In this episode, we finish the first half of the third round, with some surprising results. After some light reminiscing about how great Meat Party was and how wonderful it …

The Street Woman Fighter crews show up to teach some choreography and save the ratings of Queendom 2, also some ballads are sung

For the most part, Queendom Season 2 has been keeping pace with Season 1, which means we're in for a couple episodes of filler before the next round of competition. Which is totally fine, since seeing the groups interact has been where the majority of the fun has laid this season.

I don't think it's really that much of a spoiler to reveal that God Emperor Hyolyn has, yet again, taken the top slot in this round's rankings. In Episode 4, she continues the trend of making her doubters look foolish, easily out-concepting and out-performing her hoobae cast-mates.

Whether it's AOA's last stand with "Egotistic", Oh My Girl's format-defining rendition of "Destiny" or even the controversial "Sixth Sense" cover by Lovelyz, the Cover Battle round typically produces a healthy portion of each season's most memorable moments. Will Queendom 2 succeed in the same way?

The second episode begins with a montage of each team reflecting on their reasons for being on Queendom 2, fitting snugly with the narratives I described in my review of the first episode. All of which could be fixed by a big dose of viral popularity, which Queendom 2 offers in spades.

Welcome the first chapter of my coverage of 'Queendom 2', in which I provide AJ with a grease trap for Queendom comments, stapled to a 2500 word article. So, assuming you are done wailing and gnashing about how your faves (read: Dreamcatcher) did not make the show, let us once again sally forth into the long night that is Mnet reality programming.

MBC's yet-another-idol-survival-show My Teenage Girl came to a close a few weeks ago, christening the winning seven member unit as CLASSy and immediately tying them up with an ambitious 7-year contract.

Legend has it AJ hired me on the pretense of writing about ballads on this website, something he absolutely hates to do himself. This was shortly before my brain was shattered into a million fragments by reality television. My last ballads article for Asian Junkie was uhhhh... June?

Do you like Trance? Do you like Ayumi Hamasaki? Are you a DJ? Then you probably know what this is. To the rest of you, this year marks the 20th anniversary of 'Cyber Trance presents Ayu Trance', an official remix project commissioned by Avex to get the biggest names in trance to remix their J-Pop superstar Ms. Hamasaki. It would end up being a hugely successful and influential endeavor, leading to another 3 volumes and Ayu finding her way into DJ crates around the world. For many outside of Japan, this was the gateway into 21st century J-Pop.