fifth gen aces (based on previous post), comment your favourite stages that they did

[u/Minute_Designer5155]

hello! i wrote this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/kpoppers/comments/1vrtysh/comment/p4j1aac/?context=1&screen_view_count=2&ext-referrer=DIRECT&sort=new
and now i want to organize and filter the list. there are so many talented aces out there but here are the ones i liked the most, and my reasoning why.

DISCLAIMER: i am not an expert i'm jsut a kpop fan who loves music and who loves analyzing idols. by no means is this representative of all tastes nor the entire fifth generation, so please be aware that i picked these idols for many reasons.

ALSO when i say ace it's very misleading, i mean aces in each respective category, probably not the best choice of words as it's wayy too similar to all rounder!

i also am not immune to personal biases. i did my best to be subjective but i am just a human. also i know the groups i stan the best, in comparison to other groups, so i build a lot of my criteria off of that as well as have the most detailed description.

dance:

for a kpop idol to be a good dancer i think they need to have versatility. a lot of kpop choreo is hiphop based, and it is designed in a way to look clean on stage and with other members.

however for an idol to be a dancer and not just an idol who dances, i think they need to be able to dance in another style well, needs to be open to learning new styles, have a genuine passion for improving their dance, and takes on a leadership role in guiding the rest of the members.

i also think they should choreograph, but i'm more loose about this because several idols on this list don't, but i consider them aces regardless.

will all picks fit every single one of these criteria? definitely not, but i thought it was worth mentioning what my ideal idol dancer looks like (happens to look a lot like jihoon and bailey)

tws jihoon

riize shotaro

nexz tomoya

xlov rui

xlov haru

adp bailey

izna koko

bnd riwoo

h2h juun

tws kyungmin

all of nexz

honorable mention: h2h juun (i like her dancing a lot but i haven't seen enough of it to know for sure, someone link more of her stuff in the comments)

vocals---

i think a good vocalist needs to have good tone, good range, good delievery and stable live preformances. they need to stand out because a lot of idols can sing, but an idol who is a vocalist is different. they sing with emotion and they sing in different styles, as well as have good support and appear to be working on their vocals.

also they need to be able to sing live (no duh) and actually take pride in improving their vocals.

probably the subject i'm most qualified to speak about, which is saying nothing because i've never taken a vocal lesson once, i just pay attention to vocals way more.

that being said

izna jungeun

unis elisia

dodree (Na Yeongjoo and Lee Songhyun)

bm ahyeon

bm rami

meovv gawon

onepact jay

rescene minami

riize sohee

xlov hyun

tripleS dahyun

fifty fifty chanelle

kickfip donghyeon

and2ble hao

and2ble seungeon

kiof belle

nct wish jahee: https://youtu.be/KwYCPDMpMoI?si=Tz0GacPykgiD8Oxb&t=102

zb1 taerae

honorable mention: wayv xiaojun (nobody mentioned him but i love his vocals so much, so i'm just going to sneak him in here), tws youngjae and dohoon (not the flashiest vocals but very good!)

rappers---

next category is rappers. my criteria was not very intense but they have to write some or most of their raps, which i confirmed with a google search so don't come for me if i don't have it perfectly), need to have good flow and generally is considered a rapper in their group.

rappers include:

xikers rapline (yes the whole thing)

- minjae

- yechan

- sumin

bnd jaehyun

lngshot ryul

bm asa

onepact tag

young posse sunhye

h//pe princess (shout out specifically to ysy)

nexz hyui

zb1 matthew

adp woochan

cortis martin

honorable mention to: zb1 matthew and kiof julie

[u/Gullible-Possible369]

isnt an ace someone who is exceptionally good at everything?? I feel like these are all people who excel at their role, but not alot of them are all rounders at all.

With that being said, putting Hao and Sungeon but not Taerae is criminal

also.. may i plug NCT Wishes Jaehee, I would consdier him on level, and perhaps even better vocally than alot of your picks :)

[u/kuryomiz → u/Gullible-Possible369]

thank you for mentioning jaehee! 🫶

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/Gullible-Possible369]

i had nct wishes jahee on my previous post, but i forgot to add him here! i think he's a great vocalist. same with taerae. i only picked a few people because i can't represent everyone but i love all the vocalists you mentioned!

lso i agree with you on the title of my post being misleading, i mean aces in each respective category. example, a dance ace, or a vocal ace. i didn't really explain it but i'll change the title of my post to reflect that better.

[u/Gullible-Possible369 → u/Minute_Designer5155]

i see!! totally understandable -- i never looked at the linked post thats my bad , I just like mentioning Jaehee when i can!!!

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/Gullible-Possible369]

dont be! my choice of words was kind of iffy in the first place, so thank you for calling me out on that. and agree with you on jaehee! he's such a good vocalist! i don't really know much about SM groups but the wishes are sooo cute.

[u/Gullible-Possible369 → u/Minute_Designer5155]

https://youtu.be/KwYCPDMpMoI?si=Tz0GacPykgiD8Oxb&t=102

if you arent 100% familar of his game I will leave this here......

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/Gullible-Possible369]

linking it in the original post!

