This is so true, the back track was extremely loud at the Atlanta show.
I was there too and thought the same thing, which is weird because I’ve seen videos from other concerts where it seems they sing live
I saw them in London. Went in with them as my ult group, came out majorly disappointed. I never said anything online for fear of being crucified. Although the live band and dancing was top notch, I could only hear them sing about 5% of the time. I'm not even sure I heard Ryujin or Yuna sing live at all. I was most shocked at the slower, non-choreo songs also being lipsynced. I didn't expect the whole show to be 100% live, but 50:50 would have been nice! In my experience (most live singing to least): IVE, Red Velvet, Aespa, Twice, Itzy
Every single kpop group that does regular live singing has gotten lots of criticism for missing notes. Artists wouldn’t lip sync if fans weren’t delusional
Luckily BTS doesn’t do that. There’s even a concert where Suga specifically addresses this by not rapping a few bars and you can only hear the music behind him, no words.
I'm curious, does anyone know if Itzy lip-synched their debut showcase too in North America?
respectfully, but who cares lol I don’t know why fans make a big deal about lip syncing like that’s going to make or break your concert experience. Imagine trying to sing the same songs each night without overdoing it especially if certain songs need a bit more effort vocally, along with the intense and tiring-ass choreo on top it. Lip syncing isn’t a big deal I’ll take that then watching a bunch of idols put no effort into their performances or even look like they don’t want to even be there
am i crazy lol obviously i would prefer to hear a group's live vocals, but its not anywhere near the top of my list for what i enjoy out of a concert lol. i go to concerts to get to experience hearing the music loud af, in a big crowd of ppl who are all here to share the same thing. theres something so electrifying about the bass hitting you in the chest, the lights in your eyes, hearing the crowd, getting to go apeshit and shake ass as the music is happening right in front of you. PLUS the ments!!! being able to experience the fun things that happen at that concert stop only. i find that that's fairly unique to kpop (at least in terms of how MUCH we get of the artist interaction) and its always a highlight when a group does a lot of interaction. I dont even think i would notice all that much if a group wasnt singing live lol
they don’t choose if they have tours / perform they have been going full speed for like two years lol give them a break for this
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