Alongside acts like BOYNEXTDOOR, ILLIT, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and ENHYPEN there was one that caught every one off-guard with his collaborations: JYP. It was mentioned on the lineup announcement that he was going to perform with special guests but the actual performances were what shocked fans the most.
Before his performances, he was introduced by SEVENTEEN’s Woozi who did the iconic “JYP” whisper. Some of the idols who he shared the stage with include: Baekho, fromis_9’s Jiwon, ENHYPEN’s Jay, ENHYPEN’s Heeseung, TXT’s Beomgyu, all of ENHYPEN and the founder of HYBE Bang Si-Hyuk.
The most unexpected of them all was when J.Y. Park shared the stage with the members of ILLIT to perform the hit track “When We Disco” that he had done with Sunmi. Then he came back to the stage once again to perform his song “Don’t Leave Me” with ILLIT, BOYNEXTDOOR, TWS and THENEWSIX. The reason why it was surprising for fans was that the last time the song was performed, it was with JYP Entertainment artists such as, TWICE, Stray Kids, GOT7 and DAY6. Netizens voiced their confusion after seeing the song being performed again with HYBE artists. Since fans have been wanting the song to be performed with the new JYP Nation, like adding acts such as NMIXX to the lineup, it was upsetting for some. Yet, other fans saw the more positive side of this. They saw this as an opportunity for THENEWSIX which is the first idol group of PNation formed through a survival show, LOUD, that was done by PSY and JYP.
However the performance that got the most attention was when JYP sang old hits like “I Have A Girlfriend”, “Lie” and many others while Bang Si-Hyuk accompanied him on the guitar. While this collaboration was significant for many reasons, like they are the founders of the two of the biggest K-Pop companies, some netizens weren’t impressed by their performance.
Overall, the people who didn’t like the duo’s performance has two main reasons: Some had issues with the controversies they were involved in, like the HYBE-ADOR feud. Others, however, simply didn’t like the performance material.