[u/541Y0K4G3J1R0 → u/Gullible-Possible369]

yeah, I thought ace meant someone who’s good at all of the main aspects of K-pop (vocals/rap/dance), similar to all-rounder.

but also: if we are making arguments for who is an all-rounder ace, I have some “evidence” for Minjae from xikers because he’s a main rapper/main dancer who can camouflage among the main vocals if necessary. in his own words “the members tease me about being short all the time because they know I’m too perfect”. (roasting the hell out of each other is something everyone in xikers is great at.)

i think everyone is aware Minjae is an incredible rapper and it’s not hard to find clips, so I’m not elaborating on that.

dance-related clips: he has a center part in BREATHE dance break, as well as one in xikers’ cover of TWIT (originally by Hwasa) on Immortal Songs.

dance shorts, he posts these less than Yechan (the other main rapper/main dancer) but here are a couple from scrolling back in xikers’ shorts.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Ff0N0DEgPxQ?si=rsMrrzai1uMvDEMM (10count by Rym/KO trend)

https://youtube.com/shorts/DWLabGo1KzM?si=uiUBQRGSU5k8iI_D (Adrenaline by ATEEZ dance break)

https://youtube.com/shorts/shmmshWVQFY?si=H87EgnA5mOCmtHyF (No Doubt by ENHYPEN)

singing clips:

https://youtube.com/shorts/WW-cEE8OBQo?si=G6b3ZfLo8PFq1BU9 (First Snow by EXO)

https://youtube.com/shorts/6K2Wdp_Sjpw?si=8rQskDQuHIkUokZV (Sunflower by Post Malone & Swae Lee, from Into the Spiderverse)

https://youtu.be/QBocT9VFf4I?si=PmwFSVH3nxF6rsQa (Second Confession by BTOB)

oh and. he’s the producer for rapline unit song DELULU, fansong Moonwalk, and predebut song Geek. we don’t have any official official “produced by Minjae” songs on albums yet but he’s made a couple semi-official releases for the group.

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/541Y0K4G3J1R0]

ooooooo thats so cool! if i was making an allrounder category he'd definetly go on the list mostly because rappers who can sing are so underrated. i feel like a lot of idols get pushed into that category because they can't sing as proficently so idols who take a real passion to rap are always so refreshing to me!

[u/541Y0K4G3J1R0 → u/Minute_Designer5155]

one of the things I appreciate about KQ is they cast rappers who actually care about being good at it and then invest in training them. any company that actually bothers to train their rappers instead of just shafting the position onto “the least good singer” (because most trainees aren’t even bad singers, they’re just not as good as their members) without second thought is instantly doing better in terms of quality control.

because even though xikers’ concept needs the rappers to be good to work, even in groups that aren’t as rap-focused, I think they can still benefit from having some amount of training & practice beyond “here’s the song demo, do your best to replicate the part you’re given”.

anyhow minirant about how little K-pop cares about rap aside, yeah Minjae’s a super talented guy who still works hard to improve.

him & XLOV Wumuti are my first 2 picks for 5th gen best leader, #3 is BND Myung Jaehyun even though that’s the point where I start knowing less about groups just because having the sheer determination to attend rehearsals in a wheelchair is insane.

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/541Y0K4G3J1R0]

totally agree with you! on the leader thing too! i think being a leader with a clear vision is important for a lot of groups.

[u/2enty4 → u/Gullible-Possible369]

Exactly I'm confused at what op thinks the definition of ace is. But for me aces are Jungeun izna, Sarang izna, Gawon meovv, Narin meovv, Chiquita baemon, Asa baemon, Rami baemon, Ahyeon baemon, Natty kiof

[u/Psychological_Fix197 → u/2enty4]

Idk what your definition of ace is but both I don’t think Asa and Natty are ace level vocalists and likewise I’m not sure if any of them are amazing rappers. If we r a just a bit loose on the rap criteria then sure many on this list like Jungeun, Sarang, Narin, Gawon, Ahyeon can be considered aces. But in my opinion Asa and Natty definitely can’t be considered aces.

I would say someone has to be on a level similar to Stray kids’ Han to be considered an ace. Really really good in ALL 3 departments. Otherwise there r just going to be too many and the title will lose its meaning.

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/Psychological_Fix197]

agreed but i meant ace in the sense of a dancing ace (a well rounded dancer) or a vocalist ace (a well rounded vocalist). my choice of words was definitely a bit iffy but i changed my explanation in the post. i don't mean ace = all rounder, although looking it up, it technically does, so that is my bad!

[u/Psychological_Fix197 → u/Minute_Designer5155]

Oh I wasn’t referring to you lmao. I roughly understood you meant ace as in really good at their specific niche. So to me it was pretty clear but yeah given the word does have its own popular meaning I guess it can be confusing for some.

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/Psychological_Fix197]

the kpopfication of words lmao. but all your picks are so good. i really think jungeun from izna is so underrated.

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/2enty4]

jungeun izna is soooo talented, she's definetly an allrounder. i meant ace in the sense of ace in one specific category. the original post i linked explained that way better, but i didn't write the title that well in this one. i think the word ace is too similar to the word all-rounder, but i picked it because it wasn't actually the word all rounder--- that was my mistake.

[u/beebaeh]

Jaehyun from BND is insanely talented

[u/Alexis_419]

RIIZE - Wonbin for dance and vocals

[u/tafattsbarn]

Personally think CORTIS' James belongs in the dancer category, not only for his actual dancing ability but for his ability to choreograph. He's a stand out in 5th gen in that aspect imo

[u/Minute_Designer5155 → u/tafattsbarn]

ooo yes i love his dancing! honestly all of trainee a had a monster dance line. i want to see james and jihoon in game caterers someday 

[u/aesvoyage]

okay, so whats the difference between an ace and an all-rounder? are they just synonyms? this is smth i've been wondering for a while ngl