PRODUCE 48 Episode 4: A Crowd Of Critics

Now that episode 4 of Produce 48 has wrapped up, the fate of 91 competitors lies in the hands of viewers. The final evaluation before the “first ranking” saw groups being split up to perform famous songs of the past. The songs performed were voted on by a live studio audience. The performance weighed heavily on the competitors since each group that won their challenge was awarded 1,000 extra votes overall. These votes, combined with the fan vote which will be revealed in the next episode, determine the fate of all competitors.

Produce 48 Contestants Finish Their Final Task Before First Eliminations

“Love Whisper” (GFriend Cover)

We saw the first performances last week when two teams performed Love Whisper by GFriend. The group of Yabuki Nako, Yoon Eun-bin, Kim Na-young (Leader), Aramaki Misaki, Kurihara Sae & Kang Da-min got the most combined votes from the live audience. We found out on this episode that this gave Nako the highest score out of all competitors. Nako got 330 votes, with the 1,000 extra for victory added as well.

“Peek-a-Boo” (Red Velvet Cover)

The first performance that we saw on this episode was two groups performing Red Velvet’s hit from November, Peek-a-Boo.” The first group for this song was the only group that had a notable mistake during their performance. It was shown that during all of the practicing Jang Gyu Ri had trouble with the high notes that she was assigned (lyrics that were sung by Wendy from Red Velvet, who is known for having all of the impressive high notes in their songs). Her struggles with high notes carried over to the performance. This could have been the biggest reason why the other group got more votes. When the group got off the stage, Jang Gyu Ri felt guilty about the performance, saying “I’m mad at myself.”

The second group was very discouraged when they were in the learning stage. They had major trouble with high notes, just like the other group did. To be fair, Peek-a-Boo’s high notes are all very impressive. Despite these troubles, their performance seemed to have no problems. The second group ended up winning with a score of 474-348.

Matsui Jurina’s Unexpected Departure

Matsui Jurina, who was a part of group 1 lost, but her score does not matter. Unfortunately, news broke earlier this week that she left Produce 48 and stopped all SKE48 work due to health issues. In the earlier episodes, she was one of the biggest Japanese talents on the show, being marketed as a “real celebrity.” She becomes the first contestant to leave the show that did all assessments.

“Short Hair” (AOA Cover)

The next two groups performed AOA’s song Short Hair.” The first group’s member Takahashi Juri struggled during training as the center of the group. Their performance, just like the other group’s, was pretty good. Group 2 had trouble with their language barrier when training each other. Their improvement showed in the clips of their dress rehearsal. Since a few contestants dropped out of the contest before this was shot, some groups didn’t have the same number of performers as who they were facing. In this case, since group 2 had one less member, the group that won was determined off of vote average, instead of combined votes. Despite Lee Sian getting the most votes out of anyone on this song (148), her group lost. Team 1 won with a group average of 73.7 to 68.

“Mamma Mia” (KARA Cover)

Mamma Mia by KARA was the next song performed, which happened to be choreographed by Produce 48 judge Bae Yoon Jung. The first group had most of their trouble with the vocals. It slowly became a trend on this episode that nearly everyone fixed all of their issues once it came time to perform in front of the crowd. The second group slowly built up confidence over the course of their training time. Kim Hyunah, who led group 1, tied in top votes with Murase Sae. Along with their three other teammates, they won the song with an 84.4 average, way above team two’s 61.3.

“High Tension” (AKB48 Cover)

Out of all of the songs in the selection pool, the one that most benefited Japanese trainees was the AKB48 song High Tension,” since it is in Japanese. Unsurprisingly, 5 of the 11 contestants that performed this song were from AKB48. In the early stages of preparation, both groups saw a similar issue in struggling to find a center for the group. Despite both groups having very good performances, group 2 beat group 1 with a crushing score of 101.2-46.3.

“BOOMBAYAH” (Blackpink Cover)

The next song performed was BOOMBAYAH by Blackpink. This was arguably the most popular song that was performed. The second group was given much personality, while the first group seemed very boring. The first group didn’t have much trouble in practice and had a pretty good performance. Previously the show was running with a story that group 2 was targeted when they were picked to perform this song. This was because the group is majority Japanese, and Boombayah has lots of fast Korean rapping in it. Being the underdogs in the fight, the group struggled during practice, even with motivation. They had trouble getting members to practice more. Chiba Erii, who has been time after time highlighted as a troubled contestant, had a ton of trouble learning this song. While the group had trouble practicing, they seemed to bond well together during other times. Despite their troubles, they were able to win the vote, with a score of 74.7 to 65.2.

“Like Ooh-Ahh” (TWICE Cover)

The second to last of group covers was of the song “Like Ooh-Ahh” by popular group (maybe the biggest K-Pop girl group currently) TWICE. There wasn’t much special about either group, except the first group had vocal problems. Out of all performances, this one had the least interest in it most likely. Group 1 won with a score of 442-342, with Goto Moe receiving 172 votes, putting her #3 on the end of episode rankings.

“Very Very Very” (I.O.I Cover)

The final song only seemed fitting to include in the competition. Two groups performed a song from I.O.I, also known as the winners of Produce 101 Season 1. “Very Very Very” was the biggest hit from the group, and was performed by the most promoted group in this contest. Drafted by Miyawaki Sakura, Team 2 was referred to as “The Avengers” in this competition. While in the process of learning, the group change around quite a bit. The biggest change that they did was making Sakura the center performer, after a different performer being center for half of the preparation time. In a huge upset, group 1 beat Sakura’s squad with a 440-356 score. Sakura got most votes with 164. While that score was impressive, the other group beat her because they had more consistent scores that were mid-range.

Elimination Approaches

At the end of the episode, it was stressed that the votes which will be revealed tomorrow will send people home. People who are ranked 58th and higher are safe until the next round of eliminations. The next episode is the big reveal, with prized contestants on the wire between safe and gone. Produce 48 contestants have come so far, but there is so much more to do.

Ranks after Episode 4:

Live Vote Rank Contestant EP 2 Rank EP 3 Rank Total Votes
1 Yabuki Nako 27 16 1,330
2 Huh Yun-jin 15 21 1,188
3 Goto Moe 8 6 1,172
4 Cho Ah-yeong 78 86 1,160
5 Jo Yu-ri 19 19 1,152
6 Asai Nanami 41 42 1,144
7 Kim Hyun-ah 72 64 1,138
8 Murase Sae 43 45 1,138
9 Kojima Mako 23 25 1,120
10 Shitao Miu 45 39 1,116
11 Shiroma Miru 22 13 1,112
12 Kim Chae-won 21 30 1,104
13 Chiba Erii 38 23 1,102
13 Kato Yuuka 73 73 1,102
15 Lee Yu-jung 48 49 1,098
16 Hong Ye-ji 76 80 1,092
17 Jang Won-young 4 4 1,090
18 Sato Minami 66 59 1,086
19 Miyu Takeuchi 11 8 1,084
20 Kim Do-ah 25 31 1,080
21 Honda Hitomi 47 22 1,070
22 Park Min-ji 56 60 1,066
23 Kim Si-hyeon 13 17 1,064
23 Choi Ye-na 6 7 1,064
25 An Yu-jin 2 2 1,062
26 Oda Erina 67 69 1,060
27 Takahashi Juri 29 20 1,052
28 Park Hae-yoon 35 43 1,050
29 Nakanishi Chiyori 37 40 1,048
30 Kang Hye-won 40 41 1,044
31 Yoon Eun-bin 68 65 1,042
31 Han Cho-won 79 88 1,042
31 Na Go-eun 20 28 1,042
34 Kim Yu-bin 93 93 1,040
35 Kang Da-min 74 75 1,036
36 Kim Na-young 63 58 1,032
36 Park Ji-eun 70 79 1,032
38 Aramaki Misaki 61 66 1,030
38 Asai Yuka 80 83 1,030
40 Yoo Min-young 32 46 1,028
41 Kim Da-hye 89 78 1,026
41 Kim Min-seo 39 47 1,026
41 Lee Seung-hyeon 60 68 1,026
44 Kurihara Sae 84 81 1,018
45 Kim Su-yun 51 54 1,012
46 Hwang So-yeon 46 51 1,010
47 Ko Yu-jin 34 26 198
48 Miyawaki Sakura 5 3 164
49 Lee Si-an 18 27 148
50 Matsui Jurina 12 12 110
51 Noe Yamada 9 11 106
52 Miyazaki Miho 16 15 92
53 Matsuoka Natsumi 55 52 90
54 Shin Su-hyun 57 62 88
54 Murakawa Vivian 31 29 88
54 Son Eun-chae 53 54 88
57 Lee Ha-eun 58 33 86
57 Naiki Kokoro 82 82 86
–WAVE 1 CUT OFF–
59 Jang Gyu-ri 14 14 78
60 Lee Ka-eun 1 1 74
61 Park Seo-young 26 35 72
62 Mogi Shinobu 59 55 58
63 Iwatate Saho 24 24 56
63 Choi So-eun 92 89 56
65 Kim Cho-yeon 75 37 54
65 Lee Chae-jeong 94 92 54
65 Wang Yi-ren 7 9 54
68 Muto Tomu 28 32 52
69 Nakano Ikumi 53 50 50
69 Hasegawa Rena 54 63 50
71 Kim Da-yeon 65 70 46
71 Motomura Aoi 42 36 46
71 Choi Yeon-soo 52 57 46
74 Yoon Hae-sol 50 56 40
75 Ichikawa Manami 83 87 38
75 Park Jinny 49 61 38
77 Imada Mina 64 67 36
78 Kim Min-ju 17 19 34
78 Lee Chae-yeon 10 10 34
80 Kim So-hee 44 48 30
81 Shinozaki Ayana 87 77 28
81 Wang Ke 33 44 28
81 Bae Eun-yeong 30 34 28
81 Cho Yeong-in 62 74 28
85 Kwon Eun-bi 3 5 24
86 Nagano Serika 81 76 22
86 Won Seo-yeon 77 90 22
86 Park Chan-ju 70 71 22
89 Cho Sa-rang 90 91 18
90 Ahn Ye-won 88 84 16
91 Cho Ka-hyeon 36 38 14
92 Alex Christine 86 85 4
LEFT Tanaka Miku 71 72
LEFT Uemura Azusa 96
LEFT Umeyama Cocona 95
LEFT Tsukiashi Amane 91

 

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